Achyut Kanvinde left and Nehru being very grim

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru viewing the design model for the first scheme, A.P. Kanvinde to the left
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru viewing the design model for the first scheme, A.P. Kanvinde to the left © Achyut Kanvinde Archives

Achyut Kanvinde left and Nehru being very grim. That model was my father Habib Rahman's first proposal for the Rabindra Bhavan and Akademi complex in 1959. Nehru hated it !! See his face ! He prodded my father to redesign it with a more locally cultural vocabulary.

This photo was found in Sanjay Kanvinde's collection !! I showed it in "Delhi: Building the Modern" at KNMA last year.

The pentagonal exhibition block, one side of which follows the curve of an adjacent traffic island, has a basement and two upper floors on split levels.
The pentagonal exhibition block, one side of which follows the curve of an adjacent traffic island, has a basement and two upper floors on split levels. © Habib Rahman Archives