One of the 25 sites on the list of World Monuments Fund 2020
Completed in 1966 by acclaimed Indian architect Charles Correa, the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad helped define the architecture of post-independence India. It was one of the largest cricket stadiums in the world at the time, able to hold up to 50,000 spectators, and is still in use today for sporting events and cultural festivals.
The stadium's distinct, cantilevered framing takes its structural power from an elegantly zig-zagging exterior wall that provides added reinforcement. This solution was reached with the help of Mahendra Raj, a pioneering engineer who helped India's top modern architects turn their design visions into reality. Even though they used the best available technology of the time, the steel-reinforced concrete is now showing visible signs of strain.
Without urgent intervention, the structure will continue to weaken and decay further. The site has been placed on the 2020 World Monuments Watch, a selection of cultural heritage sites that conjoin "great historical significance with contemporary social impact." With Getty support, World Monument Fund specialists from both the U.S. and India will collaborate with a team of local experts to create a detailed plan to conserve the stadium while increasing local knowledge regarding the care of exposed concrete buildings. Other twentieth-century buildings in Ahmedabad will also benefit, as the Patel Stadium conservation effort will assert a new model for the cultural and economic importance of the restoration of modern architecture.
Grant support: $230,0001
Photograph by Dinesh Mehta: dineshmehta.com (website) and @dineshmehtaphotography (Instagram)
- 1. Source: The Getty Foundation 'Keeping it Modern' Awards Announcement