Architecture of Delhi

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Background
Post 1947 Developments-Buildings Part1
Part2
Housing Sector
THE TRACKING OF POST INDEPENDENCE

DEVELOPMENTS
From traditional to global image
From government led development to private developers
From Nehru Place to corporate parks
From Housing colonies to apartment blocks
From sandstone and dholpur to glass facades
From the Mughal to the British Imperial to the present Individual statements in
architecture
What follows is a brief overview of the developments that have made a significant
contribution in the post Independence scenario of Delhi in the public buildings
sector and then the housing sector
a) The way the public buildings came about
Senior architect (1953-70), and then Chief Architect of CPWD(1970-4), Rahman was
responsible for many of the buildings that give central Delhi its present character;
the post and telegraph building(1954),the auditor and general controllers
office, the Indraprastha Bhavan, the WHO building(1962) and the multi storey flats
at RK Puram (1964) and the Patel Bhavan (1972-73).
It was the work of Gropius and the International style that overwhelmingly influenced the
younger architects of the period. During the 1950s the influence of the international
style began to be widely evident in houses, whether Mistri or architect designed.
Horizontal bands of large glass windows, freestanding staircases and cantilevered

porches were the main features. Plinths became lower, living and dining rooms were
combined and, in houses for the wealthy, bathrooms became attached to bedrooms.
Windows in many houses began to be recessed and concrete fins began to appear on
the facades. The massing became horizontal. Reinforced concrete became the material
of the modern era not only for houses but even more for public buildings.
Tuberculosis Association Building
Walter Sykes George (1881-1962) was an English architect in the post Independence
era. (He had designed the St Stephens College,built in 1941). George's design for
the Tuberculosis Association Building in New Delhi shows a modification of the
prevalent International styles. The buildings adjustable lightweight horizontal louvers
place it clearly in a contemporary Modernist context. George's use of materials in the
building does, however, show continuity with much Anglo-Indian architecture of the
1930's.
The central and state pwds and their offshoots such as the DDA(estab provisionally in
1955 and finally in 1957 when it absorbed the Delhi Improvement trust) continued to
work much as beforeIndependence. They were primarily involved in the design of public
buildings and large-scale housing developments. The design efforts of the architects of
the CPWD in New Delhi have made a major impression on the city.
Many of the buildings such as Vayu Bhavan, Krishi Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan, Rail
Bhavan(below,left),Vigyan Bhavan(below,right) and the Supreme court (1952) use
chattris and chajja's, and are topped by domes to give an Indian character. The plain
cubical mass of a government conference hall, the Vigyan Bhawan, which was
designed by RI Geholote of the CPWD for large international conferences, uses
elements from Buddhist, Hindu and Mughal architecture. The large entrance is of black
marble and glass and is shaped in the form of a chaitya arch of the Ajanta style,
symbolizingthe Indian heritage of peace and culture." The arch motif became an easily
recognized and frequently employed symbol of Indian identity, applicable to a wide
variety of structures.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court was designed by Deolalikar in an Indo British architectural style
as it is located in Lutyen's complex. It is regarded as rather heavy headed.For example
the chattris have square 15 by 15-inch columnar supports which stand in strong contrast
to the elegance of those at Fatehpur Sikri or in Lutyens or Baker's work.
Towards the next decade-the sixties

The sixties brought about the presence of Joseph Allen Stein onto the architectural
scene of Delhi. His work of the period - the India international centre (1959-62) and
the AmericanInternationalSchool(1962-68)- comes more out of the American
Empiricist tradition than the European Rationalist and its concern for orthogonal
geometry
particularly
in
the
sitting
of
buildings.
His later work in the Ford Foundation building (1969) and Triveni Kala Sangamand
the UNICEFbuilding (1981) shows a continuous intellectual development. Few other
architects have retained so independent and consistent a line of thought. Despite such
works, it was the work of Gropius and the international style that overwhelmingly
influenced
the
younger
architects
of
the
period.
It is possible to tentatively distinguish between those architects who consciously or
unconsciously followed in the European Rationalist tradition inspired by Le Corbusian
lines of thought and those who were Empiricists following in the footsteps of Wright,
Stein and Kahn.
The Indian Institute of Technology (above left) campus (1961) designed by Jugal
Kishore Choudhary and the JawaharlalNehruUniversity (above right) campus by
the CPWD and Mr CP Kukreja show influence of Rationalist thinking. The IIT Delhi is a
less direct image of Le Corbusier's work than the PunjabUniversity plan. It consists of
the academic buildings, housings and research facilities and faculty and staff
residences. The former consists of three storey parallel blocks and a seven-storey block
perpendicular to the longest of the three storey locks, which it joins to the
administration. The buildings are linked by covered ways, which form courtyards-, a
marriage of Oxbridge and Le Corbusian patterns.
The use of concrete for the main blocks contrasts with the rough stone aggregate of the
lecture theatres and the multi story staircases provide sculptural elements penetrating
the courtyards.
Akbar Hotel
The Akbar hotel (1965) designed for the Delhi Municipal Committee owes a lot to the
Unit'ed' habitation by Le Corbusier. This building, which formed part of a new
commercial center built in south Delhi in the 1970s, echoed many of the qualities of
theChandigarh secretariat in its use of concrete and its sculptural surface pattern.
It is a thirteen-strorey concrete slab building, which forms part of a larger commercial
complex. A service floor separates the bedrooms above from the common areas on the
lower floors. Like the Unite, the roof has "communal facilities"- in this case, a restaurant,
garden and small open air theatre. A two storey curvilinear block juts out at the base,
echoing the form of the MillownersBuilding in Ahmedabad. It houses restaurants and
lounges..
Shri Ram Centre
Prasad's other work, which clearly picks up on Le Corbusier's thought processed is

the Shri Ram centre of a private trust promoting dance, drama and music. Like much of
Prasad's works of the period, it is built of reinforced concrete and expresses, through
architectural form, the variety of functions the building is to house. For instance, the
theatre is in a cylindrical form and the rehearsal spaces are in the form of a rectangular
mass. Many of the spaces have to serve a multiplicity of purposes and hence are open
ended in design; there has also been a major effort to have the interior and outdoor
spaces linked together.
The work in India that followed the Empiricist approach originally owed a great a debt
to Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright; it was more thoughtful in dealing with the
local contexts. Later the influence was continued through the works of Louis Kahn.
Stein and Mansigh Rana (Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Library) (1968) .
Structural buildings
Architecture in India has had a long engineering tradition and structural engineers such
as Mahendra Raj and H.K. Sen are amongst those whose collaborative work with
architects created many innovative buildings. Raj's works include the Delhi cloth
Mill(1970), the Permanent Exhibition complex (Pragati Maidan-1972) and
the National Co-operative Development Corporation building.
The period since the 1960's has been an era in which issues of cultural identity have
also been raised, not only in India, but also in countries, such as France, which felt
culturally threatened by changes taking place in and around them. Perhaps the
fundamental problem with the Modern movement was that architects used the forms of
buildings and urban designs as a symbol of progress and democracy rather than
attempting to deal with the broader array of human needs.
The geometric patterns of Modernism became used as a set of types for all architectural
works by a number of architects. The patterns of these buildings became embedded in
the minds of the clients as expressions of progress. Much of the continuing Modernist
work consists of commercial buildings, some of which stand out because of their
distinctive character. This character may arise from their location-they are single towers
in an otherwise lower scaled built environment or they have a design different from the
norm.
The former group includes such buildings as the Vikas Minar of the DDA and the latter
is exemplified by buildings like the LIC (below,left) by Charles Correa in CP. It is a
stone and mirror glass building under a steel framed parasol set on a podium and
dwarfs the Connaught circus buildings(below, right) designed by Tor Russell.Both
the buildings are substantially different from their surroundings as well as from standard
commercial buildings
In response to concern about the changing face of new Delhi, the urban arts
commission was set up by the parliament in 1973 and given powers of approval over
structures of "public importance". Its members proved either unwilling or unable,
however, to halt the spread of high-rise building.
The 1962 plan had included a system for controlling the height of buildings by creating a
floor-area ratio in which height was related to plot size, with ratios varying according to
the zone of the city. The most generous height allowances were projected for the
business district adjacent to Connaught place.
Included in various proposals for the district was a scheme produced by Raj
Rewal and Kuldip singh in 1968 for the controlled redevelopment of barakhamba and
Curzon roads.
They suggested that tower blocks be set back from the street alignment, to be partially
screened by a raised pedestrian plaza and an irregular line of relatively low buildings. A
similar proposal was made in 1969 for Janpath(below,left) another broad artery leading
into Connaught place. This street was to continue as a shopping area, with low-rise
buildings bordering the street and tall buildings set within the blocks. In practice,
however, the district had no unified plan, becoming instead the focus of spontaneous
high-rise development.
The old unity of style, moreover, was supplanted by flamboyantly competing forms.
Contributing to the dramatic new profile of the commercial center was the life
Insurance corporation of India building byCharles Correa, together with the state
trading corporation (below,right) and the new town hall byRaj Rewal and Kuldip
Singh. The large column free framework in vertical shafts creates large spans and
allows for a variety of forms to be hung between them.
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Background
Part2
Housing Sector
THE TRACKING OF POST INDEPENDENCE

DEVELOPMENTS
From traditional to global image
From government led development to private developers
From Nehru Place to corporate parks
From Housing colonies to apartment blocks
From sandstone and dholpur to glass facades
From the Mughal to the British Imperial to the present Individual statements in
architecture
What follows is a brief overview of the developments that have made a significant
contribution in the post Independence scenario of Delhi in the public buildings
sector and then the housing sector
a) The way the public buildings came about
Senior architect (1953-70), and then Chief Architect of CPWD(1970-4), Rahman was
responsible for many of the buildings that give central Delhi its present character;
the post and telegraph building(1954),the auditor and general controllers
office, the Indraprastha Bhavan, the WHO building(1962) and the multi storey flats
at RK Puram (1964) and the Patel Bhavan (1972-73).
It was the work of Gropius and the International style that overwhelmingly influenced the
younger architects of the period. During the 1950s the influence of the international
style began to be widely evident in houses, whether Mistri or architect designed.
Horizontal bands of large glass windows, freestanding staircases and cantilevered
porches were the main features. Plinths became lower, living and dining rooms were
combined and, in houses for the wealthy, bathrooms became attached to bedrooms.
Windows in many houses began to be recessed and concrete fins began to appear on
the facades. The massing became horizontal. Reinforced concrete became the material
of the modern era not only for houses but even more for public buildings.
Tuberculosis Association Building
Walter Sykes George (1881-1962) was an English architect in the post Independence
era. (He had designed the St Stephens College,built in 1941). George's design for
the Tuberculosis Association Building in New Delhi shows a modification of the
prevalent International styles. The buildings adjustable lightweight horizontal louvers
place it clearly in a contemporary Modernist context. George's use of materials in the
building does, however, show continuity with much Anglo-Indian architecture of the
1930's.
The central and state pwds and their offshoots such as the DDA(estab provisionally in
1955 and finally in 1957 when it absorbed the Delhi Improvement trust) continued to
work much as beforeIndependence. They were primarily involved in the design of public
buildings and large-scale housing developments. The design efforts of the architects of
the CPWD in New Delhi have made a major impression on the city.
Many of the buildings such as Vayu Bhavan, Krishi Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan, Rail
Bhavan(below,left),Vigyan Bhavan(below,right) and the Supreme court (1952) use
chattris and chajja's, and are topped by domes to give an Indian character. The plain
cubical mass of a government conference hall, the Vigyan Bhawan, which was
designed by RI Geholote of the CPWD for large international conferences, uses
elements from Buddhist, Hindu and Mughal architecture. The large entrance is of black
marble and glass and is shaped in the form of a chaitya arch of the Ajanta style,
symbolizingthe Indian heritage of peace and culture." The arch motif became an easily
recognized and frequently employed symbol of Indian identity, applicable to a wide
variety of structures.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court was designed by Deolalikar in an Indo British architectural style
as it is located in Lutyen's complex. It is regarded as rather heavy headed.For example
the chattris have square 15 by 15-inch columnar supports which stand in strong contrast
to the elegance of those at Fatehpur Sikri or in Lutyens or Baker's work.
Towards the next decade-the sixties

The sixties brought about the presence of Joseph Allen Stein onto the architectural
scene of Delhi. His work of the period - the India international centre (1959-62) and
the AmericanInternationalSchool(1962-68)- comes more out of the American
Empiricist tradition than the European Rationalist and its concern for orthogonal
geometry
particularly
in
the
sitting
of
buildings.
His later work in the Ford Foundation building (1969) and Triveni Kala Sangamand
the UNICEFbuilding (1981) shows a continuous intellectual development. Few other
architects have retained so independent and consistent a line of thought. Despite such
works, it was the work of Gropius and the international style that overwhelmingly
influenced
the
younger
architects
of
the
period.
It is possible to tentatively distinguish between those architects who consciously or
unconsciously followed in the European Rationalist tradition inspired by Le Corbusian
lines of thought and those who were Empiricists following in the footsteps of Wright,
Stein and Kahn.
The Indian Institute of Technology (above left) campus (1961) designed by Jugal
Kishore Choudhary and the JawaharlalNehruUniversity (above right) campus by
the CPWD and Mr CP Kukreja show influence of Rationalist thinking. The IIT Delhi is a
less direct image of Le Corbusier's work than the PunjabUniversity plan. It consists of
the academic buildings, housings and research facilities and faculty and staff
residences. The former consists of three storey parallel blocks and a seven-storey block
perpendicular to the longest of the three storey locks, which it joins to the
administration. The buildings are linked by covered ways, which form courtyards-, a
marriage of Oxbridge and Le Corbusian patterns.
The use of concrete for the main blocks contrasts with the rough stone aggregate of the
lecture theatres and the multi story staircases provide sculptural elements penetrating
the courtyards.
Akbar Hotel
The Akbar hotel (1965) designed for the Delhi Municipal Committee owes a lot to the
Unit'ed' habitation by Le Corbusier. This building, which formed part of a new
commercial center built in south Delhi in the 1970s, echoed many of the qualities of
theChandigarh secretariat in its use of concrete and its sculptural surface pattern.
It is a thirteen-strorey concrete slab building, which forms part of a larger commercial
complex. A service floor separates the bedrooms above from the common areas on the
lower floors. Like the Unite, the roof has "communal facilities"- in this case, a restaurant,
garden and small open air theatre. A two storey curvilinear block juts out at the base,
echoing the form of the MillownersBuilding in Ahmedabad. It houses restaurants and
lounges..
Shri Ram Centre
Prasad's other work, which clearly picks up on Le Corbusier's thought processed is

the Shri Ram centre of a private trust promoting dance, drama and music. Like much of
Prasad's works of the period, it is built of reinforced concrete and expresses, through
architectural form, the variety of functions the building is to house. For instance, the
theatre is in a cylindrical form and the rehearsal spaces are in the form of a rectangular
mass. Many of the spaces have to serve a multiplicity of purposes and hence are open
ended in design; there has also been a major effort to have the interior and outdoor
spaces linked together.
The work in India that followed the Empiricist approach originally owed a great a debt
to Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright; it was more thoughtful in dealing with the
local contexts. Later the influence was continued through the works of Louis Kahn.
Stein and Mansigh Rana (Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Library) (1968) .
Structural buildings
Architecture in India has had a long engineering tradition and structural engineers such
as Mahendra Raj and H.K. Sen are amongst those whose collaborative work with
architects created many innovative buildings. Raj's works include the Delhi cloth
Mill(1970), the Permanent Exhibition complex (Pragati Maidan-1972) and
the National Co-operative Development Corporation building.
The period since the 1960's has been an era in which issues of cultural identity have
also been raised, not only in India, but also in countries, such as France, which felt
culturally threatened by changes taking place in and around them. Perhaps the
fundamental problem with the Modern movement was that architects used the forms of
buildings and urban designs as a symbol of progress and democracy rather than
attempting to deal with the broader array of human needs.
The geometric patterns of Modernism became used as a set of types for all architectural
works by a number of architects. The patterns of these buildings became embedded in
the minds of the clients as expressions of progress. Much of the continuing Modernist
work consists of commercial buildings, some of which stand out because of their
distinctive character. This character may arise from their location-they are single towers
in an otherwise lower scaled built environment or they have a design different from the
norm.
The former group includes such buildings as the Vikas Minar of the DDA and the latter
is exemplified by buildings like the LIC (below,left) by Charles Correa in CP. It is a
stone and mirror glass building under a steel framed parasol set on a podium and
dwarfs the Connaught circus buildings(below, right) designed by Tor Russell.Both
the buildings are substantially different from their surroundings as well as from standard
commercial buildings
In response to concern about the changing face of new Delhi, the urban arts
commission was set up by the parliament in 1973 and given powers of approval over
structures of "public importance". Its members proved either unwilling or unable,
however, to halt the spread of high-rise building.
The 1962 plan had included a system for controlling the height of buildings by creating a
floor-area ratio in which height was related to plot size, with ratios varying according to
the zone of the city. The most generous height allowances were projected for the
business district adjacent to Connaught place.
Included in various proposals for the district was a scheme produced by Raj
Rewal and Kuldip singh in 1968 for the controlled redevelopment of barakhamba and
Curzon roads.
They suggested that tower blocks be set back from the street alignment, to be partially
screened by a raised pedestrian plaza and an irregular line of relatively low buildings. A
similar proposal was made in 1969 for Janpath(below,left) another broad artery leading
into Connaught place. This street was to continue as a shopping area, with low-rise
buildings bordering the street and tall buildings set within the blocks. In practice,
however, the district had no unified plan, becoming instead the focus of spontaneous
high-rise development.
The old unity of style, moreover, was supplanted by flamboyantly competing forms.
Contributing to the dramatic new profile of the commercial center was the life
Insurance corporation of India building byCharles Correa, together with the state
trading corporation (below,right) and the new town hall byRaj Rewal and Kuldip
Singh. The large column free framework in vertical shafts creates large spans and
allows for a variety of forms to be hung between them.
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Background
Part2
Housing Sector
Sixties Development continued....
Other examples of the sixties development include the NCDC (National Cooperative
Development Corporation) building andthe Delhi Civic Centre(left)designed
by Kuldip Singh. The NCDC headquarters has a circulation core in which elevators are
linked to two sloping wings by footbridges.
Closer to the explorations of late modernism in Europe and the United States is the pure
sculptural work represented by the Bahai House of Worship(1980-86) designed
by Fariburz Sahba and theBelgian Embassy (below, left) and the Ambassadors
Residence in the Chanakyapuri Enclave by Satish Gujral. (1980-83).The Belgian
embassy is a unique work in India. The chancery is an exposed brick building, which is
an Expressionist statement and the ambassador's residence is more like an inhabitable
ruin.
LOTUSTEMPLE- The Bahai house of worship (above, right) is a representation of an

opening lotus flower, a flower sacred to many Indians. The structure consists of three
ranks of nine petals each and uses water and light as decorative elements. It is also
detailed to deal effectively with New Delhi's heat by drawing air over a reflecting pool to
cool it. The building is designed to represent the clarity and clarity of the Bahai faith.
Since 1970 architects have increasingly looked at traditional urban design and building
types for inspiration. They have looked at the way light, massing and sitting has been
handled; how decorative features form part of the architecture; the materials used; the
construction process.
The use of traditional forms has been explored in Raj Rewal's AsiadVillage (1980-82),
his National Institute of Immunology (1984-8) (below, left), the Design
Groups Yamuna Housing Society (1973-80), their YMCA staff Housing and
their HUDCO bazaar.
The SCOPE (Standing Conference of Public Enterprises) Building (above, right),

designed by Raj Rewal (1980-9) is close to being a megastructure. It is almost 100,000
square meters; ten story building, housing seven thousand employees. It is a city within
a city. Its sitting as an object in space is strictly Modernist. SCOPE's square modular
system and corner towers make it look like a citadel. It is Modernist in its expression of
structure; the service and air conditioning ducts above the roof like chimneys.
All these buildings are one off statements. In contrast, across India, there are thousands
of buildings highly similar in appearance. They are from the same cloth, so to speak.
Their architecture has become known as Utilitarian Modernism.
In addition to the vast social housing estates the design concepts have been applied to
many other building types- district centres (e.g. Nehru Place), offices, shopping areas
and institutional buildings, particularly schools.
From district centres to corporate parks

The central business districts serve a vital and useful purpose as the heart of the city,
and its deterioration presents a challenge to business and civic enterprise.In this
category we can place CP, Sadar bazaar and the district centres proposed by the
master plan.(The Master Plan of 1962 for the city of Delhi proposed for seven district
centers at- Nehru Place, Rajendra Place, Bhikaji cama Place, Janakpuri, Lakshmi
Nagar, Shivaji Place, Jhandewalan).
A second type is a small business district. The small commercial center contains the
chain retail stores, professional offices, service supply enterprises, motion picture
theaters, bank branches and stock exchanges. Then we have the neighborhood
centers.
Coming back to the district centres-While the architecture of Nehru Place(below,left) is
highly utilitarian and is not holding well over time its urban idea is nevertheless an
Indian innovation. It segregates pedestrian and vehicular traffic and creates an internal
plaza, existing as an island in the sea of parking.
A step ahead from Nehru place-The District Centre at Janakpuri (above,right) developed
on a 35 acre site and designed by Ranjit Sabiki serves as an important shopping centre
catering to the needs of a large residential population of the area. Simultaneously
providing for social, cultural, and recreational requirements through the provision of
cinemas, a meeting hall, library cultural centre and a hotel. The graceful colonnaded
arcade and the landscaped central garden of Connaught Place is an image of New
Delhi that is easily identifiable. In the creation of a major new commercial centre in West
Delhi this image served as a point of reference and thus the shopping centre at
Janakpuri has a handsome double height colonnade which defines and ties together all
shopping spaces. This in turn extends visually and relates to the landscaped courts and
gardens of the District Centre.
Another major preoccupation in the creation of this District Centre has been the need to
provide a strong framework of order that would not in any way restrict the multitude of
signs, lights and fixtures that define the expression of exuberance in all existing
commercial centres within the city. Specific spaces have been defined for the erection of
signs and hoardings, and in order to be able to camouflage the multitude of fixtures
such as air coolers, air conditioners, etc. a system of pre-cast concrete louvers has
been proposed. These louvers are spaced wide enough to allow light and air to
penetrate through, but from a distance, they still read as a screen which in turn forms
part of the standard facade and serves as a unifying element.
India Habitat Center
The design of the India Habitat centre marks a transition in the architecture of Joseph
Allen Stein. This is mainly as an expression of a realization, perhaps sub-conscious,
that buildings of this scale and function represent the complexities of contemporary
society, where a building is an artifact that can be critically altered by its users and
respondents. Hence there was a conscious decision to under build. The IHC utilizes
only 1.4 of the 2.5 FAR permitted at the time of construction.
The IHC contains a variety of functions that cater to almost all types of requirements.
Major office spaces are located in the blocks adjacent to the main streets, the
associated functions such as guest rooms, staff quarters and the auditorium are
adjacent to the Lodi colony housing. The blocks housing the offices are articulated to
form the three courtyards, the ground levels of which contain public functions such as
exhibition spaces, fast food restaurant, banks etc. and access to the vertical cores. The
blocks adjacent to the housing area have been progressively reduced in volume and the
auditorium is set back substantially from the plot line to create a distinct entry.
The courtyard views of IHC
DLF Centre
The traditional district centres have given way to more "global" office buildings. Located
on a site adjoining the historic Jantar Mantar Observatory, the DLF CENTRE (designed
by Ranjit Sabiki) follows the curved form of the erstwhile Narendra Placebuilding on the
same site and also reflects the curved form of the Park Hotel on the opposite side
across Parliament Street.Conceived as a sophisticated office complex, the building is
the most up to date structure of its kind in the capital having central air-conditioning, a
sprinkler system, fire detection system, reverse osmosis water system, and a full
capacity stand-by generator. Parking and services are accommodated in three levels of
basement below ground level and the offices are distributed in the ten floors above
ground. Externally, the building is expressed in a simple curved curtain wall on the front
and back with a granite colonnade defining the lower two floors. The two end walls have
long uninterrupted curtain walls, which to the South provides a spectacular panoramic
view of the Jantar Mantar Complex.
Amba Deep Towers,CP
Amba Deep Tower, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Delhi is a cluster of three towers with the
tallest of 23 floors, grouped around an 8-storeyed atrium. The covered area of the
complex is 2, 00,000 sq.ft. A glass capsule and a large, multi-level Shopping Centre are
some of the important features of the project. It was completed in 1992 at a cost of Rs.
20 crores. Designed for the Ansal Group of Companies by CP Kukreja associates,
Amba Deep is a forceful blend of the traditional and modern high-tech. Located on a 1.3
acre corner plot in Connaught Place, the building has advantage of a segregated car
park with vehicular entry from the side road- a major plus in the busy area it is
stimulated in. The building is an interesting massing of three vertical tower blocks,
basically square in plan, of varying heights arranged around an atrium- the cohesive
design element. The tallest tower is 21 storeys (84 m high) and overlooks the arcaded
terraces of the smaller towers (14 storeys and 9 storeys high respectively).
The two smaller blocks as well as the glass encased lifts overlook the landscaped
atrium. Storage areas, the air-conditioning and mechanical plant along with an electric
sub-station and the mandatory car parking requirements are all housed in three
basements of the building. Essentially commercial in nature, the building is carefully
designed to allow for maximum floor area coverage. Landscaping is an integral part of
the design and strong elements that penetrate into the interior of the building include the
atrium, with its terraced waterfall and planters, and a court at the back of the buildings
which is overlooked by the staff canteen and the ground floor. The bold facade
treatment in long continuous bands broken at corners by square pilasters uses
geometric patterned glass tiles in shades of white, yellow and blue- used so strongly
perhaps for the first time in a modern building of this scale.
Beyond Delhi- Gurgaon's Corporate buildings
The DLF Corporate park (left) is a unique concept of seven corporate towers on one
site. Conceptualized by DLF Universal Ltd., the leading developers of Delhis satellite
city Gurgaon and located just outside Delhi, CorporatePark is the hot new business
address in Delhi. The towers have been bought by various multi-national corporations
like Pepsi, Dupont, etc. Five of the seven towers are used by individual organisations
and two have been given floor wise. A common basement serves as a car park and
houses the services. The high-performance glass and alucobond cladding system used
in these structures is state of the art and particularly suited to achieving the corporate
look recognized all over the world. The area around the tower blocks is landscaped to
form a harmonious and pleasing mix of stone paving, water bodies and grassy
mounds. The serene surroundings contribute to the productivity of the workplace.
Signature Towers
Signature towers- is a Joint Venture office complex project with M/s. Unitech of New
Delhi and Singapore Consortium located on the outskirts of Delhi on Delhi-Jaipur
Highway, The complex has 2 basements with 2,50,000 sq.ft and 15 upper floors with an
area of 3,50,000 sq.ft. The complex is centrally air-conditioned with 100% back up
power, high-speed lifts and comprehensive Building Management System facilities. The
BMS facilities include energy management in lighting, power and air-conditioning, fire
fighting control, security and billing system, car parking management facilities etc. The
cost of the project is estimated to have cost Rs. 90 crores.
Capital Court,Delhi
The Capital court office complex has been designed by Raja Aederi (the architect
of Le' Meridien). The building has a maintenance free finish of heritage plaster with a
granite band, along with structural glazing. The complex houses seven floors of varying
areas ranging from 20,000 to 10,000 sq. ft. This has been achieved by staggering the
floors at all levels as you go up. The use of beam and slab construction has provided
large column free spans which provide the offices with flexibility of space utilization.
Each corporate house owns a floor area of at least 5,000 sq. ft.The scale and height of
the atrium provides an ease of circulation and access and leads directly into the lift core
which houses capsule lifts which enable a visitor to enjoy the scale of the atrium at
upper levels as well.
It is important to recognize that design of office buildings has become more

complexthan what it was fifty years back. Projects are larger, and more agencies and
business undertakings are involved and the clearly definable patron has vanished.
Office buildings are driven by market forces other than any other building topology. This
exposes architects to an interesting facet of the profession- the business of
architecture, something that is always believed by architects as hard to
accept.Furthermore, the level of technical complexity is greater and above all teamwork
is the buzzword. Many more consultants need to be involved and technical integration
has become vital. Successful office design, today, is much like a carefully orchestrated
symphony.
Virtual offices or intelligent buildings are fast becoming the norm of the day. The
functioning of such buildings is controlled by advanced computer systems. An Intelligent
Building Management System (IBMS) helps make minor adjustments to control the air
conditioning and lighting in response to the changes in climate, so as to maintain a
conducive working ambience for employees. Companies like Compaq are already using
the concept of hot desking.
ICFI building
IFCI, Delhi- This is a unique building in Delhi with ground and 22 upper floors, providing
columns less office area on each floor. This is also one of the First Intelligent Buildings
in Delhi. Won in competition the scope of the builders included total architectural and
other services until final completion and handing over. No car parking has been
provided as clients intend to provide parking in the multi-level car park to be constructed
by Delhi development authority. The building has central A/C, with cabins having split
A/C units for after office hour use.
Redefining the Corporate Look -AN ARTICLE ON THE PRESENT INDUSTRY
REQUIREMENTS
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The background till independence
Delhi remains one of the oldest surviving cities in the world today. It is in fact, an
amalgam of eight cities, each built in a different era on a different site each era
leaving its mark, and adding character to it and each ruler leaving a personal
layer of architectural identity. It has evolved into a culturally secular city
absorbing different religions, diverse cultures, both foreign and indigenous, and
yet functioning as one organic entity. It was known for its riches both material
and cultural foreign travellers were hypnotised by it books have been written
on it since time immemorial, poets have loved it and Kings and Emperors have
fought over it.
Delhi has a history of resilience plundered, looted and destroyed several times over
by central Asian and Persian rulers the city always returned to its cultural
sophistication and intellectual sensitivity a tribute to the undying spirit of the citizens
of Delhi.
An inscription on one of the walls at Diwan I Khas in the Red Fort
describes Delhi as
"If on earth there be a place of bliss
It is this, it is this, it is this"
Mir Taqi Mir, a poet from Delhi, wrote:
"The streets of Delhi are not mere streets;
They are like the album of a painter"
The streets of Delhi have also flown red with blood it has seen massacres of the
innocent, yet the same streets have also seen the joy of freedom.
Delhi : A Transition through Time - As you walk along the narrow bylanes of this city of
dreams, tread softly. Every crumbling wall has a story to tell. Every yesterday is replete
with history. Rulers have come and gone. The city has lived through wars and
resurrection, repeatedly rising from the ashes.
Cradling civilisations since times immemorial Delhi goes back hundreds of thousands of
years back into time.
Stone tools belonging to early stone age were discovered from the Aravalli tracts in and
around Anangpur, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Campus, the northern ridge and
elsewhere - evidence that the Early Man lived here.
Excavations at Mandoli and Bhorgarh in east and north-west Delhi respectively have
thrown up remains of chalcolithic period dating back to 2nd millennium BC, 1st
millennium BC as well remains of 4th-5th century AD have been traced here.
The excavations of the ancient mound of Indraprastha, capital of the Pandavas, located
withing the fold of the sixteenth century Purana Qila revealed evidence of continuous
habitation of the site for almost 2500 years.
According to the Mahabharata, the Pandavas founded their capital Indrapratha in the
region known as Khandava-prastha. Delhi was also witness to the glories of the Maurya
Empire during 3rd century BC. The Ashokan edict engraved on a rock in East of Kailash
as well as remains found in Purana Quila excavations belonging to the Mauryan period
point to Delhi's importance during this era.
The first city of Delhi, Lal Kot was founded by the Tomar ruler Anangpal, in the 11th
century. It was extended to Qila Rai Pithora by King Vigraharaja IV (Circa 115364). Qutbuddin Aibak becameDelhi's first Sultan in 1206 and laid the foundations of the
Qutb Minar, India's tallest stone tower at the site of the first city of Delhi subsequently
the kings of the Sultanate dynasties, Khaljis, Tughluqs Sayyids and Lodis continued to
build. New cities as Delhi grew.
The second city around Siri by Alaud-Din Khalji (1296-1316); Tughlaqabad, the third
city built byGhiysud-Din Tughlaq (1321-51); Firozabad, the fifth city of Delhi, is now
represented by Kotla Firuz Shah, founded by Firuz Shah Tughluq (1351-88).
It was Humayun who laid the foundations of the sixth city - Dinpanah. This was
destroyed and reconstructed as the Purana Qila by Sher Shah Suri. However, it was
the Mughals who took Delhi to the zenith of architectural glory.
While some construction activities did continue during the reign of Akbar (1556-1605)
and Jehangir (1605-27), it was Shah Jehan (1628-58) who built the seventh
city, Shahjahanabad which remained the Mughal capital until 1857.
The old city of Shahjahanabad, a compact high-density settlement, had its foci in
the Red Fort(above) and Jama Masjid (below), the two major building complexes, and in
the bursting business street of Chandni Chowk(left). The city was walled by high
masonry walls, punctured by strategic entrance gates linking it with other major towns in
the region. Winding streets from these gates meandered into the close-grained builtform, creating a hierarchy of streets leading upto the major ceremonial and commercial
thoroughfare of Chandni Chow)
This principal artery, aligned in the east-west direction of the old city, address the main
entry to the Red Fort, a walled, military/civic complex within the walled city. The sky-line
was, however, dominated by Jama Masjid (left), placed symbolically atop a hill and
complimented by a large urban open space befitting the scale and prestige of the city.
The surrounding built-form was originally divided into introverted clusters reflecting the
socio-economic structure and supporting a high degree of functional mix.
The northern parts of the town were settled by the British in the mid 19th century, where
they established their churches, banqueting halls, bungalows and civil lines. The
introduction of the railways in the late 19th century, coupled with the British presence,
induced new trade and developments around the north and the west of Shahjahanabad.
The traditional, dense, built form of the old city with central courtyards and narrow
streets was counter pointed by the new prototype of the European Style bungalow with
vast green spaces around structures, elaborate compound walls and wrought iron
gates. With the decision to establish a new capital, the British found a location south of
it, leaving a large buffer open space between the two.
The site chosen was a sparsely populated area, sloping up gently from the Yamuna
river and Purana Quila towards the west, culminating in a mound called Raisina Hill.
The new site enjoyed aspect, altitude, water, virgin soil, and afforded an excellent view
of Shahjahanabad and other remains of the older Delhis.
The British in 1911 shifted the capital of India to Delhi. The eighth city of New Delhi took
shape in the imperial style of architecture. From then to now Delhi continues to throb
with vitality and hope.
From 1912 to 1931 British architects Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens and Sir Herbert
Baker were responsible for the construction of New Delhi as Britain's new imperial
capital of India. The challenge they faced was to produce an architecture that
successfully combined local traditions with a statement of colonial power. New Delhi's
urban plan, with its emphasis on wide, straight roadways radiating like the spokes of a
wheel from major imperial landmarks, was a direct expression of British control. But
Lutyens design for the Viceroy's House (1912-1931), though inspired by
neoclassicism, also paid homage to Delhi's Mughal architecture in its use of red and
yellow sandstone, its dome, and in other details.
LUTYENS NEW DELHI
Lutyens plan for New Delhi, conceived and constructed between 1912 and 1931, was
very much the genre of Versailles and L Enfants Washington. Characterized by
formally laid out axial movement net-works, strongly articulated terminal vistas and a
low-density, low-rise physical fabric, New Delhi was the prestigious capital of Britains
Indian Empire, accommodating its governmental and other auxiliary functions.
The plan establishes two major visual corridors, one with the Jama Masjid of
Shahjahanabad and the other with Purana Qila, an even older fortification of Delhi,
culminating in the Capitol Complex. Along the Purana Qila axis, in the east-west
direction, is the major ceremonial green called the Central Vista with the Kings Way
penetrating the Capitol Complex between two major office blocks, and terminating in
theViceregalPalace. The integrated mass of the Capitol Complex provides a visual
climax to this dramatic linear open space, criss-crossed by lateral roads and punctuated
by India Gate and a small but very ingeniously designed pavilion to shelter the statue of
King George.
The formal nature of the New Delhi plan as often complemented by structures disposed
symmetrically in space. The buildings are aligned in axis to movement lines and
centrality is maintained in the placement of domes, spires and other elements in relation
to building mass and plazas. This is particular true of the Central Vista, where very strict
geometry is also observed on both sides of the green.
Even though the New Delhi plan was alien in spirit to indigenous planning practices,
Lutyens attempted an interesting mixture of architectural styles blending Indian and
European vocabularies. Innovative detailing using Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic
elements abound in these buildings. Aware of the fact that local laborers had to be
employed in the actual construction process using materials and techniques familiar to
them, the designers adopted a vocabulary that was familiar to them. The careful
blending of alien elements expressed in red and pink sandstone has resulted in a
unique style that at once has the gravity of European Classicism and the humane charm
of indigenous architecture.
Lutyens and his team of architects borrowed freely from Indian architectonic elements
using them not only as appopriate building components, but also to create a contextual
continuity. Purana Quila, which terminated the Central Vista on the east in the original
plan, is characterized by a unique element, the Chhattri, which is a cupola like structure
that accentuates the sky line. Adaptation of this chhattri in the Capitol Compex provides
an example of how a simple architectonic element was used by Lutyens to create
symbolic and physical continuity.
Apart from the chhattris, stone trelliswork, sun shades balconies supported by stone
brackets, characteristic door and window details, cornices, mouldings etc, are executed
in combinations of red and pink sandstone in the Central Vista buildings. In Lutyuens
own buildings concrete or masonry structures are often clad with stone, or stone is used
directly as structural material. However, the scale of structures is broken by the use of
carved stone depicting European and Indian symbolic elements such as elephants,
snakes, shells, bells, fruit forms, leaves and so on, at appropriate places. Compound
walls, benches, lamp posts and other urban furniture elements are also used to create
textures and rhythms which break down the scale to a human level.
The consistent use of sandstone, with the visually heavier red stone at the base of
buildings and lighter pink stone on the upper parts, is another dominant factor that lends
visual cohesion to the entire group of buildings. The warm hues of stone complement
the vast green background in the Central Vista. The sandstone, available in plenty even
today, is a versatile material used traditionally for structures and is easily amenable to
ornamentation. In post-independent India, major government buildings have come up
on either side of the Central Vista and most conform to the general colour scheme.
In the Capitol Complex, water is used as a landscape element in a formally laid out
garden for theViceregalPalace and in the Office Court on Raisina hill. Two large
fountains placed symmetrically below the office blocks mark the beginning of water
bodies that flank Rajpath on either side. These are less than a metre deep and
terminate near India Gate with another two symmetrically placed fountains. A small
water body surrounds the chhattri further east of India Gate, axially placed on the Vista.
A gaint lake at the eastern end of the Vista which was a part of Lutyens original plan
was never realized.
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From housing colonies to apartment blocks
The lodi colony(left) is an example of work being done at the very beginning of the
Nehru era. The buildings are of two stroreys containing four flats-two on the ground floor
and two on the floor above. The ground floor flats have access to private space on both
sides. Each flat consists of two rooms, a kitchen, bathroom, toilet and verandahs. There
are two entrances and the toilet is located well away from the kitchen. These locations
were kept keeping in mind the prevailing cultural norms. The units have proved to be
highly adaptable to different ways of life. The verandah is often used for sleeping and
backyards for food preparation.
From 1947 onwards, refugee housing areas, known as "rehabilitation colonies" were
built on the periphery of New Delhi by the New Delhi Improvement Corporation, the
CPWD and later the DDA. The colonies of Nizamuddin, Lajpat Nagar,
Kalkaji and Malviya Nagar in the south, and two Rajendra Nagars, three Patel
Nagars, Moti Nagar, Ramesh Nagar and Tilak Nagar on the west of the city are
products of this era. These colonies were either plotted development or built by a
government agency.
A typical government agency plan(1947-55) consisted of units built on a site of 60 to 70
square meters. The layout of the newer housing schemes were much tighter than
the Lodi colony but the rooms were the same size. The backyard was smaller and the
units became part of a row or of larger blocks.
The building of housing colonies throughout the Nehru years attempted to keep pace
with the migration of people to the cities and into India from Pakistan. The units
remained much the same but the front garden usually disappeared to be replaced by
communal gardens which are an adaptation of the type in the Rajendra Nagar housing.
These gardens consist of a fenced lawn, enclosed by an access road, which is
surrounded by the housing blocks
Laxmi nagar housing (left), built in the 50's, by the CPWD, for the government
employees, is typical of the period. Located south ofSafdarjungAirport, it consists of 2
types of housing units; 756 three room flats for gazetted workers and 655 two-room
units for non-gazetted staff. A central area contains school while the market is located in
one corner.
Over time, each area becomes a symbol of status of its inhabitants, depending upon the
size of the unit and often the ethnicity of the people who live there. Names of the areas
give identity. Chittranjan park was developed for Bengali refugees from East
Pakistan (Bangladesh).
Yamuna Apartments,(left) by Ranjit Sabiki, was one of the first co-operative group
housing schemes to be completed, and although they have been built within the same
constraints as applicable to other housing development in the city - including DDA's own
housing - they present a refreshing contrast in concept and design.
The layout of the complex is in the form of four radial streets converging on an
asymmetrically placed central square that forms the focus. At this point is located a club
house at first floor level forming a bridge across two housing blocks. Close by are the
central amenities such as shops, canteen and recreational facilities.
The housing units themselves are of simple standardized plan. There are three basic
types that have been used in combination on a repetitive basis to form the individual
housing blocks. The access staircases in each block form important design elements.
These staircases wind around a central wall panel but at each half landing have an
independent flight peeling off to lead directly to the front door of an adjacent residential
unit. This device helps not only in giving the staircases externally a sense of
gracefulness but in addition imbues each staircase with considerable importance as a
transitional space between the common public areas and the private areas of each unit.
YMCA Staff quarters,(left) built in 1962and designed by Ranjit Sabiki, is a complex of

four secretaries apartments and four junior staff quarters. The clients brief insisted on a
physical separation of the two categories of apartments and this was developed in the
form of a separating street. The same basic system of planning on a square grid with a
system of alternating terraces on each floor ensured an overall unity of concept.
The system of alternating terraces ensured that all large openings to the outside were
adequately protected from the harsh summer sun. A system of internal courtyards and
the separating street were in keeping with traditional planning systems providing both
comfortable climactic conditions as well as privacy to each apartment.
The Asian Games Village (left) was constructed on a thirty-five acre site in Delhi in
1981-82. This complex, consisting of two hundred houses and five hundred apartments,
was intended to be sold to private buyers once it had served the purpose of housing
visiting athletes. In the Asiad Housing Raj Rewal has explored the use of urban patterns
from Jaipur and Jaisalmer in both theAsiadVillage and Sheikh Sarai. The site design is
based on the system of streets and chowks of traditional housing areas in Rajasthan.
Vehicular movement and parking thus has to be on the periphery.
The housing itself involves an aesthetic and volumetric play through the use of many
terraces, with the floors decreasing in size as the building goes up.The tendency of the
residents to consider the fronts of their houses to be facing the parking area and the
back to be facing the chowks results in the scheme not having the same set of public
and semi public spaces and thus the territorial controls of the original type.
In the ideological climate of Western post-modernism, the high-density Delhi housing

complexes drew high praise, and foreign critics eagerly accepted at face value the
architects claims that such building appropriately accorded with both tradition and
contemporary living patterns.
The shared spaces and the implied social intimacy of the tradition-inspired housing
complexes do not necessarily reflect the lives of the inhabitants. The Yamuna
housing was commissioned by a group of people from Tamil Nadu who already formed
a cohesive community, sharing a local language and set of customs. The backers
of Tara complex came from diverse backgrounds, having in common only their
connection with parliament. The occupants of the Institute of Immunology housing have
no link other than their common employer. The Asian Games housing was built by the
government with no particular group of occupants in mind, but with the assumption that
it would be sufficiently attractive to be readily salable. In spite of Delhis chronic housing
shortage, the Asian Games units proved difficult to market, although it remains unclear
whether the problem lay with the nature of the architecture or with the high prices.
Both before and after independence, planners promoted the development of a
sprawling, automobile-based, low-density metropolis. Within this unfocused ambient,
the new housing enclaves create a counter-image, as though small bits of Old Delhi,
however, the new complexes are purely residential and their inhabitants, like their
neighbors in more conventional housing, are dependent on motor transport for access
to employment, shopping, recreation, and other urban facilities.
Over the past decade or so we can see a shift towards apartment buildings. What
stemmed out as a result of scarcity of land is now being opted by many through choice.
Apartment blocks are better equipped and provide greater facilities and services to their
tenants as opposed to villa homes. A sense of security which one gets in a well guarded
society is the driving force for many individuals, so much so, that they are selling off
their independent bungalows to buy space in such housings.
Moreover the developers have a lot to offer from in built gyms and swimming pools to
community centres and 100% power back up for their clients.
In addition to such developer done up apartment blocks we have a rise in the
cooperative group societies in the city. The positive impact is that there is optimum
utilization of space. But at the same time the overall image, in certain areas, does get
affected by tall skyscraper apartment buildings. At times they end up giving a very hard
look.
Dwarka, positioned as one of the largest sub-city in Asia and the first area to be
developed as part of Delhi Development Authority (DDA's) strategy of urban expansion.
Lured by affordable prices and sylvan surroundings, the middle class had staked a
claim here. Patterned on Le Corbusiers town planning concept forChandigarh, the total
area of this much hyped sub-city is 5,648 ha and incorporates 29 sectors.
The planning of the city, which is expected to house over one million people (including
both DDA's housing and co-operative group housing societies), began in 1989. The
area is conceptualised as an open landscape with large vacant space, several district
parks, wide roads , children play areas, sport complexes, district centres, etc.
FOLLOWING ARE 3 ANALYTICAL ARTICLES RELATED DELHIS DEVELOPMENTARCHITECTURE AND IDENTITY

CITIES AS MOVEMENT ECONOMIES
DELHI: CITY IN CONFLICT
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ARCHITECTURE AND IDENTITY

The question of how best- if at all- India's architectural heritage could be used to self
consciously create architectural expressions has been always a complex one. The issue
has been further compounded by the regional diversity of the country and its people.
British hegemony tended to impose a set a ideas on the whole country, altough there
has been a continuos debate in India about how they ideas should be treated. With
political independence in 1947 came a desire for new ways of thinking, which together
with the entrenched ways, resulted in dual set of values that continued to shape the
work of architects. One set focussed on the future and the other on the past.
The search for a symbolic aesthetic reflecting the aspirations of India has focussed
largely on what a building, building complex, or urban scheme is made of - its structure
and materials- and, more generally on what it looks like, its external appearance- its
size, proportional schemes, decoration and relationship to its neighbors and site.
While the focus on the issue of identity communicated through the exterior appearance
of buildings is fundamental, the internal spatial organization of neighborhoods and
buildings and the purposes they serve are also important.
Buildings and urban patterns also have a fourth dimension- time. There are two aspects
to this dimension. In the first place to understand the environment in the course of the
everyday activities of life, a person moves through it, and therefore the sequential
experience of one space after another, or more correctly, one behaviour setting after
another, becomes important. The expected sequential organization of the built
environment is very much culture bound and it changes over time as culture changes.
The second aspect is that the built environment, at any moment, is a compilation of the
changes made in it over time. it is seldom static; it changes as human needs and
perceptions of the good life change- as people's aspirations change. These changes
may be carried out unselfconsciously by people as part of everyday life or self
consciously in the purposeful pursuit of specific design objectives. The buildings around
us thus contain memories of the past.
The link between a pattern of built form and its meaning depends on an association
between the form and some referent. The relationship between the pattern (or symbol),
the thought (or the meaning specified) and the referent (idea or another with which the
symbol is associated) is often represented in a triangular form.
The symbolic meaning of a particular urban or architectural pattern depends not only on
the pattern itself but also on its geographical and cultural context. The indian patterns
used by John Nash in theBrighton pavilion on the south coast of England carry
meanings very different from those they would have if the pavilion was in India or built
today or designed by an Indian architect. The meaning would also differ if the building
was located in a residential area rather than a commercial one.
It is the design of the faade of the buildings that has most frequently been the focus of
self-conscious attention- the presentation of a face to the world- the external
appearance. There are more subtle variables that carry meaning. The internal spatial
organization of a building, its degree of enclosure, the proportion of enclosed space to
open, the plan layout, the sequential experience as one moves through as set of spaces
and the degree of penetration an outsider is allowed into a building are all culture
bound,
The variables of the built environment that communicate meaning are vast, having
many values and interacting with each other. They can, nevertheless, be categorized
into a number of basic architectural elements-
1) The overall configuration of a precinct of a city or a building carries meaning. The

patterns and masses that comprise an architectural style have specific associations.
Thus the organizing principles behind a specific pattern and its components are of great
architectural concern in communicating meaning.
2) The materials of which any building is constructed and the construction techniques
used carry meaning.
3) The illumination of buildings and their interiors has been a major carrier of symbolic
meaning. Usually one thinks of light in this way only in he case of ceremonial buildings
such as the Bahai House of worship designed by Fariburz Sahba. Certainly the explicitly
symbolic use of light has been associated with such places, but, except for the blind,
every behaviour setting possesses some level of light.
4) The use of colour- colour serves many mundane purposes such as reflecting light
or hiding dirt but it is also a medium of aesthetic expression.
5) The uses to which spaces have been put and ther relationship to each other have
meaning. Some uses are sacred, some are mundane.
6) The activities that take place in specific spaces- the behaviour settings that
comprise the environment- are associated with particular cultures.
Creating Symbolic Expression in Built Form
Designing purposefully to communicate specific symbolic meanings is a complex task. It
is even more difficult if one seeks to do so in a new way. It is difficult to think of any
architectural expression as something completely novel, a total break from any
precedent. While modern architecture did introduce a new special order and
construction ideology, it had a number of antecedents. Complete spatial and visual
novelty can only come with a radical restructuring of society.
According to Lucien Steil, there are three modes of architectural production: imitation,
copy andpastiche. To Steil, the first is the truly creative. Imitation is the process of
creating something new- not simply novel- out of a thorough understanding of the
principles underlying precedents. The design objectives and the architectonic and
technological mechanisms of achieving them need to be fully comprehended;
the affordances of specific patterns of built form must be understood. A copy, in

contrast, is a replication, or reproduction, of a precedent, while a pastiche is a
reproduction of a number of elements- compositional or stylistic- of some precedent. A
pastiche is thus a partial and imperfect copy. It focuses on the appearance- or rather
the impression of appearance- of an artifact, be it a small object or a city. Copying might
be seen to be the least productive design mechanism but it often requires great skill,
particularly in craftsmanship.
Indianization has different meanings for different people both in the sense of an idea
and the possible manifestations of that idea. One view is that the government and
governmental agencies such as the Central and State Public Works Departments and
institutions such as professional including architectural associations, for instance,
should be run by Indians and buildings be designed by Indians. A second view is that
those institutions and their modes of operation should be based on Indian traditions. In
both cases not only were instrumental ends sought but self-esteem and a sense of
identity; there was a symbolic dimension to the development of both the architecture
and the profession.
The goal has been to develop a symbol system that has, as Nikhil Perera puts it, a
capacity to accommodate diverse social and cultural representations with the nation.' It
implied more then simply copying the past.
While some of the efforts of the nationalist movement focused on the maintenance of
traditions, the movement was generally modern in spirit because it sought change. The
questions were Change to what and implicitly, Will we still be Indians if we change?
The arguments in architecture over the course of the last century reflected and shaped,
at least partly, contemporary national debates on the nature of progress and the
meaning of being Indian. In Indian architecture one sees this tussle between
modernism, traditionalism and revivalism reflected in built form.
The maintenance of traditions was one way in which local aspirations subverted colonial
and modernizing forces in India. Seeing traditions in architecture solely as the
maintenance of past building forms is, however, a limited view because a part of the
Indian tradition consists of foreign ideas successfully incorporated into indigenous life
and indigenous architecture. In this sense, much of the architecture, which has sought
to amalgamate foreign and indigenous elements over the past five hundred years, has
been in the Indian tradition. Few people, however, understand traditional architecture in
these terms. To most, including architects, tradition involves the maintenance of past
social structures and past architectural patterns rather than the use of past processed of
change. This limitation is unfortunate.
Many buildings in India continue to be designed in a traditional manner not only in rural
areas but also in cities. Mistris continue their traditional role in society either working
with a tried vernacular architectural vocabulary, particularly in the design of religious
buildings, or in a transformed manner as contractors or designers. In contrast, there is
the continued development of architectural activities and increase in the number of
activities, further separating design and construction processes.
The terms modernization and westernization are often used synonymously.
Westernization, in the Indian context, usually means changes introduced by the British
prior to Independence and afterwards through the application of ideas from European
and American sources.
Modernism is simply The State of being up-to date. The use of the term here implies
changes from the past in certain structural characteristics of a society a well as the
adaptiveness of socio-cultural systems to change. Modernism is an attitude. It is based
on the perception that change away from the past is required in order to make the future
better.
Architecturally, the term modern has been applied to whatever contemporary ideas
were regarded as good. The modern movement, however, represented a specific set of
attitudes towards design. Modern architecture responded to the need to provide for the
new patterns of behavior that resulted from political and technological change in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It began with the perception that the classical
orders and composition do not present a universal bias for the appreciation of beauty in
architecture.
Regionalism attempts to out back into architecture what Modernism conspicuously took
out, a continuity in a given place between past and present. Regionalism is seen as the
champion of local values against the universalizing tendencies promoted by
technological advances.
Critical regionalism in the Indian context

(With extracts from anjali shukla's article on critical regionalism)
In the early fifties policies of a progressive and forward-looking approach to everything
gave the Indian architects an opportunity to design and build.
The late sixties, however, saw the emergence of a question of identity. Questions like
how well did the forms conceived marry Indian actually. Their meaning and social
relevance came under scrutiny and questions arose as to whether the forms proposed
were actually devoid of sensitivity to Indian ethos and rootedness of regional styles,
materials and climate. This quest brought about the development of a conscious effort
to bridge the gap between the two variant schools of thought.
The seemingly divergent forces of traditional architecture and contemporary building
methods and materials created a conflict, which became complicated.
As the early seventies approached, this tension, struggle and questioning got weaker. In
the eighties and nineties it totally lost its body and meaning and got replaced by a very
dangerous complacency. There was a certain loss of collective thought a holistic
approach that is totally lacking today.
In the words of Paul Ricorur,." We face a paradox; on the one hand the nation has to
root itself in the soil of its past, forge a national spirit, unfurl this spiritual and cultural
revendication before the colonialists personality.
But in order to take part in modern civilization, it is necessary at the same time to take
part in scientific, technical and political rationality, something which very often requires
the pure abandon of a whole cultural past. It is a fact that every culture has to sustain
and absorb the shock of modern civilization. There lies the paradox: how to become
modern and to return to sources: how to revive an old dormant civilization and take part
in the universal civilization...
The realization of this crucial problem confronting nations just rising from
underdevelopment, like India, leads us to the question that, in order to get onto the road
towards modernization is it necessary to totally abandon the old cultural past which has
been the "raison d etre" of a nation?
To resolve this paradox, Kenneth Frampton proposed the theory of critical regionalism.
By way of general definition, regionalism upholds the individual as well as local
architectonic features as against the more universal and abstract ones. Critical
regionalism, as the name suggests, involves the critical synthesis of a regions traditions
and history, their reinterpretation and finally the expression of these in modern terms.
Hence, the essence of the concept is to mediate the impact of universal civilization with
elements derived indirectly from peculiarities of a particular place.
The features of this theory seem most relevant in analyzing where the blind adoption of
architectural form without any questioning can be turned back towards a more relevant
context.
Consciously bounded architecture: Critical regionalism manifests itself as a
consciously bounded architecture. Most of the contemporary buildings in DLF, Gurgaon,
on the outskirts of Delhi, do not seem to have any binding to where they are, only to a
blindly borrowed image. This is a glimpse of what is prevalent in other parts of the city
as well.
Territorial orientation: It states that a building is not a freestanding object but
established a territory and is established in a territory.
Architecture as tectonic: It looks at architecture as a tectonic fact rather than the

reduction of built environment to a series of ill assorted scenographic episodes. Like the
imagery adopted for these buildings which is then just pasted on to the urban fabric.
Optimizing building systems: It stresses on optimizing the use of building systems
like air conditioning and a tendency to treat all its openings as delicate transitional
zones to respond to specific conditions of climate and light of a place. This factor is
totally ignored insensitively. Consequently, most of these buildings suffer inefficiency of
resource management and maintenance.
Emphasis on the Tactile: It stresses that the tactile is as important as the visual.
Experiential qualities of space are irreplaceable: It claims that one cant replace
experiential qualities of space within, with information. Sensitivity towards local light,
ambient sessions of heat, cold, humidity and air movement are the tools of space
making.
Reinterpreting vernacular elements: The most important feature is that critical
regionalism attempts to reinterpret vernacular elements in the making of space within
and space without. It endeavors to cultivate a contemporary place oriented by culture
without becoming too simplistic or direct about formal references or levels of technology.
With these features forming the backdrop, if one were to now understand and
reinterpret the qualitative and tactile qualities of traditional Indian architecture such as
order, unity, geometry, form and centrality in the context of modern materials and
technology, it might just be the answer t create an architecture of reason and relevance.
An architecture which would not need to hang its head in shame when, asked -what are
you and where are you?
A fitting example would be of the India Habitat Centre by Joseph Allen Stein which is an
office complex with the entire modern systems and requirements of any building with
such a scale. Yet it has captured the essence of the Indian climate-light and shade and
also the form of the courtyard which is one of the most basic and suitable elements of
space making in our local traditions and reinterprets it in the modern idiom: The use of
materials is very sensitive.
Thus, we are at a juncture where all architects and facilitators of large and small
building projects like the DLF Group of builders need to be keenly aware of the fact that
lasting meaning for anything they create lies in the roots which the built environment
has into where it is. A great depth is required to understand the phenomena that India is
with its various nuances of traditions, art, culture, climate and light and then to
reinterpret it into the modern building type with all the high technology building systems
and materials.
All these concerns and concepts must have influenced architects in India fifty years ago
when India got independence. Yet it seems that, without undermining the work of a few
great masters, the thrust towards modernization blinded the makers of the nation to the
need of mediating the impact of auniversal civilization with elements derived indirectly
from the peculiarities of a particular place. The light, nature, climate, topography,
abstractions - religious, mythological and symbolic --- the many different nuances of a
sense of place--- all screamed to be noticed. It was instead preferred to simply import
western concepts to make the new cities and institutions.
After fifty years a chaotic, rootless picture of the nation has emerged which addresses
a change. At such a time when there is an emergence of pride and a surgence towards
pschycological and politicalindependence , in the true sense of the word it is essential
to examine the concept of Critical Regionalism. The understanding and use of this
concept needs a keen self -consciousness. As a step in this direction, Charles
Correa stands out amongst other Indian masters who has the vision to abstract the
cultural history of India and root the present in the past.
Sigfried Gideons concept of the Eternal Presence is the deep source which links
Correa not only to his youth in Goa, but also to the absolutely inexhaustible history of a
subcontinent where past, present and future co-exist in an undistinguishable continuum.
His work has reflections of a thought process, which embodies an understanding of the
subtleties and ambiguities of variations in air and light in various regions.
In his own words - "India is a source of spiritual sustenance that is as universal in its
implications as it is deeply rooted in its geophysical conditions and the mores of a
particular place."
Correas work spans many regions of India, and the essence of the open- to -sky
space irrespective of its many variations, is the pervasive theme of his architecture. A
study of his work provides an insightful glimpse of his quest for Critical Regionalism.
Before staking any claims to fully understanding the concept of Critical Regionalism, it
is essential to be aware of the danger related to gravitating towards being too literal in
interpreting and reflecting the past. And so does the work of Charles Correa have a few
instances of this kind like the L.I.C. building. Yet, being an architect of the sixties, he
managed to cast aside blind adoption of western concepts and has dealt with trying to
capture the meaning of India.
As he puts it himself - "at the deep structural level, climatic
conditions, culture and its expression, its rites and rituals." In itself, climate is the
source of myth: thus the metaphysical quantities attributed to open to sky space in
the cultures of India and Mexico are concomitants of the warm climate in which they
exist : just as the films of Ingmar Bergman would be inconceivable without the dark
brooding Swedish winter.
"The fourth force acting on architecture is Technology. No other art feels its influence
so decisively the prevailing technology changes every few decades. And each time
this happens architecture mustre- invent the expression of the mythic images and
values on which it is based."
The sensitivity to such a large canvas with its many differences is indeed a challenge
for the Critical Regionalist - an architect of the nineties. Setting afoot in search of
the pride of being an Indianarchitect there is an urgent need to concentrate our focus
on clear -rooted thought and reflecting on the past .
The words of Karl Kraus are an appropriate summary to what the architect
in India today must be ...In this noisy epoch which resounds with the horrible symphony
of facts that produce news that is guilty of facts: in this epoch let no particular word be
awaited for me... Nor could I pronounce any new word, for in the room from where I
write, the noise is so loud, and whether it comes form animals, children or only from
mortar is not something to be decided now...Those who now have nothing to say, since
facts are allowed to speak, continues to speak. Let anyone who has something to say,
step forward and keep quiet.
The definition of what is legitimate Indian modernism has often been left to critics from
the developed world, who make patronizing journalistic forays into India or those
theoreticians who inversely complement themselves by recognizing the third world
modernism as the only sign of survival of a style they have long discarded. In
architectural terms one is looking at contemporary architecture that is set free from all
isms and stylistic categories to inquire into the nature of architecture as an aspect of
the dynamic, living, and changing conditions that determine the content of our actions.
The free movement of ideas in time and their growth and evolution within the human
psyche, are what invest architecture with its most powerful political situation, as a
symbol and an instrument of myth. Conceptualization and the consequently stylistic
reductionism have always inhibited its total expression.
In the ongoing debates on contemporary architecture, we have continuously attributed a
purely fictional hiatus between the traditional and the modern, the superstitious and the
rational, Western and eastern, Indian identity and internationalism and so on.
This form of highly individuated discussions on architecture locating the debates outside
nature and the social milieu that actually nurtures architecture throws up primarily three
major issues.
The first issueIt has progressively destroyed the integrity of both the urban fabric and natural
systems. All over the world today it is an accepted fact tat the integrity of the urban
fabric has been compromised most, though the modernist era. The single most
important criticism one can level on modernism, is its callousness towards the city, in
the way it asserted the narcissistic individuality at the expense of the integrity of the preindustrial; city centers.
However, it is a well-known fact that urban design is nothing but an integral way of
building that sees every piece of architecture as a growth module in the city fabric. To
this extent urban design is antimodernist , along with architecture conversation, which
again is but a reaction to the callous postures of modernism to the old fabric.
The distinction between what is classified as the traditional and the modern in buildings,
then melts into this air and becomes the extended range of sensibilities that one can
respond to as a designer.
The second issueBy relying outside its own core for sources of abstraction and thereby creating a deep
schism in sharing of meaning between architects and communities, much of
contemporary architecture has forfeited the right as the prime mediator of the myth
making process of societies. A myth is the quintessential expression of the complex,
dynamic value-frames.
The contradiction between communicability and abstraction is something that every
contemporary architect in India faces sometime or the other. Some of us have bluffed
our way through it, others have made commercial disasters of themselves and some
have given up in the middle. Few have confronted and come to terms with this great
dilemma of contemporary architecture in India.
The third issueBy excessive servility to markets and bartering the freedom to cohere the essence of
our time, contemporary architecture in India has become too vulnerable to global
machinations of the marketing of professional services. The architect is trapeze artist
swinging between creativity, technology and an uncouth market. The market feeds and
imprisons the profession simultaneously. Popular paradigms that are marketed by the
architect at once define the persons as well as provide the architect the lock that he can
break to stay afloat in contemporarily. We have to continuously draw those fine lines
between marketability and expression, and one can easily say that the unfair structure
of the architect inIndia is the single most important factor that endlessly stifles creativity
in this country.
The poor profits we make, the miserable pay that is offered to the bright young fresh
architect compared to other professions are camouflaged in imaginary freedom to
create and the sheer kick of design. Besides most agencies that we deal with in
construction are unreliable and hardly accountable. Materials are poor and a highly
exploitative building labor market suck competence out of the building workers.
It is this adverse market and the servility that it demands that has left the contemporary
architect inIndia, incapable of taking criticism or engaging in any meaningful dialogue
about the direction of our contemporary architecture.
How the architects approach the issue of identityCHARLES CORREA-"Our identity we are searching for is going to be pluralistic. It is not
a mono centric one."India is a pluralistic society. It has many layers of orders. Firstly
overviews are very important in looking for identity. Secondly identity is not a single
pattern. It is not a single pattern. Identity is dynamic and continually changing. Identity is
a process. It is not an end in itself but a by-product.
If identity is pluralistic and dynamic does that mean that anything goes? That anyone
can come in and build anytime, anywhere?
We might not know what something is but we surely know what it is not.
Architect should have the right instincts so that he can tell the difference between
something authentic and something superficially picked up.
There are three streams that create built form.
The first is what is being constructed in the rural areas. It is indigenous. And the second
is new popular.
The third is the architect. We are the purveyors of myths and of ideologies -very often
with the wrong ideologies. In order to change this there are two ways we can
proceed.One is to go back to the indigenous and other to try to invent the future. New
attitudes of life styles should not decide this approach.
RAJ REWAL-"I dont believe in blindly copying our past. We have to learn from the
precedents to solve our existing problems. I feel we have to re-invent modernity in terms
of our own traditions and cultural heritage. It is an important task to search for a modern
architectural language, which responds to our requirements, lifestyle, climate and
building materials. Market economy and the consumerist culture are facts of life and
architectural language is based on it.
Traditional architecture was based on a vocabulary of design which may not be
relevant today even inKashmir or Rajasthan. We are building with concrete with
concrete frame structures, infill walls and now also beginning to build partially industrial
structures. The base of contemporary architecture has to be new techniques of building
and a sensible use of modern and traditional materials.
ROMI KHOSLA " The search for identity in our architecture lies in creating buildings of
the horizontal (contemporary plane) which will recognize and develop out of the
historical (vertical plane) and not purely out of modernism." I dont believe that
architecture is intended to respond to technical and economic scenarios. Architecture
evolves over time. The Indian sub-continent has a craft-based building industry that is
beginning to get industrialized at the periphery. So, buildings are still hand-made and
have industrialized components attached to them- that is the architecture of today.
Tomorrow it may be different. Architectural patronage has always come form the well-todo middle class with a disposal income with which it wants to project its image.
Money multiplying factories and real estate flatted buildings seldom are at the cutting
edge of architectural ideas in the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and Delhi. The
demonstration of architectural bravado is more often that not confined to farmhouses,
hotels and private farmhouses as well as institutional buildings whose mangers wish to
project a progressive image of their institution. There is a wide range of work going on
in India and each architect is busy doing a wide range of work within his office.
The Indian architect is heroic, he will accept my challenge and is far bolder and more
courageous that his western counterpart. He is trying to fight practice against enormous
odds. Firstly, he has no professional support. For all intents our professional such as the
Institute and the Council are still suffering form birth pangs that have rendered them
professionally sterile. Secondly, he is unable to find enough space to work in because
as we all know, the real estates of Mumbai, Delhi, and New York are on the par.
Thirdly, he is powerless to influence the fate of his cities, which have been donated to
the builder who is essentially corrupt. In this architecturally hostile environment you do
need to be heroic to try and build good buildings.
Contemporary architecture is saddled with the same problems and beset contemporary
life. India has a vast architectural heritage and the phrase Indian architecture is as
meaningful or meaningless as the term Indian mind. In trying to define what is Indian,
there would be tendency to identify it as Hindu Indian.. We will then certainly have to
accept that the Taj Mahal is an imported structure. The truth is that India is like a funnel
into which everything keeps getting poured.
How lucky we are! That is the strength of our architecture.
AGK MENON
(Extract from AGK Menon's article "Interrogating modern Indian architecture)
"It is one of the paradoxes of globalization that even as it imposes transnational values
and process in local cultures, it simultaneously gives them a presence they never had
before. The more globalization disrupts, displaces and overlays local traditions, the
more one is made aware of the significance of what is lost in the process.
The interdisciplinary and intercultural scholarship encouraged by globalization brings to
light the value of historically evolved architecture of a region and the indigenous
knowledge systems and practices, which produced it.
With the attainment of Independence, the idea of a unified and homogenous Nation
became an ineluctable reality, and manifested itself in many forms of artistic expression,
not least in the field of architecture. The imperative to modernize, the urgency top
catch-up of course reinforced this idea.
Architects in India innocently traipse through the minefield of cultural representation,
oblivious to the contentious issues inherent in the positions they take. When they aspire
to achieve Indianness in their works, it is attempted without pausing to consider the
ontological significance of he quest; when they reject it, their position still bristles with
their indifference to the urgent ideological and philosophical issues of contemporary
cultural formations. In the last fifty years, architects have not considered this conundrum
an issue, and have thus failed to develop the colonial legacy into transformative
architecture after Independence."
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Background
Part2
Housing Sector
Delhi - City in conflict

After partition Delhi's growth remained unchecked for nearly a decade. Developed land
was in short supply and people did not have the means to afford the exorbitant rates
quoted by the private developers. This led to the establishment of unauthorized
colonies. After the establishment of DDA it acquired most of the land in urban Delhi and
became solely responsible for the development of land.
In terms of planning one noticed a marked change. The mixed land use patterns so
characteristic of our town was not incorporated. The coming in of the automobile
changed the concept of distance, which was now judged on travelling time.
The first indicated vehicular oriented planning was of Lutyens Delhi in 1920's.
The coming of industry too necessitated the removal of noxious industries from
predominantly residential neighborhood. Most of the planners were educated abroad
and were very much influenced by the planning concepts prevalent there.
Therefore the 1962 master plan was based on having identified zones for different
landuses.
According to KP Singh, the MD of DLF, the situation was much better when the ban had
not been imposed on private developers because they did cater to the housing
demands to a large extent.
DDA did however allot plots to cooperative societies for the construction of group
housings like Taraapartments, Yamuna aptts etc.
The expansion of Delhi has resulted in its boundaries extending beyond the Yamuna
river. People tend to live further and further away from the city centre because of the
lower rents prevalent in these areas. This has resulted in increased travelling distance
from work to residence. More time is spent in commuting. To overcome this problem the
city is now working in full swing to construct number of flyovers and to start off the metro
service. In the years to come we will find the ring road signal free and the pressure
would be taken off the buses in a big way with the MRTS getting added to the
transportation scene.
Lutyens Delhi faces the question of redevelopment and re-densification. This areas
differs markedly as compared to the rest of Delhi.
One of the major policies of the Master Plan has been the development of the District
Centers however they have failed to fulfil their purpose. The reason for this could be
that the DDA is only interested in preparing the plan and design with the sole object of
selling the plot. No attention is paid to its location, context and zone of influence. Also
once the project is complete the authorities wash their hands off completely from the
project and leave it to decay with the passing time.
Today the city of Delhi is seem in three forms1. The inner city i.e. The city that existed before the introduction of the Master Plan.
2. The city of planned growth-which evolved between 1962-1982.
3. The new city of the future
It is important to tie the three together to make Delhi a complete and unified entity for a
smooth running of the wheels.
Urban renewal and the impact of transportation on the city's skyline

With excerpts from articles by Mr PR Mehta and Mr Suptendu Biswas
An image of a city is created by its identity. Identity is a reflection of its natural assets
(such as rivers and water bodies, landform, vegetation, etc) people (race, features,
costumes) and the built environment in the form of monuments, buildings and public
spaces. The built environment symbolizes the achievements of a society and the
available technology and space.
Natural increase in population and a continued migration has resulted in densities up to
500 persons per acre in some of the older parts of the cities. This is far beyond the
acceptable environmental limits. Many of the buildings have outlived their utility.
Rebuilding has been impossible because of multiple ownerships- an outcome of sub
divisions of properties over the generations.
The present concept of land values leaves no provision for the urban poor. The result is
the mushrooming of jhuggi jhonpri clusters and shantytowns without any urban facilities.
Almost 25 per cent of the urban population lives in such tenements.
Transportation movement is the lifeline of any urban area. Nearly 50 percent of the
urban population needs to move everyday for the purpose of education, work, shopping
or health care. The increase in the number of automobiles has resulted in the increased
level of air pollution, congestion on roads and consequent delays in commuting time.
The conflict between the vehicular and pedestrian movement is increasing.
Trade and commerce are important functions in any urban area. The commercial district
not only serves the city the but also a region. Experience shows that the commercial
areas nearer to the important nodes of a town such as railway stations and terminals
attract a great deal of inter city businesses.
Movement of men and material reaches its peak during the business hours and these
areas become virtually inaccessible. Pedestrians face congestion and adequate parking
is unavailable.
More often than not with the increase in demand for commercial spaces, the
surrounding residential areas gradually get converted for commercial use. This causes
stress on the infrastructure.
In order to decongest these districts a number of attempts such as shifting of wholesale
business, creation of new business districts, restriction on material movement,
restriction on redevelopment have been made in the past, but without success. The
intrusion of commercial area into the residential ones has disturbed the tranquility of the
latter. Enforcement of the land use plan ad building bye-laws has always been
inadequate.
Instead of curbing the growth of trade it is better to plan counter development in other
locations with increased level of facilities. With technology and transportation providing
the link between the work place and the residence the relationship between production,
value and movement from point A to point B undergoes a change. Indian cities have
undergone change and transformation where the transportation network was used as a
tool for shaping the city form and its imagery. Pedestrianization in the existing
commercial areas can bring a qualitative change in the high intensity business districts.
According to Robertson the major problem of cities is that it creates high rise towers
with windswept plazas in between. He calls for lower buildings that respect streets that
create urban squares and that make people feel good to be there.
Shahjahanabad- an image of an indigenous city.
The image of Chandni chowk, the processional path in Shajahanabad was created by
placing mass at two pivotal points in the form of the Red Fort and the Fatehpuri
Mosque. The path, flanked by two parallel surfaces on either side in the form of a
diminishing skyline, necessitates a slow movement pattern, responsive to the fine grain
and texture of the fabric. Yet when one enters a mohalla, the sudden change in the
scale of the street and its irregularity impart a residential quality. Thus the image
governed by time and scale depicts the land use behind its mask.
Industrialization and the laws of economics
The transportation network during the colonial period in the form of railways had a
tremendous impact on the transition from a pre industrial economy to an economy of
capitalist industrialization.
This led to the destruction of village industries, the concept of land holdings and the
equilibrium of the urban- rural relationship.
Moreover in city building the Britishers used the transportation network as a tool within
the city- a separation to accommodate two different classes. Owing to colonization the
indigenous city coexist with the colonial one to form stratified layers, exchanging an
uneasy tension, which evokes a dualistic image in its space, surface and mass.
New Delhi-
Designed as the capital of the British Raj it has adopted an alien city design underlined
with well-calculated gestures of political measures. Lutyens visualized a city of the
twentieth century with automobiles screeching through its wider roads. Views and vistas
were established through articulated positioning of the built forms on the India Gate
chowk. Topology was created by involving buildings, freely positioned in spatial volume
through the "interplay of concavity and convexity of surfaces." While the concave
surface relieves the space at which the movement line meets, the convex dome adds
the mass to the built form. The image of Lutyens New Delhi therefore gives a clue of
how interplay of space-mass-surface in relation to the point, line and time (speed) can
possibly link the isolated forms in space.
The basic concept of the Master plan 1962 made in the mould of modernist urban
planning, was that, the traffic movement within the city should be kept minimum and a
work-to-home relationship was conceived and the city started growing radially. Owing to
the master plan zoning principle, the "legibility " of the city has undergone a change on
the basis of the projected land use pattern. However one feature which somewhat lends
legibility to the urban fabric, is the emergence of district centres mainly on the ring and
radial junctions.
This concentration of economic activity started exerting pressure on the population
density, land value, land use and land holdings of the surroundings areas, and
demanded suitable accessibility to its influence zone.
In the master plan 2001 there are some attempts at providing mixed uses, and
increasing densities in residential areas in prime locations, proposals are made for
Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) to connect the ring to the periphery and also to
improve city intra-city network along the ring.
The arrival of the high technology communication system has redefined the meaning of
work place, and the distance has got reduced. Communication through the visual
medium has infiltrated into the private as well as the public domain. With the emergence
of moving image, the reduction of scale, the usual perception has become a symbol of
the complex relationship between the body and the space around it. While
transportation, through its "unfoldingness," exposes us to the surroundings, the
communication system reduces the "transparency" in between.
In the clutches of indiscriminate electronic mediation, the notion of territoriality

transcends the individual identity to give rise to a collective homogenous image of the
city in an ironical manner.
Decongestion, by itself, is a good phenomenon but by decongesting the core of the city
what will we achieve? Owing to the polycentred growth, the expansion of the city is on
the verge of going out of control. By reviving the mixed-use growth to its optimum
potential in central areas of Indian cities, in case of Delhi within the inner Ring road
area, a simultaneous movement system can be overlaid. A "centrifugality" can balance
the "centripetality" of the existing movement network.
How American architect Christopher Benninger views Delhi situationDelhi is a thousand suburbs in search of a city. "Its like a labyrinth". Delhi has been
conceptualized as an automobile city and this is the basic flaw in its planning. Most of
the working population, which lives in urban peripheries, travels the most. The city's
planning has led to low structures, which accommodate few people and compromise on
efficiency.
It is constantly sprawling out and this creates serious management issues. He feels
that apartments that accommodate many people and are near facilities, would be the
most viable solution to the present chaotic city.
"Noida and Gurgaon are urban disasters." The reasons being that people have to travel
long distances daily, top market revenue has drifted to neighboring states and they are
poorly planned. "Development always moves towards cheaper land and in the process
puts pressure in the already stretched city management system."
From the times of the Britishers, Delhi has had a southward drift," he says. He is
fascinated how the city was deeply influenced by the garden movement. Benninger
believes that the metro will change the face of the city, It would have a positive impact
on the land value and the land usage. Although areas around the metro stops would
become commercial hubs the places in the vicinity will become efficient high-density
residential colonies.
He visualizes successful projects like the asiad village coming up once a competent
metro system is built. Large underground stations, which will have a large number of
people crossing everyday, could be developed as profitable shopping centers.
"Designing cities is like designing an aeroplane" it is a work of art. He is an advocate
of intelligent urbanism. "Human beings are comfort seekers and here planning needs to
go against it. Why encourage buying automobiles when a plethora of people cant afford
it"? As there is a symbiotic relationship between transportation and density it should be
something taken into account while planning.
Time capsule
1931- New Delhi inaugurated at India gate

1937- Delhi improvement trust established
1947- influx of 500,000 refugees to the capital city
1950- birla committee appointed
1957-DDA established
1962- master plan for DDA approved
1982- 9th Asian games held. Six new stadia and seven flyovers constructed
1987- master plan for Delhi updated upto the year 2001
Plotted development over the years

1952-53
Sunder nagar
1953-54
Lajpat nagar, Jangpura , Malviya Nagar and Hauz khas
1955-56
South extn
1957-58
Defence colony
1959-60
Maharani Bagh
1960-61
East Nizamuddin
1962-63
Safdar Jung Enclave
1963-64
GK-1
1965-65
Vasant Vihar
1966-67
Pansheel
1970-71
Shanti Niketan
1972-73
GK-2
1973-74
Gulmohar park
1974-75
Sarvodya enclave
1977-78
New Friends colony
1980-85
UdayPark
RETURN TO "ARCHITECTURE AND IDENTITY"
"CITIES AS MOVEMEMENT
ECONOMIES"
HOMEPAGE
BACKGROUND
POST1947-BUILDINGS PART1
PART2
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Architecture of Delhi

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Architecture of Delhi

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ARCHITECTURE OF DELHI

Post 1947 Developments-Buildings Part1

THE TRACKING OF POST INDEPENDENCE

Horizontal bands of large glass windows, freestanding staircases and cantilevered

Towards the next decade-the sixties

Shri Ram Centre

Prasad's other work, which clearly picks up on Le Corbusier's thought processed is

Post 1947 Developments-Buildings Part1

THE TRACKING OF POST INDEPENDENCE

Towards the next decade-the sixties

Shri Ram Centre

Prasad's other work, which clearly picks up on Le Corbusier's thought processed is

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Post 1947 Developments-Buildings Part1

LOTUSTEMPLE- The Bahai house of worship (above, right) is a representation of an

The SCOPE (Standing Conference of Public Enterprises) Building (above, right),

From district centres to corporate parks

The courtyard views of IHC

Amba Deep Towers,CP

Beyond Delhi- Gurgaon's Corporate buildings

It is important to recognize that design of office buildings has become more

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Post 1947 Developments-Buildings Part1

The background till independence

LUTYENS NEW DELHI

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Post 1947 Developments-Buildings Part1

YMCA Staff quarters,(left) built in 1962and designed by Ranjit Sabiki, is a complex of

In the ideological climate of Western post-modernism, the high-density Delhi housing

FOLLOWING ARE 3 ANALYTICAL ARTICLES RELATED DELHIS DEVELOPMENTARCHITECTURE AND IDENTITY

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Post 1947 Developments-Buildings Part1

ARCHITECTURE AND IDENTITY

1) The overall configuration of a precinct of a city or a building carries meaning. The

the affordances of specific patterns of built form must be understood. A copy, in

Critical regionalism in the Indian context

Architecture as tectonic: It looks at architecture as a tectonic fact rather than the

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Post 1947 Developments-Buildings Part1

Delhi - City in conflict

Urban renewal and the impact of transportation on the city's skyline

In the clutches of indiscriminate electronic mediation, the notion of territoriality

1931- New Delhi inaugurated at India gate

Plotted development over the years

Lajpat nagar, Jangpura , Malviya Nagar and Hauz khas

Safdar Jung Enclave

New Friends colony

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