A Concise History Of Modern Architecture In India

In Lucid Language That Speaks To Laymen And Architects Alike, This Book Provides A History Of Twentieth Century Architecture In India. It Examines In Detail The Early Influences On Indian Architecture Both Of Movements Like The Bauhaus As Well As Prominent Individuals Like Habib Rehman, Jawaharlal Nehru, Frank Lloyd Wright And Le Corbusier.

A place of astonishing contrasts, India is home to some of the world’s most ancient architectures as well as some of its most modern. It was the focus of some of the most important works created by Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, among other lesser-known masters, and it is regarded by many as one of the key sites of mid-twentieth century architectural design. As Peter Scriver and Amit Srivastava show in this book, however, India’s history of modern architecture began long before the nation’s independence as a modern state in 1947. Going back to the nineteenth century, Scriver and Srivastava look at the beginnings of modernism in colonial India and the ways that public works and patronage fostered new design practices that directly challenged the social order and values invested in the building traditions of the past. They then trace how India’s architecture embodies the dramatic shifts in Indian society and culture during the last century. Making sense of a broad range of sources, from private papers and photographic collections to the extensive records of the Indian Public Works Department, they provide the most rounded account of modern architecture in India that has yet been available.

An architectural biography of Jaipur, and a concise history of Indian architectural theory over the last 300 years.

Two distinguished historians, Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf, come together to write a new and accessible account of modern India. The narrative, which charts the history of India from the Mughals, through the colonial encounter and independence, to the present day, challenges imperialist notions of an unchanging and monolithic India bounded by tradition and religious hierarchies. Instead the book reveals a complex society which is constantly transforming and reinventing itself in response to political and social challenges. The book is beautifully composed and richly illustrated. It will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand India, her turbulent past and her present uncertainties.

In a second edition of their successful Concise History of Modern India, Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf explore India's modern history afresh and update the events of the last decade. These include the takeover of Congress from the seemingly entrenched Hindu nationalist party in 2004, India's huge advances in technology and the country's new role as a major player in world affairs. From the days of the Mughals, through the British Empire, and into Independence, the country has been transformed by its institutional structures. It is these institutions which have helped bring about the social, cultural and economic changes that have taken place over the last half century and paved the way for the modern success story. Despite these advances, poverty, social inequality and religious division still fester. In response to these dilemmas, the book grapples with questions of caste and religious identity, and the nature of the Indian nation.

This book is an attempt to evaluate the role of architecture of foreign masters of modern architecture in India in shaping the post independence Indian architecture. It is an effort to understand the reasons of origin of modern architecture, factors responsible for its development and its architectural vocabulary both in world and in India. It further strives to gather the existing studies that have already been done and also intends to contribute to the present body of knowledge by identifying and defining architectural vocabulary of modern architecture of foreign modernist masters' works in India and also statistically analyse its influence on post independence Indian architecture that native architects exhibited in public domain. It is a maiden attempt to analyse the influence statistically at such an exhaustive level, which has never been done before. The book elaborates how the architecture of modern India embodied and reflected the dramatic shifts of Indian society and culture. It throws light on Indian architectural modernity journey that began at the turn of the 20th century, fostered new design practices that directly challenged the social order and values invested in the building traditions of the past. It is an effort to fill in the gaps in the course of development of modernism in India and also an in depth analysis of the way Indian architects were influenced by the works of foreign masters of modern architecture in India. This critical representation of India's post independence modern architecture is an essential reading for all students and scholars of architecture, as well as all those interested in the story of development of modernism in India.

A Concise History of Modern India by Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf, has become a classic in the field since it was first published in 2001. As a fresh interpretation of Indian history from the Mughals to the present, it has informed students across the world. In the third edition of the book, a final chapter charts the dramatic developments of the last twenty years, from 1990 through the Congress electoral victory of 2009, to the rise of the Indian high-tech industry in a country still troubled by poverty and political unrest. The narrative focuses on the fundamentally political theme of the imaginative and institutional structures that have successively sustained and transformed India, first under British colonial rule and then, after 1947, as an independent country. Woven into the larger political narrative is an account of India's social and economic development and its rich cultural life.

Shivdatt Sharma (b. 1931) is one of the most prolific Indian modernist architects. Starting out as an architect in the Chandigarh Capital Project Team led by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, Sharma subsequently became Chief Architect of the Indian Space Research Organisation. He then went into private practice. Sharmas architecture is a distinct blend of the core principles of Modernism, interpreted through the lens of contemporary Indian realities. Modernism was adopted as both symbol and instrument of nation-building in Nehruvian India. Working alongside designers and artists, architects went to work building innumerable small townships, universities, public institutions, housing estates and infrastructural projects across the country. Progressive businesses also patronized Modernism as full participants in the project of nation-building. The Modernism in India Series documents the extensive heritage of Modernism and modern architecture in India. Bringing to light the work of a forgotten generation, this series documents work that is currently under threat by the forces of globalization. This well-illustrated book documents Sharmas work from the early days, when it was a part of the experimental and innovative ethos of Chandigarh, to the present. He has designed for a range of public and private clients across the world. Along with a portfolio of selected works, this book includes critical essays, interviews and a chronology of projects.