A fascinating study of contemporary architecture in India

This is an illustrated study of the architecture of post-1990 India, a period that marks the liberalization of the country’s economy and reflects the contradictions, glamour and displacement wrought by globalization and rapid economic mobility. Showcasing a complex construct of disparate adjacencies in which bizarre forms of coexistence characterize the built environment, it brings to life, with vivid illustrations, a transformation in the construction of identities, which range from the pan-national to those more fluid in their expression. Hybridity and pluralism reign over singular identities, their architecture being the mirror of the socio-economic as well as the political fabric of a nation-state.

Four distinct genres of architectural expression will be presented, and the proponents of each, supported by exceptional examples of their contemporary projects, introduced. Targeted at an international readership of academics, practising architects and students, the book will interest a vast audience of readers and collectors spanning multiple design disciplines as well as those who appreciate significant works on contemporary India.

Author
Rahul Mehrotra is a practising architect and educator. He works in Mumbai and teaches at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, where he is Professor of Urban Design and Planning and Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, as well as a member of the steering committee of Harvard’s South Asia Initiative.

His practice, RMA Architects (www.RMAarchitects.com), founded in 1990, has executed a range of projects, from the recycling of urban land and the master planning for parts of Mumbai to the design of art spaces, homes, social institutes and work places across India. These diverse projects have engaged many issues, multiple constituencies and varying scales, from interior design and architecture to urban design, conservation and planning. As Trustee of the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) and Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research (PUKAR), both based in Mumbai, Mehrotra continues to be actively involved as an activist in the civic and urban affairs of the city.

Having written and lectured extensively on architecture, conservation and urban planning, Mehrotra is widely known as the author, co-author and editor of a vast repertoire of books on Mumbai, its urban history, its historic buildings, public spaces and planning processes. A past juror for the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture, the Berkeley Prize, the James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City, the Urban Age Awards and the Audi Urban Futures Award, Mehrotra is currently a member of the Prince Claus Fund Awards Committee (2007-11) and the Global Jury of the 3rd Holcim Awards Competition (2012). A former member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture in the 2008-10 award cycle, he continues to serve on the governing boards of the London School of Economics Cities Programme and the Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS). Mehrotra studied at the School of Architecture (CEPT), Ahmedabad, and graduated with a master’s degree in Urban Design with distinction from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He has taught at the University of Michigan (2003-07) and at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at MIT (2007-10).