Women Architects And Modernism In India

Studies on architecture in South Asia continue to ignore women in canonical histories of the discipline. This book attempts to recover the stories of the women architects whose careers nearly parallel the development of modernism in colonial and postcolonial India. Writing their experiences into the narrative of mainstream architectural history within the challenge of non-existent archives, it sheds light on seven pioneering women who broke male bastions to go beyond the traditional confines of the era from the 1940s onwards. The author also examines 28 contemporary practices to demonstrate the ways in which architectural modernism in India was shaped by the contribution of women. The book uses a format that weaves together social, professional and biographical factors into a productive account; pluralizes various concepts of design; and redefines the idea of ‘work’ of women through a greater range of activities, including pedagogy, mentoring and activism. Alluding to challenges faced by women, the study celebrates practices in diverse regional settings even as the designers move in transnational contexts in an increasingly globalizing India. Extensively illustrated, featuring drawings and photographs, this book will be a milestone in the modernist narrative of South Asia and will be of interest to scholars and researchers of architecture, gender studies, modern Indian history and sociology.

Studies on architecture in South Asia continue to ignore women in canonical histories of the discipline. This book attempts to recover the stories of the women architects whose careers nearly parallel the development of modernism in colonial and postcolonial India. Writing their experiences into the narrative of mainstream architectural history within the challenge of non-existent archives, it sheds light on seven pioneering women who broke male bastions to go beyond the traditional confines of the era from the 1940s onwards. The author also examines 28 contemporary practices to demonstrate the ways in which architectural modernism in India was shaped by the contribution of women. The book uses a format that weaves together social, professional and biographical factors into a productive account; pluralizes various concepts of design; and redefines the idea of ‘work’ of women through a greater range of activities, including pedagogy, mentoring and activism. Alluding to challenges faced by women, the study celebrates practices in diverse regional settings even as the designers move in transnational contexts in an increasingly globalizing India. Extensively illustrated, featuring drawings and photographs, this book will be a milestone in the modernist narrative of South Asia and will be of interest to scholars and researchers of architecture, gender studies, modern Indian history and sociology.

As the first inclusive study of how women have shaped the modern Indian built environment from the independence struggle until today, this book reveals a history that is largely unknown, not only in the West, but also in India. Educated in the 1930s and 1940s, the very first women architects designed everything from factories to museums in the post-independence period. The generations that followed are now responsible for metro systems, shopping malls, corporate headquarters, and IT campuses for a global India. But they also design schools, cultural centers, religious pilgrimage hotels, and wildlife sanctuaries. Pioneers in conserving historic buildings, these women also sustain and resurrect traditional crafts and materials, empower rural and marginalized communities, and create ecologically sustainable architectures for India. Today, although women make up a majority in India’s ever-increasing schools of architecture, it is still not easy for them, like their Western sisters, to find their place in the profession. Recounting the work and lives of Indian women as not only architects, but also builders and clients, opens a new window onto the complexities of feminism, modernism, and design practice in India and beyond. Set in the design centers of Mumbai and Delhi, this book is also one of the first histories of architectural education and practice in two very different cities that are now global centers. The diversity of practices represented here helps us to imagine other ways to create and build apart from "starchitecture." And how these women negotiate tradition and modernity at work and at home is crucial for understanding gender and modern architecture in a more global and less Eurocentric context. In a country where female emancipation was important for narratives of the independence movement and the new nation-state, feminism was, nonetheless, eschewed as divisive and damaging to the nationalist cause. Class, caste, tradition, and family restricted—but also created—opportunities for the very first women architects in India, just as they do now for the growing number of young women professionals today.

Heroines of Space looks at four groundbreaking women architects: Eileen Gray, Lilly Reich, Margarethe Schütte-Lihotzky, and Charlotte Perriand. You'll see the parts they played in the history of modern architecture and get a clearer view of the recent past. The book explains the social and historical setting behind their coming into being and includes research on the factors around their roles as space makers to show you how they practiced architecture despite pressure not to. New in English, the Spanish edition won the 2006 Milka Blinakov Prize granted by the International Archive of Women in Architecture. Includes 150 black and white images and bibliographies for each architect.

Golconde is an astonishing architectural accomplishment. With technical finesse and extraordinary craft, it offers a living testament to the original modernist credo - architecture as the manifest union of technology, aesthetics, and social reform. Here exists an undiluted view of a wholly triumphant tropical Modernism, built during the tumultuous years of the second world war. If ever there was a time when the notion of sanctuary, of a place in the world at a safe remove from its tribulations needed to be manifest, then this certainly is that year. Enforced isolations, mediated encounters, and filtered interfaces have become the norm. An unseen adversary has unmasked our frailty, weaponizing our own breath, making an enemy even of that essential human construct – shared space. The seeking of spatial solace has been a human preoccupation for much of our existence. Golconde is one such exemplar of calm. Created during another tumultuous time of human suffering – at the onset of the second World War - this building continues to offer succor to its residents, even from this latest upheaval. Mira Nakashima, George Nakashima’s daughter, contributes with a new 800 word introduction essay for this new edition.

The Routledge Companion to Women in Architecture illuminates the names of pioneering women who over time continue to foster, shape, and build cultural, spiritual, and physical environments in diverse regions around the globe. It uncovers the remarkable evolution of women’s leadership, professional perspectives, craftsmanship, and scholarship in architecture from the preindustrial age to the present. The book is organized chronologically in five parts, outlining the stages of women’s expanding engagement, leadership, and contributions to architecture through the centuries. It contains twenty-nine chapters written by thirty-three recognized scholars committed to probing broader topographies across time and place and presenting portraits of practicing architects, leaders, teachers, writers, critics, and other kinds of professionals in the built environment. The intertwined research sets out debates, questions, and projects around women in architecture, stimulates broader studies and discussions in emerging areas, and becomes a catalyst for academic programs and future publications on the subject. The novelty of this volume is in presenting not only a collection of case studies but in broadening the discipline by advancing an incisive overview of the topic as a whole. It is an invaluable resource for architectural historians, academics, students, and professionals.

The Routledge Companion to Modernity, Space and Gender reframes the discussion of modernity, space and gender by examining how "modernity" has been defined in various cultural contexts of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, how this definition has been expressed spatially and architecturally, and what effect this has had on women in their everyday lives. In doing so, this volume presents theories and methods for understanding space and gender as they relate to the development of cities, urban space and individual building types (such as housing, work spaces or commercial spaces) in both the creation of and resistance to social transformations and modern global capitalism. The book contains a diverse range of case studies from the US, Europe, the UK, and Asian countries such as China and India, which bring together a multiplicity of approaches to a continuing and common issue and reinforces the need for alternatives to the existing theoretical canon.

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.