Description
Jane Drew arrived in India in 1951 as Senior Architect of Chandigarh. She soon discovered that designing a city to represent modern India required more than architectural expertise. Jane learned how to build not only with concrete and brick, but with people. Crossing boundaries of class, caste and culture, she helped create one of the twentieth century’s most extraordinary urban experiments.
In a society unused to women in command, Jane Drew—‘Respected Sir’—shaped lives beyond the drawing board.
About the authors
Inês Leonor Nunes is an architect, architectural historian and doctoral candidate. Her research explores the intersections of architecture, gender and social engagement in postcolonial South Asia through the work of Jane Drew in India and Minnette De Silva in Sri Lanka. Her work has been presented at international conferences, published in academic journals, and recognised with the Lifchez- Berkeley Prize from the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments. The investigation received support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and a research residency at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA).
Jane Drew, Respected Sir grows out of her longstanding research into Drew’s work in Chandigarh.
About MINĪ
MINĪ – Stories of Art, Architecture & Style
MINĪ is a new collection of small, finely crafted books exploring the larger world or art, architecture and design. Each volume is a standalone extended essay that offers a fresh way of seeing and imagining our larger world.
Born in Barcelona and rooted in Chandigarh, India, Altrim celebrates this cultural exchange through MINĪ, original essays from voices across the globe.
Elegant, distinctive, and evocative, MINĪ offers a literary journey where imagination and design meet on every page.