A look at the legacy of Hasmukh C. Patel—former director at CEPT Ahmedabad—and the culture he cultivated through his practice.
Hasmukh C. Patel, best known to have popularised the phrase ‘common sense architecture’, started his practice in 1956, in Ahmedabad. Over the years he evolved both his building style and the form of his practice. ....
Compared to the 2008 monograph published by HCP Design and Project Management, “The Architecture of Hasmukh C. Patel” (Mapin, 2016) is a dossier, highlighting 51 marquee projects by the 83-year-old veteran. Accompanying each project is an insight, not just about the process, but rather the work’s influence.
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The book starts with a first person account by his son Bimal Patel, the current director at CEPT—who has co-written this book alongside Catherine Desai—describing what it was like to grow up in a house designed by his father. The home itself exhibits every penchant that defined modern architecture and the international style. With an open, uninterrupted veranda framed by columns (piloti), each facade plays with surface levels while maintaining a strong geometric elevation. By the younger Patel’s account, his father often had more than just a single reason—sometime three—for a particular design feature. The plinth of the house extended beyond the foundation, just enough to give it an appearance of floating above ground. Bimal Patel, welcomes us into his childhood home and takes us on a nostalgic tour of the homes, the construction and future additions.
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