10 Great Architects of Post Independence India

Joseph Allen Stein

India International International Centre

First Head of the Department Architecture and Planning Department Department Bengal Engineering College College

Triveni Kala Sangam

Born in 1912 in Omaha, Stein studied under the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen at the Cranbrook Academy in Detroit, Michigan, in the early 1930s. This legendary campus designed

by Saarinen and lled with sculptures by Carl Milles, the Swedish sculptor, inuenced Stein’s Design philosophy. The design approach developed was very different to the Bauhaus modernism then taking hold in Europe, which arrived on the American shores with the immigration immigration of Walter Gropius, Gropius, Mies Van der Rohe Rohe and others just before the Second World World War. The Bauhaus tended to be insensitive to local culture and materials

of building, and advocated hard-edged design philosophy using industrial elements. The inuence on Stein, on the other hand, was a view, which incorporated organic materials, brick, stone and wood, with a willingness to decorate through texture and

volume, yet retaining a simplicity and and human scale. Stein moved

to California in 1938 to work with the Austrian Richard Neutra, who became another great inuence. Neutra’s spare, elegant houses were carefully sited in the California landscape with large glass vistas blurring the boundaries of interior and exterior. Stein arrived in India in 1952, as head of the newly formed

Architecture and Planning Departmentat theBengalEngineering

College in Calcutta in 1952, little realizing that he would stay on.

Sher-I-Kashmir, Internation International al Conference Conference Centre

Moving north to San Francisco, Stein became a vital part Indian Institute Institute of Management Management , Kozhikode Kozhikode

of the design scene in the Bay Area working with architect John Funk and landscape designer Garret Eckbo, eventually opening his own ofce. Living in Mill Valley, Joe Stein designed a number of houses, which became recognized as major examples of the ‘California School’. As a team, they had planned and designed a large cooperative residential community at

‘Ladera’ near Palo Alto, which had idealistic social aims of simplicity surrounded by landscaped beauty in the post-War peace. Unsuccessful in raising nancing, he moved to Europe in the early 1950s. Richard Neutra, who had been invited by the Government of West Bengal to be an adviser, proposed Stein’s name as head of the newly formed Architecture and Planning Department at the Bengal Engineering College in Calcutta. Accepting the invitation, Stein arrived in 1952, little

realizing that he would stay on.

He was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honors, in 1992.

Indian Habitat Habitat Centre

Joseph Allen Stein walking up the stairwell of of Ford Foundation, Foundation, 1968. ~ Photo (c) Madan Mahatta

He has written of his initial reaction: “It was a very stimulating, extraordinarily interesting time, India was almost newly Independent. It was like coming to the United States when Thomas Jefferson was alive, something like that. Stein’s famous works include - India International Centre, India Habitat Centre, Sher-I-Kashmir Conference Centre, Indian

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Wichita House

Union Tank Car Company, Largest Dome at Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Fuller, Richard Buckminster American systems systems theorist, theorist, architect, engineer, engineer, author, designer, inventor, and futurist.

Born in 1895 at Milton in Massachusetts, Buckminster Fuller had a sketchy formal education which as not in much progress beyond two years years (1913-’15) at Harvard. Harvard. He was not an Architect by profession, but was a Naval Ofcer during the First World War. Working as a Visiting lecturer in various architectural schools in USA, he received the award of merit of the New York chapter of the AIA in 1952. In 1959, national organization of the same body rewarded him honorary membership. DYMAXICON

The term Dymaxion was coined in 1929.The organization of the Marshall eld departmental store decided the name ‘House of Future’ instead of ‘4d’ for maximum maximum publicity. Dymaxion Dymaxion is a fusion of syllables related directly or indirectly to ‘Dynamism’, ‘Maximum’ and ‘Icons’.





Le Corbusier architect, designer, urbanist,and writer

Assembly Building, Building, Chandigarh Chandigarh

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887 – August 27 , 1965), was an architect, designer, urbanist,and writer, famous for being one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930. His career spanned ve decades, with his buildings constructed throughout Europe, Europe, India and America. America.

He was a pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities.

Le Corbusier adopted his pseudonym in the 1920s, allegedly deriving





Achyut P. Kanvinde Mehsana Dairy Dairy

(1916-2002) Nehru Science Centre, Centre, Mumbai

Padma Shri Achyut P. Kanvinde (1916–28 December 2002) is considered as one of forefathers of modern Indian architecture. He was born in Achara, in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, in 1916 in a large family. His mother died when he was two and his father was an arts teacher in Bombay. Kanvinde entered the Sir J.J. School of Art (University of Mum bai) in 1935, to study architecture under Claude Batley. He later studied design at Harvard in 1945 and was inuenced by the works of Walter Gropius. Gropius. Along with his partner S. Rai, he opened a rm Kanvinde, Rai and Chowdhury in New Delhi (which is currently run by Mr. San jay Kanvinde, Kanvinde, Mrs. B.K. Tanuja and Mr. Murad Chaudhury). Chaudhury). The rm has been responsible for IIT Kanpur, National Science Centre, Delhi, NII Pune, numerous dairy buildings under NDDB and many other great buildings.





B. V. Doshi Hussain Doshi Gufa, Gufa, Ahmedabad Balkrishna

Vithaldas

Doshi

is

an

Indian

architect,considered an important gure of South Asian architecture and noted for his contributions to the evolution of architectural discourse in India. He is known for his contributions to the architecture of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. B. V. Doshi was born in Pune, India.He studied at the J. J. School of Architecture, Mumbai.

Indian Institute Institute of Management, Management, Ahmedabad Ahmedabad with Louis.I. Kahn

After having worked for four years between 195154 with Le Corbusier in Paris, B. V. Doshi returned to Ahmedabad to supervise Le Corbusier’s projects. His studio, Vastu-Shilpa (environmental design), was established in 1955. Doshi worked closely with Louis Kahn and Anant Raje, when Kahn designed the campus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In 1958 he was a fellow at the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. He then started the School of Architecture (S.A) in 1962. Doshi is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and and hasbeen onthe selectioncommittee for the Pritzker Prize, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. He is also a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects. Apart from his international fame fame as an architect, Dr. Doshi is equally known as an educator and institution builder. He has been the rst founder Director of the





Charles Correa Architect, Planner, Activist Activist

Charles Correa is a major gure in contemporary architecture around the world. With his extraordinary and inspiring designs, he has played a pivotal role in

Jawahar Kala Kala Kendra, Kendra, Jaipur

Sabarmati Ashram Ashram Ahmedabad Ahmedabad

the creation of an architecture for post-Independence post-Independence India . All of his work - from the carefully detailed memorial Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Museum at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to Kanchanjunga Apartmenttower inMumbai,the Jawahar Jawahar Kala Kala Kendra Kendra in Jaipur, the planning of Navi Mumbai, MIT’S Brain and Cognitive Sciences Centre in Boston, and most

recently, the Champalimad Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon, places special emphasis on prevailing resources, energy and climate as major determinants

in the ordering of space.

Over the last four decades, Correa has done pioneering work in urban issues issues and low cost shelter shelter in the Third World. From 1970-75, 1970-75, he was Chief Architect Architect for New Bombay an urban growth center of 2 million people, across the harbor from the existing city. In 1985, Prime







Raj Rewal

French Embassy Embassy Headquarters, Headquarters, New Delhi

Gujral House, New New Delhi

Raj Rewal was born in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India. He created a revolution





Romi Khosla Romi Khosla is an architect architect who received a B.A. in Economics from the university of Cambridge, and qualied as an architect at the architectural association, London.





Hafz Contractor Hafeez Contractor was a student of architecture in The Academy of Architecture, Rachana Sansad, Mumbai





Pathabhavan , Girls’ Hostel, Hostel, Shantiniketan Shantiniketan

Dulal Mukherjee

10 Great Architects of Post Independence India

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