Few will argue that the best buildings in Mumbai were made before Independence. These include the grand colonial edifices in Fort, chawls in vernacular style in south and central Mumbai, Portuguese bungalows in Mazagaon and Khotachiwadi and art deco structures that line Marine Drive and Churchgate. After 1947, just a handful of buildings stood out among the architecture of the city. Delhi is somewhat better off with institutions built in the post-Independence years by architects involved in the project of nation building.

What happened to the state of architecture in India after the initial decades of the Nehruvian era when a new language of aesthetics and functionality was being formed? Where is the practice at today? What’s the level of architecture education in the country? These are some of the questions addressed by The State of Architecture, a show at the National Gallery of Modern Art put together by art curator Ranjit Hoskote, architect Rahul Mehrotra and writer and lecturer Kaiwan Mehta.

Mapping milestones

The show begins with a staggering amount of information on the history of architectural practice in India. The centrepiece of this section on the ground floor is an infographic which plots the milestones in the field from the nineteenth century to present times. It covers institutions that were set up (the J.J. School of Art in Mumbai in 1857, the Council of Architecture in 1972), major projects (Nehru commissioning Le Corbusier to develop Chandirgarh in 1951) and awards given to architects responsible for some of India’s most iconic structures such as Charles Correa, Laurie Baker, Achyut Kanvinde and Joseph Allen Stein. There’s an impressive amount of research that has gone into the show but this section could seem intimidating to some, as it has a lot to take in visually all at once. This sort of data-heavy exhibit might just have worked better as a digital installation.

The National Centre for the Performing Arts in Nariman Point was designed by Philip Johnson.

The rest of the exhibition is divided broadly into historically significant eras:

– From 1947 to the end of Nehruvian nation building in the mid-1970s when the focus of architects was the creation of socially relevant public structures.

– From the mid-1970s until Liberalisation in the early 1990s, when architects tried to marry modern building trends with traditional practices.

– The post-Liberalisation years, which were marked by the rush of global capital into the country that led to homogenous constructions and a real estate environment dominated by builders.

– The twenty-first century, in which some architects around the country are making buildings that are distinctive in appearance and designed to be both modern and mindful of the environment in which they exist.

Distinctive design

A timeline starting from 1947 runs from the first to the third level of the NGMA with notes on architecturally historic moments and photographs of significant structures. Along this line one gets to see examples of buildings singular for the way they’ve been designed and the purpose they serve. Several of these structures are in Mumbai: Jehangir Art Gallery in Kala Ghoda (1952) designed by G. M. Bhuta and Associates; the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Chembur (1954) by Durga Bajpai, Achyut Kanvinde and Shaukat Rai; Islam Gymkhana on Marine Drive (1963) and Nehru Centre (1985) by I. M. Kadri Architects; Express Towers in Nariman Point (1972) by Joseph Allen Stein; the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Nariman Point (1981) by Philip Johnson and Portuguese Church in Dadar (1977) and Kanchenjanga on Peddar Road (1983) by Charles Correa Associates.

Modern Indian aesthetic

The show wraps up on the fourth level on a hopeful note. The room, lined with an undulating cladding of origami-like forms, has panels with photographs and notes on buildings by modern architects who’ve rejected “global templates” to create unique works that “reinterpret tradition” in various ways. Some of these, such as the Institute for Integrated Learning in Management in Noida (2009-2013) by Morphogenesis (2009-2013), even echo the low-rise, red brick sprawls of institutions designed by post-Independence Indian architects such as the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. Almost all these buildings are privately owned, suggesting the state’s lack of concern with responsible design. Among the few public structures is the Bus Rapid Transport System Workshop in Surat (2011-2015) designed by Arya Architects, a capacious edifice with a wave-like roof, ad the Sudipto and Sumit Ghosh-designed integrated passenger terminal at Amausi Airport in Lucknow, the wing-like roof of which mimics a folded paper plane.

A worthy attempt to revive discourse around the field, The State of Architecture is really a summation of the phases of Indian architecture and its current concerns. These will be explored in greater detail in the series of lectures by architects such as Raj Rewal, Brinda Somaya and Sen Kapadia and in satellite exhibitions. 

The State of Architecture will be on display till Sunday, March 20 at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Madame Cama Road, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 022 2288 1969. Open Tuesday to Sunday, from 11am to 6pm; Monday, closed.