“It was in Shankar Kanade’s nature to be so humble, never commanding the young, but co-working with them.”—Sathya Prakash Varanashi’s tribute to Shankar Kanade

February 1, 2026 No Comments

Sathya Prakash Varanashi shares a heartfelt tribute to architect Shankar Kanade, highlighting his architectural philosophy, mentorship, humility, and lasting influence on design thinking and his practice.

Seher Shah and Randhir Singh, Studies in Form, Akbar Bhavan (#3), 2018, cyanotype print on Arches Aquarelle paper, edition of 5, 22 x 30 in

Brutalist India | Akbar Bhawan, New Delhi

January 24, 2026 No Comments

As part of Brutalist India series Bhawna Dandona writes about Akbar Bhawan, in New Delhi.

Folles de la Salpétrière, (Cour des agitées.) (Madwomen of the Salpétrière. (Courtyard of the mentally disturbed.))

Gender. Hysteria. Architecture. | “How Did a Diagnosis Learn to Draw Walls?”

January 23, 2026 No Comments

Did these spaces heal women or teach them how to disappear? Aditi A., through her research study as a part of the CEPT Writing Architecture course, in this chapter follows hysteria as it migrates from text to typology, inquiring how architectural decisions came to stand in for care itself. Rather than assuming architecture responded to illness, the inquiry turns the question around: did architecture help produce the vulnerability it claimed to manage?

Brutalist India | Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, 1969 - Rear side of view of the library. Credits - Kshitij Rana for MM Rana

Brutalist India | Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, 1974

January 12, 2026 No Comments

As part of Brutalist India series, Bhawna Dandona writes about Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, 1974, in New Delhi.

Gender, Hysteria, and Architecture - The Witch Hunt. Henry Ossawa Tanner. Source - Wikiart

Gender. Hysteria. Architecture. | “When Did Care Become Confinement?”

January 12, 2026 1 Comment

Was architecture used by society to spatially “manage” women and their autonomy? Aditi A., through her research study as a part of the CEPT Writing Architecture course, examines the period before psychiatry, when fear had already become architectural, tracing how women’s autonomy was spatially managed through domestic regulation, witch hunts, informal confinement, and early institutional planning.

A Modernist’s Doubt: Symbolism and the Late Career Turn

January 6, 2026 1 Comment

Why did acclaimed modernist architects suddenly introduce historical symbolism like arches, decorative elements, and other cultural references into their work after decades of disciplined restraint? Sudipto Ghosh interrogates this 1980s-90s symbolic turn as a rupture in architecture, questioning whether this represents an authentic reconnection with content and memory, or is it a mere superficial gesture towards absent meanings. Drawing from Heidegger’s analysis of the Greek temple, he distinguishes two modes of architectural representation, ultimately judging that this turn was a nascent rebellion against modernism that may have failed to achieve genuine integration of context, material, and memory.

Central Vista Redevelopment: INTACH, ISOLA and IUDI release a joint statement.

ALive! Content

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Recent

“It was in Shankar Kanade’s nature to be so humble, never commanding the young, but co-working with them.”—Sathya Prakash Varanashi’s tribute to Shankar Kanade

Brutalist India | Akbar Bhawan, New Delhi

Gender. Hysteria. Architecture. | “How Did a Diagnosis Learn to Draw Walls?”

Brutalist India | Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, 1974

Gender. Hysteria. Architecture. | “When Did Care Become Confinement?”

A Modernist’s Doubt: Symbolism and the Late Career Turn

We Are Hiring

Central Vista Redevelopment: INTACH, ISOLA and IUDI release a joint statement.

ALive! Content

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Recent

“It was in Shankar Kanade’s nature to be so humble, never commanding the young, but co-working with them.”—Sathya Prakash Varanashi’s tribute to Shankar Kanade

Brutalist India | Akbar Bhawan, New Delhi

Gender. Hysteria. Architecture. | “How Did a Diagnosis Learn to Draw Walls?”

Brutalist India | Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, 1974

Gender. Hysteria. Architecture. | “When Did Care Become Confinement?”

A Modernist’s Doubt: Symbolism and the Late Career Turn

Featured Publications

New Release

We Are Hiring

Subscribe & Join a Community of Lakhs of Readers