75 names to know in Indian design: The Nation Builders

Le Corbusier

Charles-Edouard Jeanneret Gris, lovingly known as Le Corbusier, was a self-taught Swiss-French architect and urban planner who came to transform Indian urban cities into the future at the request of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Chandigarh, the city that still holds the title of the most planned city in India was brought to life almost exclusively by Le Corbusier. Geometrical streets, lush green spaces, exposed surfaces, solid bold colours, high ceilings,  large windows, ramps and open spaces were all made common by his love of Purist and Brutalist architecture, previously unseen and unheard of in India.

He paved the way for building organised cities that were entrapped by harsh climatic conditions and poverty by bringing in order through natural light, ventilation, large streets, water bodies and greenery. Apart from his obvious architectural legacy, his sleek furniture designs including several steel-and-leather chairs and loungers are still produced and retailed today.

B.V. Doshi

At 94, B.V. Doshi’s accolades just keep coming in – earlier this May, he was awarded the UK’s Royal Gold Medal conferred by Queen Elizabeth. With a career spanning nearly seven decades with over a 100 projects, he’s also the first and only Indian recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, an Aga Khan award, the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and the French OAL (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres).

Doshi began his career working with Le Corbusier in Paris and Chandigarh and also worked alongside Louis Kahn during the construction of IIM, Ahmedabad. 

Charles Correa

Charles Correa was a true visionary who changed the way we constructed and inhabited buildings as we started to carve out an independent India. Across all his projects one can see the use of traditional materials and methods in sync with the site’s natural surroundings. He despised glass-and-steel structures and preferred to build low-rise settlements with shared spaces and courtyards to promote a sense of community. This approach can be seen in his work through the decades from the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial at the Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad (late 1950s) to National Crafts Museum, New Delhi (late 1970s) and the Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur (late 1980s).

Achyut Kanvinde

Amongst the most famous of post-Independent Indian architects is Padma Shri recipient Achyut Kanvinde. The Harvard graduate began his career by designing laboratories around the country under the directive of the Science and Technology arm of the Central Government. The true minimalist and functionalist, trained under the Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius no less, is responsible for over 500 buildings including several national institutions such as IIT Kanpur, Mumbai’s Nehru Science Centre, Delhi’s National Science Centre and Mrinalini Sarabhai’s Darpana Academy of Performing Arts in Ahmedabad.

Raj Rewal

Raj Rewal founded Raj Rewal Associates in 1962 after completing his Masters’ in the UK and working with the famous French architect Michel Ecochard in Paris. Rewal is best known for his easy blend of the old and the new. Simple geometrical shapes, grids in all shapes and sizes, sandstones in red, pink and white and spaces with central courtyards are key elements in Rewal’s designs that are often inspired by ancient Indian townships like Fatehpur Sikri. Some of his iconic works include the Hall of Nations and Halls of Industries which opened in 1972 as part of the Pragati Maidan exhibition complex in New Delhi (both of which were unfortunately demolished in 2018) and the 1982 Asian Games Village, also in New Delhi.

Laurie Baker

Laurie Baker, an architect trained at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, came to India to build hospitals for lepers in 1945 and never left—in fact, he became an Indian citizen in 1989. Also known as the Gandhi of architecture and the architect of the poor, he crafted ingenious structures after spending time learning how ordinary Indians built their homes across the country.

He had to unlearn everything he was taught in school to be able to build with what was available at hand. He used locally available materials and techniques for cost-conscious projects. 

Urmila Eulie Chowdhury

It’s impossible to narrate the history of Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh without mentioning Urmila Eulie Chowdhury now but there was once a time when she didn’t feature on top of the list of the Swiss-French architect’s Indian protégés. The daughter of a diplomat, Chowdhury studied architecture, music and ceramics in Japan, Australia and the United States and she was one of the first women architects in Asia. Chowdhury was one of Corbusier’s closest aides, even handling his communication with the Prime Minister since she spoke French fluently.

Pravina Mehta

When Pravina Mehta was studying at the Sir J. J. College of Architecture and at the Illinois Institute of Design in Chicago, shortly after in the 1940s and 1950s, construction and urban planning was very much “a man’s world”. As one of the earliest women to enter the field, she paved the way for many others including her partner Hema Sankalia at her firm Associated Architects.

Amongst her many accomplishments is her collaboration on the proposal and planning of New Bombay with Charles Correa and Shirish Patel. 

M.F. Hussain

A founding member of Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group. M.F. Hussain is synonymous with Indian modernism of the 1940s. While the underground art gallery Amdavad ni Gufa that he created with B.V. Doshi in early 1990s is his most note-worthy contribution to public architecture (and the now demolished Cinema Ghar museum in Hyderabad), his artistic stylings have left an indelible mark in modern Indian interior design.

Even as his originals tend to be in the realm of “unaffordable” by most, his prints featuring flowing lines, contemporary style and vibrant tones have been replicated endlessly to adorn walls in homes, hotel rooms and restaurants. Amongst the lucky few hospitality giants to flaunt originals are the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai and the ITC Maurya in New Delhi. 

B.R. Manickram

The Karnataka Vidhana Soudha at Bengaluru’s Cubbon Park is widely regarded as one of the most striking buildings of Independent India. Where Jawaharlal Nehru saw it as “temple dedicated to the nation”, Kannada poet Kuvempu described it as “poetry in stone”—indeed, the over-the-top Neo-Dravidian building made almost entirely out of granite is a grand feat with domes, pillars and arches chiselled and etched with temple art, floral and geometric patterns as well as sandalwood carvings.

C.P. Kukreja

When C.P. Kukreja passed away in 2018 at the age of 79, his firm was already a half-a-century old with over a thousand projects spanning government institutions, national universities as well as private commercial and residential projects. His meteoric rise began in his early thirties when he won the Jawaharlal Nehru University project in 1969.

His signature use of arched openings and exposed brick work made his buildings not only sustainable but also instantly recognisable through the decades—from the Finnish Embassy and the Gyan Bharati School in the 70s and ’80s to the Army College Of Medical Sciences in 2010. 

Christopher Charles Benninger

In 1971, Christopher Charles Benninger did the unthinkable—left a highly coveted, tenured position at Harvard University upon the insistence of B.V. Doshi. He moved to Ahmedabad to set up the School of Planning at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT). His fundamental approach to architecture and urban planning involves striking a balance of sustainability, scalability and affordability. Some of his most notable projects include the Mahindra United World College of India and the Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies but perhaps his greatest contribution to India is mentoring the next generation of young Indian architects.

Shiv Nath Prasad

Shiv Nath Prasad has perhaps been the greatest proponent of Le Corbusier’s modernism, but what’s interesting is that he never got a chance to work alongside the Swiss-French architect. Charles Correa once remarked that Prasad is Eklavya (the most loyal student) to Corbusier’s Dronacharya (master of the arts).

After studying architecture and city planning in the UK, he returned to India in 1955 and joined the First Master Plan team for developing Delhi. By 1962, he started his private practice and his most  notable buildings include the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts and the Akbar Hotel in Delhi, both of which bear a striking resemblance to Le Corbusier’s Brutalist buildings with exposed concrete facades, ribbon windows and brise-soleil.

Anant Raje

An alumnus of the Sir JJ School of Architecture, Anant Raje collaborated extensively with the Estonian-born American architect Louis Kahn while he worked at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. When Kahn passed away unexpectedly in 1974, Raje took on the completion of IIM-Ahmedabad. Amongst his most distinguished projects is the meticulously planned MAFCO Wholesale Market in Mumbai and The Indian Statistical Institute in New Delhi, both of which borrow heavily from Kahn’s signature monumental and brutalist style.