The spirit of architecture completely transformed in the 20th century and Marg magazine, founded in 1946, was at the forefront of documenting that change. The leading lights of architecture in the world wrote significant short texts for Marg that set forth not just an agenda for architecture that would shape the new India, but the habitats of a new world order. This anthology comprises a selection of these essays, as relevant now as they were when they first appeared.

The pieces are by influential figures like Le Corbusier, Otto Koenigsberger, Patrick Geddes, Eric Mendelsohn, Richard Neutra, Emily Polk, Durga Bajpai and Mulk Raj Anand himself, and are re-visited and reexamined for contemporary relevance.

Mustansir Dalvi, editor of this anthology, is Professor of Architecture at Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai. He is an architect and author with a special interest in the development of Indian architecture in the penultimate decades before Independence. Amongst his many writings is an assessment in Marg of the impact Mulk Raj Anand had on Modern Architecture in India.

Mustansir Dalvi, editor of the anthology 20th Century Compulsions — Modern Indian Architecture from the MARG Archives, is Professor of Architecture at Sir JJ College. The book includes writings by Mulk Raj Anand, Durga Bajpai, Andrew Boyd, Le Corbusier, BV Doshi, Jane Drew, Patrick Geddes, Otto Koenigsberger, Percy Marshall, Eric Mendelsohn, Louis Mumford, Richard Neutra, Emily Polk and AB Schwarz. There will be a discussion between Dalvi and architect Kamu Iyer.

Contents:

  1. MARG - Modern Architectural Research Group 
  2. ANDREW BOYD - An Approach to Modern Indian Architecture 
  3. “SOLUS” - Design for Living: Present-day Trends in Architecture 
  4. EMILY POLK - A Building is an Experience 
  5. ERIC MENDELSOHN - The Great Adventure 
  6. MARG - A Note on Le Corbusier 
  7. LE CORBUSIER - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
  8. DURGA BAJPAI - Co-operative Housing 
  9. A.B. SCHWARZ - New Bearings in Indian Architecture
  10. MARG - Architectural Education in India
  11. MARG - Twentieth Century Compulsions 
  12. MARG - Architecture and You 
  13. MARG - Planning and Dreaming 
  14. PERCY MARSHALL - The Need for Urban Planning in India
  15. LEWIS MUMFORD - On the Life and Work of Patrick Geddes
  16. PATRICK GEDDES - On Planning
  17. PATRICK GEDDES - Trees and Open Spaces 
  18. RICHARD NEUTRA - City Planning and Architecture in India Today
  19. MARG -  Introduction to the Reports of the Greater Bombay Scheme 
  20. OTTO KOENIGSBERGER - The Greater Bombay Scheme 
  21. B.V. DOSHI - A Note on Le Corbusier 
  22. LE CORBUSIER - Urbanism 
  23. JANE DREW - On the Chandigarh Scheme 
  24. MARG - Living, Working, Care of Body and Spirit