Logo

This volume is a comprehensive monograph chronicling the personal and professional journey of the Indian architect and urban conservationist Brinda Somaya, from 1975 to the present. Belonging to the ‘Bridge Generation’, her work transcends stylistic vocabulary and draws its inspiration from Indian culture, the landscape of the subcontinent and principles of sustainable design and intervention.

The book explores a cross-section of Somaya’s diverse typology of projects, including housing, institutions, conservation, urban design, social design and industrial works that represent a unique ‘non-stylistic’ grammar that has a sense of ‘order and appropriateness’. Situating her work in a broader context, the essays in this volume offer multiple perspectives on Somaya’s accomplishments, while the dialogues outline the concerns central to her work.

With Essays by Jon Lang, Porus Olpadwala, Mary Norman Woods and Ruturaj Parikh, and Dialogues with Arun Shourie, Kamu Iyer and Saryu Doshi.

Contents: Foreword. Preface. Introduction. 1. On India: Dialogue with Arun Shourie: i. Bhadli village and Vasant Vidyalaya. ii. Campus for Zensar Technologies. iii. The Cathedral and John Connon School. iv. Tata Consultancy Services Headquarters. 2. Working from Mumbai: Dialogue with Kamu Iyer: i. The Street. ii. The Community. iii. Jubilee Church. iv. Rajabai Clock Tower. 3. Architecture and Culture: Dialogue with Saryu Doshi: i. St Thomas Cathedral. ii. Nalanda International School. iii. Houses. iv. Club Mahindra Kumbhalgarh. v. Campus for Goa Institute of Management. 4. Significance of Somaya’s Work in Post-Independence India/Jon Lang. 5. Humility and Fierce Resolve: The Making of a Compleat Architect/Porus Olpadwala. 6. The Empathetic Architect/Mary N. Woods. 7. Brinda Somaya’s Practice and Contemporary Architecture in India/Ruturaj Parikh. 8. Epilogue/Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Chronology of Works.