View showing the cylindrical mass below with overhanging cuboid supported by coffered ceiling and ribbed columns. © Prashansa Sachdeva

Brutalist India | Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi

May 9, 2026 No Comments

As part of Brutalist India series Bhawna Dandona writes about Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi, consructed in 1968, sponsored by the Shri Ram family, designed by Shiv Nath Prasad, along with guidance from Ebrahim Alkazi and the structural expertise of Mahendra Raj.

CoA's Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru, by architectureRED.© architectureRED (1)

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE | What is happening to CoA’s Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru?

May 5, 2026 No Comments

The Council of Architecture announced a design competition in 2022 for a Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, drawing nearly 1,500 teams. Chennai-based firm, architectureRED, won with their proposal, and yet four years later, nothing has been built. ArchitectureLive! team goes into this rabbit hole to understand the reality of.

Wall As a Public Space
“To read public space only as a spatial condition, as a matter of square footage, zoning, or physical access, is to miss half the picture.”
—Reshma Esther Thomas

April 29, 2026 No Comments

Reshma Esther Thomas examines how Hyderabad’s flyover pillars, painted with Cheriyal-style murals under the GHMC’s ‘City Art Scape’ initiative, reveal the paradox of managed public space. What appears to be beautification is actually cultural assertion in the wake of the 2014 bifurcation, bureaucratising a surface that once belonged to those without institutional power.

Khazans in Slavador du Mundo, Bardez, Goa. © Kusum Priya (1)

The Map That Was Never Yours
“If publicness is reduced to what is legally accessible, then these landscapes were never public to begin with.”
—V.V. Kusum Priya

April 28, 2026 No Comments

As part of our editorial: What makes a space public?, V.V. Kusum Priya argues that Section 39A of Goa’s 2024 Town and Country Planning Act this isn’t just a legal issue, and that it’s the erosion of an unrecognised but collectively sustained commons, and a question of what “public” really means and who benefits from the legislations surrounding this.

Life on the public spaces in downtown Calcutta. Source - Wikimedia

“Appropriation of public spaces is the genesis of political movements, of ideological apparatus, and of endangering the city’s multi-dimensional fabric.”
—Dr. Seema Khanwalkar

April 27, 2026 No Comments

Dr. Seema Khanwalkar, explores how the public spaces in India are dynamic, contested areas shaped by informal economies, migration, and social negotiation. She reveals how the transactional activities democratise ownership of these spaces, while the political and religious appropriation increasingly displaces this organic vitality, creating exclusion and anxiety. This shrinking of inclusive public space threatens urban social fabric, yet remains largely absent from city planning conversations, making it a far deeper crisis than mere encroachment.

“… people like Sen [Kapadia] don’t really leave. They become the questions we continue to ask.”
—A Tribute by Nuru Karim

April 22, 2026 No Comments

Nuru Karim reflects on his relationship with Sen Kapadia through three transformative “states of being”—as a student, as a studio colleague, and as an independent professional. To capture Sen’s essence, Karim draws on three powerful metaphors: a mountain (commanding yet silent), a banyan tree (generous and sheltering), and a river (unseen yet ever-present). Together, these images paint a portrait of a man whose quiet depth left an indelible mark on all who encountered him.

Sundari silks at Chennai by Benny Kuriakose

Benny Kuriakose

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Brutalist India | Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE | What is happening to CoA’s Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru?

Wall As a Public Space
“To read public space only as a spatial condition, as a matter of square footage, zoning, or physical access, is to miss half the picture.”
—Reshma Esther Thomas

The Map That Was Never Yours
“If publicness is reduced to what is legally accessible, then these landscapes were never public to begin with.”
—V.V. Kusum Priya

“Appropriation of public spaces is the genesis of political movements, of ideological apparatus, and of endangering the city’s multi-dimensional fabric.”
—Dr. Seema Khanwalkar

“… people like Sen [Kapadia] don’t really leave. They become the questions we continue to ask.”
—A Tribute by Nuru Karim

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Sundari silks at Chennai by Benny Kuriakose

Benny Kuriakose

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Recent

Brutalist India | Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE | What is happening to CoA’s Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru?

Wall As a Public Space “To read public space only as a spatial condition, as a matter of square footage, zoning, or physical access, is to miss half the picture.”—Reshma Esther Thomas

The Map That Was Never Yours “If publicness is reduced to what is legally accessible, then these landscapes were never public to begin with.”—V.V. Kusum Priya

“Appropriation of public spaces is the genesis of political movements, of ideological apparatus, and of endangering the city’s multi-dimensional fabric.”—Dr. Seema Khanwalkar

“… people like Sen [Kapadia] don’t really leave. They become the questions we continue to ask.”—A Tribute by Nuru Karim

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Wall As a Public Space
“To read public space only as a spatial condition, as a matter of square footage, zoning, or physical access, is to miss half the picture.”
—Reshma Esther Thomas

The Map That Was Never Yours
“If publicness is reduced to what is legally accessible, then these landscapes were never public to begin with.”
—V.V. Kusum Priya

“Appropriation of public spaces is the genesis of political movements, of ideological apparatus, and of endangering the city’s multi-dimensional fabric.”
—Dr. Seema Khanwalkar

“… people like Sen [Kapadia] don’t really leave. They become the questions we continue to ask.”
—A Tribute by Nuru Karim