The Public Works Department, established in 1854 during the British Raj was the main developer of large-scale public works in India. When the capital of the Raj changed from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911, the PWD took up the role of building the new capital including housing. The designers behind this housing drew from the early modern thinking. After independence, these ideas played a critical role in defining modern India as a technology based society free of class and caste divisions. Post-independence, the rechristened Central Public Works Department continued to promote the modernist ideal with numerous housing projects, employing a battery of highly educated Indian architects. The housing projects were tested in Delhi and then exported around the country forming a ubiquitous part of India’s urban fabric. Today, many of these projects are being redeveloped. Around Delhi, entire neighborhoods are demolished and replaced with high-rise apartment buildings and commercial complexes.
RANDHIR SINGH
Randhir Singh is an architectural photographer based in New Delhi, India. He studied architecture and spent close to 15 years working at a number of design firms in New York City. It was during this time that Randhir started to photograph professionally building on his many years of design experience. His background in architecture and design has been invaluable in understanding buildings and space. Over the last few years, he has worked with a wide range of architects, developers and hotels and was awarded Best Interior Photography at the Trends Awards in Mumbai in 2015. Aside from his commercial work, Randhir has an art practice exploring ideas in architecture and urbanism. He has collaborated with Seher Shah on “The Lightness of Mass” at Green Art Gallery in Dubai and “Of Absence and Weight” at Nature Morte in Delhi. His series, titled Water Towers, was shown at the Pondy Photo Festival 2016. A selection of his photographs of the Najafgargh and Barapullah drains in Delhi were included in the Yamuna River Project book and exhibition.
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- When is Space? In An Exhibition on Contemporary Architecture Commissioned by Jawahar Kala Kendra, Edited by Rupali Gupte and Prasad Shetty. Jaipur: Jawahar Kala Kendra, 2018.