This discussion series brings together the country’s top design professionals to voice their opinions and insights on all matters related to architecture & design.
After diving deep into this research in the growing modular trend, we see a huge scope of transformation in Indian homes shortly.
This forecasting has also brought us to the question, “What defines Indian architecture today and what is its future looking like?
If interior designing is an art, YES! I'm an Artist, and that too a passionate one !!
-Mahendra Jain, Co-founder at Lumba
Customization is the new trend that we see today. Every client (individual) wants a reflection of their persona in their home. People have become more particular about their choices and this has given rise to modernization.
The future is Modulare! .I think, this shift will play a vital role in uplifting the lifestyle of compact homes in metro cities. We are a nation in search of a narrative that was always there, but one that is being consolidated. People will want designers and architects who develop narratives that are not generic or indulgent or borrowed, but specific to their choice.
By the beginning of 2022, India will witness a modular revolution, innovative architecture, separate from the crowd.
Aniket Bhagwat
Architect, M/s Prabhakar B Bhagwat, Ahmedabad
Indian architecture today
“If you take stock of the way architecture has evolved since Independence, it has in some ways always closely echoed the aspirations and the angst of a fast-growing, complex country. We started by rejecting the Colonial imprint and gave ourselves the wonderful architecture of Le Corbusier; that was our search for our identity.
Again, just before the country opened up its economy in the 1990s, we saw architects once again seeking identity – this time in the many narratives of the vernacular or even in the cosmic. And then the floodgates opened; and with the new winds led by the IT Industry, we once again saw a new search for identity, this time wanting to be part of a global world.
I suspect all this will change this year and onwards. 2017 is a marker of change.
Zameer Basrai
Architect, The Busride Studio, Mumbai
State of architecture today
“It is useful to ruminate over the context of India in 2017 to unravel the state of architecture within it. Flaunting a brash pro-development, politically right-wing, socially conservative government, India is looking ahead at an unfettered few years. Only time will tell if these years are those of progress or of regress. In architecture, the last few years have seen a resurgence of old themes: housing, environment, mobility, flexibility, identity, heritage, sustainability, amongst others.
Amongst the architecture fraternity, these themes are still valued and maintained in high regard as worthy pursuits. But even the most heroic of old themes seem to be underplayed in practice, almost shrouded by the all-pervasive theme of progress. These themes are clearly disregarded as ‘outdated’ by patrons and enthusiasts of the new government’s vision of the country. This vision of new India promulgates images of new business districts, rapid urban transport and exclusive neighbourhoods.
Most architects have chosen to engage with these new patrons and the visions they bring with them, knowing very well the inherent conflicts of interest. Now, all this might sound ominous but there’s a silver lining.”
What’s to come
2017 will see some of the most subversive architecture being produced by the country. The more discerning the patron, the more subversive the architect.
The smartest inclusion of socially and environmentally sustainable architecture will never make itself apparent and remain in the guise of some gated neighbourhood, redevelopment project or memorial. On the surface, the architecture will comply with the vision of new India, and underneath incubate visions of an alternate future of a diametrically opposite nature.”
Tell us:
What are your thoughts on the state of Indian architecture and design? Share with us in Comments below.