Description
The Architecture(s) of Transition is a South Asia–focused initiative encompassing a lecture series, conference, traveling exhibition, and publication that together document the research and conversations generated across the project. This volume emerges from the conference Architectures of Transition: Frameworks & Practices in South Asia, which explored the agency of architecture by engaging experienced practitioners working through diverse approaches. By placing academics and practitioners in dialogue, the conference aimed to illuminate the breadth of architectural practice in the region and help bridge the long-standing divide between theoretical discourse and professional work.
This publication builds on that research and draws from the international conference ‘Architectures of Transition: Frameworks and Practices in South Asia,’ held in New Delhi, in December 2023. This book captures the conversations at the conference, which addressed architectural agency by including practices who have been working for over a decade and who demonstrated diverse methods of engagement.
About the authors
Rahul Mehrotra is a Professor of Urban Design and Planning and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is the Founder Principal of RMA Architects, which was founded in 1990 . Mehrotra’s most recent books are titled Working in Mumbai (2020) and The Kinetic City and Other Essays (2021). The former, a reflection on his practice, evolved through its association with the city of Bombay/Mumbai. The second book presents his writings over the last 30 years and illustrates his long-term engagement with and analysis of urbanism in India. This work has given rise to a new conceptualization of the city that Mehrotra calls the Kinetic City.
Devashree Shah is an architect who graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Design with a Master of Architecture II degree in 2023. With international experience at Serie Architects and Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects, she currently holds the positions of Coordinator of Inclusive Public Transit and Inclusive Design Architect at the Institute of Human-Centered Design, Boston. Her ongoing research project focuses on the repair of affordable housing (Chawls) in Mumbai, featuring field studies and imaginative projections as its central components. Her project, ‘Thrive – Dual-Use Housing,’ earned recognition in the ‘Inside Out’ exhibition curated by Dan Borelli at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Pranav Thole is a Harvard Graduate School of Design alumnus with a Master of Architecture in Urban Design (2023). As an Architect and Urban Designer, he’s worked with distinguished firms such as Sameep Padora and Associates, Flying Elephant Studio, and junya.ishigami + associates. He is currently working as an Urban Designer at ONE Architecture + Urbanism, in New York, focusing on transportation and resilience infrastructure projects. He has been recognized for his interdisciplinary work, having been named a finalist in the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Competition in 2022 and the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Innovation in Affordable Housing Competition in 2023.
