The State of Indian Architecture

 

Practice

Where is Indian architectural practice headed? Without a doubt, some Indian firms are reaching the scale and economics, as well as the geographical reach, of corporate architectural practices like those in the United States and Europe, but they still lack the clear and comprehensive corporate philosophies and structures that let young architects know where they will end up if they dedicate their lives to one firm. Most architects in India follow the formula of working for an established practice for 5–6 years before starting one of their own. However, new breeds in Indian architecture include collaborative practices like Micro Home Solutions in New Delhi, which is a joint effort of architects, planners, developers, economists, and business graduates. Firms such as ADP, headquartered in Birmingham, U.K., acquired the New Delhi-based firm Synthesis Design Studio to create ADP Synthesis, a cross-country hybrid that helped to boost ADP’s revenues by 7.6 million pounds. Such international collaborations could provide valuable and fast-growing markets for the services of each firm.

Education

NASA, or the National Association of Students of Architecture, is headquartered in New Delhi and in January held its most recent annual convention, “Utopia 2010,” in the south Indian city of Hubli in Karnataka, which saw the participation of about 4,000 young students and architects from a few South Asian countries. The scale of participation shows that the architectural community in India and other member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is thriving, but what does this mean with regards to the quality and level of education that students in this region receive? According to the Council of Architecture, India has about 40,000 registered architects (according to the 2010 Statistical Yearbook of the U.S. Census Bureau, the United States has 233,000), or about 0.00003 per capita. About 5,000-6,000 architect students graduate every year in India, a very big shortfall; this number needs to grow as India modernizes. Architectural education often fails to engage the students’ imagination and is encumbered by the economic feasibility and constraints of real projects. Artistic and creative endeavors must be supported hand in hand with pragmatic issues of design.

Social Awareness

The social awareness of what architects do is significantly improving, both in the big urban centers as well as in tier II cities, where hiring an architect means one has arrived. Overall, many buildings get built without architects; instead the building’s owner, small contractors, or the local civil engineer does the job of the architect. This practice must change, and laws that support architecture should be strengthened so that we have better built, more livable spaces.

Media

The news media (including the Internet) is awash with new architectural projects. Indian TV features regular programming on design, and celebrity architects abound. Firms like Planet 3 Studios publish videos of their work online as marketing and educational material. Firms are also blogging about what’s happening. Facebook may be emerging as a place where architects meet and form groups, and the hiring of architects may happen via such social media and networks. (Check out the community on Buildipedia.com to make just such connections.)

Politics

The politics that effect the profession are generally misguided with strife between professional and state bodies as well as internecine fighting within the government and various lobbying groups that seem not to focus on strengthening the profession but on using it as a cash cow. (India may have a lot to learn about lobbying and the public good.)

So Where Does Indian Architecture Go from Here?

A nationwide body is needed that could oversee architectural practice and protect its interests by lobbying and other means. Architecture education has to be radically modernized, and architects must differentiate itself from the logic of civil engineering and from art school culture; in fact it must embrace both and move forward. In this way Indian architecture might find its long stifled voice, and the practice of architecture might truly center on local concerns and represent local culture.