Sarbjit Bahga
Sarbjit Bahga (b1957) is a Chandigarh-based architect, urbanist, author, and photo artist. He graduated from Chandigarh College of Architecture with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1979. He is the Principal Architect at Bahga Design Studio LLP, a Chandigarh-based Architecture+Urban Design firm. Earlier, Bahga worked in the Department of Architecture, Punjab, Punjab Health Systems Corporation, and Punjab Mandi Board in various positions. He has more than 40 years of practical experience in designing and supervising various types of buildings, complexes, and large campuses. His completed works include an eclectic and impressive range of administrative, recreational, educational, medical, residential, commercial, and agricultural buildings. His buildings are exciting and responsive to function, climate, and materials.
Bahga is a staunch modernist and an ardent, yet not blind, admirer of Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Louis Kahn. Bahga is also a keen researcher and a prolific architectural writer. He has 13 books to his credit, which include Modern Architecture in India, New Indian Homes, Le Corbusier & Pierre Jeanneret: Footprints on the Sands of Indian Architecture, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret: The Indian Architecture, Trees in Urban Habitat, Contemporary Indian Houses, and Landscaping Human Habitat, Hand-Drawn Perspectives and Sketches, Dr SS BHATTI: Biographical Conversations to Explore Many Fascinating Dimensions of His Versatile Creativity, A 100-YEAR JOURNEY - Centenary Celebrations: Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Garhdiwala, Hoshiarpur, Punjab (1921-2021), Building a Sustainable and Bio-Diverse Organic Farm: Case Study of a 1 Acre Model Farm in India, and New Indian Architecture: 1947-2020. His books are considered landmarks in the history of contemporary architecture of India. Apart from this, he is a former Country Editor (India) for the international news portal worldarchitecture.org where he has published more than 100 articles on contemporary Indian architecture. Bahga takes a particular interest in the overall development of the profession of architecture. His contribution to architecture has been primarily recognized, and his buildings/articles have been widely published in many architectural journals. He is a three-time recipient of the World Architecture Community Awards. His name has been featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for designing the "longest covered concrete corridor" in Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health, Amritsar.
Bahga is a staunch modernist and an ardent, yet not blind, admirer of Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Louis Kahn. Bahga is also a keen researcher and a prolific architectural writer. He has 13 books to his credit, which include Modern Architecture in India, New Indian Homes, Le Corbusier & Pierre Jeanneret: Footprints on the Sands of Indian Architecture, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret: The Indian Architecture, Trees in Urban Habitat, Contemporary Indian Houses, and Landscaping Human Habitat, Hand-Drawn Perspectives and Sketches, Dr SS BHATTI: Biographical Conversations to Explore Many Fascinating Dimensions of His Versatile Creativity, A 100-YEAR JOURNEY - Centenary Celebrations: Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Garhdiwala, Hoshiarpur, Punjab (1921-2021), Building a Sustainable and Bio-Diverse Organic Farm: Case Study of a 1 Acre Model Farm in India, and New Indian Architecture: 1947-2020. His books are considered landmarks in the history of contemporary architecture of India. Apart from this, he is a former Country Editor (India) for the international news portal worldarchitecture.org where he has published more than 100 articles on contemporary Indian architecture. Bahga takes a particular interest in the overall development of the profession of architecture. His contribution to architecture has been primarily recognized, and his buildings/articles have been widely published in many architectural journals. He is a three-time recipient of the World Architecture Community Awards. His name has been featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for designing the "longest covered concrete corridor" in Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health, Amritsar.
less
Interests
Uploads
Papers by Sarbjit Bahga
The Architect of Architects Act & Humorous Lawmaker
Sarbjit Singh Bahga
The Indian architectural fraternity owes much to the architect-turned-politician Piloo Mody, who spearheaded the passing of an important Bill in the Parliament that enabled the Architects Act of 1972. The Act provides for the registration of architects and overlooks their roles and responsibilities. Besides, it streamlines architecture education to produce excellent and responsible architects. The status of the profession of architecture in India today is all due to the foresightedness of visionary architect and politician Piloo Mody. On behalf of all architects, the author pays rich tribute to Piloo Mody on his 97th birth anniversary, which falls on 14 November 2023.
Piloo Mody (14 November 1926 – 29 January 1983) was elected to the 4th and 5th Lok Sabha and served in the Rajya Sabha from 1978 until he died in 1983. An advocate of liberalism and freedom, Piloo Mody was a founding member and Executive Vice-President of the Swatantra Party. He also served as Vice-President of the Indian Institute of Architects and Member of the Board of Governors, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and Committee of the All-India Board of Technical Education on Architecture and Regional Planning.
Born in an affluent Parsi family, Piloo Mody studied at the Doon School, Dehradun. After that, he studied architecture at Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Bombay (now Mumbai), and completed his Bachelor of Architecture. For a master's degree in architecture, Mody attended the University of California, Berkeley, USA. After completing his studies, he married Lavina Colgan, a Swiss-born-American and his classmate at Berkeley, on 3 January 1953.
After his stint in the USA, Piloo Mody returned to India and worked on the Capital Project of Chandigarh for two years. Then Mody and his wife Lavina Colgan established their architectural practice under the name 'Mody and Colgan' with headquarters at Stadium House, Veer Nariman Road, Churchgate, Bombay (Mumbai). The husband-wife duo of Piloo Mody and Lavina Colgan designed several outstanding buildings and complexes in the 1950s and 1960s.
Some of their prominent projects include the headquarters of Engineering Construction Corporation at Chennai, residential apartments for senior officials of TISCO, another residential complex, Olympus, three office buildings for TELCO, Headquarters of Bharat Bijlee, Mukand Iron and Steel, Sandoz, Voltas’ Diners Club and Business Service Centres. Another significant building that Piloo Mody designed in collaboration with Durga Bajpai is the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi. The design of this hotel, with well-integrated services and the structure of precast concrete beams, slabs, louvers, and balcony railings, was in sync with the international style of architecture. Of these, the Headquarters of Engineering Construction Corporation was conferred with the Fédération Internationale de la Précontrainte award for excellence in pre-stressed concrete.
A thorough perusal of Piloo Mody’s architectural works reveals that he was ahead of his time, very meticulous, practical, curious, and always eager to use innovative technology.
HUMOUR IN THE PARLIAMENT
Besides his professional pursuits, Piloo Mody was known for his constant use of wit and humour in his parliamentary speeches. Due to his conservative and pro-American views, Mody was often accused by the members of the ruling Congress Party of being a "Washington parrot." To counter that, once he came to the House wearing a placard reading "I am a CIA agent." The Chairman ordered him to remove it. He did so, remarking, "I am no longer a CIA agent."
Once, during a debate, JC Jain, a member of the ruling party, started needling Piloo Mody. He lost his temper and shouted at Jain, "Stop Barking." Jain was up, yelling and pleading with the Chair, "Sir, he is calling me a dog. It is unparliamentary language." Chairman Hidayatullah agreed and ordered, "This will not go on record." Not to be outdone, Piloo Mody corrected himself by saying, "All right then, stop braying." Jain did not know what the word implied, and it stayed on record.
On another occasion, Piloo Mody, while listening to a speech by a minister in the Parliament, felt outraged at some point. A plump and heavy man, Mody stood up and showed his back to the minister. That was his way of insulting the minister. When the minister complained to the speaker, he asked Mody if, indeed, he had shown his back to the minister and thereby insulted the House. Mody stood up again and told the speaker to look at him before telling him, "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have no front, no back, no flanks. I am round all over. So how could I have shown my back to the minister?" The House exploded in loud laughter, and the matter died down.
When Piloo Mody expressed dissatisfaction over the reported export of 15,000 tons of sugar, the minister Rao Birender Singh replied, "The quantity of 15,000 tons, Mr. Mody, compared to your size, is very small." Piloo Mody humorously replied, “Several things compared to my size are very small, including you.”
Once, a minister, while replying to a hot argument, said, "I am not supposed to respond to every barking dog." Then Piloo Mody rose to speak and said," Speaker, Sir, on the Treasury benches, we have great people sitting, pillars of the government, pillars of democracy. And, we are dogs, and everyone knows how a dog treats a pillar." The House busted in laughter.
When Giani Zail Singh, as Home Minister, was piloting a bill in the Rajya Sabha, Piloo Mody, a member of the House, participated in the debate. While replying to the debate, Gianiji, referring to Piloo Mody's comments on the Bill, stated in Hindi, “Piloo Mody to bade seasonal member hain.” The whole House started laughing. Another minister, sitting next to Gianiji, whispered to him to say that the word is "seasoned." Thereupon Gianiji again said, ”Mujhe to angrezi thodi aati hai. Inko to inki biwi ne anrezi padhai hai.” Piloo Mody thumped his desk and raised a point of order. The whole House was looking at Piloo Mody. The Deputy Chairman asked, “What is your point of order?” Piloo Mody stated, “Gianiji is grossly misinformed. My wife did not teach me English. I taught her English.” The whole House busted into laughter again. Piloo Mody’s wife was a Swiss.
Similarly, once, there was a debate in Parliament about the import of railway tracks and wagons for quick replacement. Indradeep Sinha – an opposition member, believed these should be manufactured locally instead of importing because it caused delays. Piloo Mody interrupted to say that the delay was caused not by importing it but by manufacturing it. Sinha replied to Piloo Mody, "You are not the sole importing agent. There are so many others.” The Chairman corrected Sinha, "No, he is not an importing agent. He is an exporting agent." Piloo Mody added, "I export ideas on a barren market."
When Shyam Lal Yadav was elected as the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, members of various political parties in the House started extending their congratulations to him. Piloo Mody congratulated and warned the newly appointed Deputy Chairman, "I beg to move a vote of congratulations to my friend, Shri Shyam Lal Yadav. I have no doubt in my mind that my good friend will continue to be as partisan as he was in the past. I want to assure my friend, neighbour, and colleague that I wish him very happy times in the Chair with the least amount of acrimony and warn him that if he does not behave when he returns to this Chair, I will sit on him." The Deputy Chairman, when not presiding, sits next to the Leader of the Opposition.
Piloo Mody's sense of humour was not only in his speeches but in his writings too. He was known to address Indira Gandhi as IG in his letters and sign off as PM (Piloo Mody). He often told Indira Gandhi, ”I am permanent PM; you are temporary."
Apart from being a humorous parliamentarian and brilliant architect, Piloo Mody was a renowned author, having two books to his credit. His first book, “ZULFI, MY FRIEND” (1973), was penned on the life and times of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, his close friend and classmate, who became Prime Minister of Pakistan in the 1970s. Mody's second book was, “Democracy Means BREAD AND FREEDOM” (1979), which he wrote during his 16 months in jail during the infamous Emergency period in 1975. The book was an attempt to trace the genesis of democracy and search for the origins of the attitudes and institutions that sustain it. Piloo Mody also served as editor of an English weekly, “March of the Nation,” published from Bombay, and wrote numerous articles for the national and international newspapers and magazines. Mody’s legacy is commemorated by the Piloo Mody College of Architecture in Cuttack, Odisha, and FIDE’s Piloo Mody Memorial Open Chess Tournament, named in his honour.
Long live the memories of Piloo Mody!
*****
By Sarbjit Bahga
A Nepal-born American architect asked me to pen some untold anecdotes and stories of Pierre Jeanneret. He intended to know something more and different about Pierre Jeanneret, his personality and relationship with his staff and his ways of tackling senior functionaries of the government. I found the suggested topic very interesting but doubted whether I could do justice to it. The reason was an age difference, as I was only ten years old when Pierre Jeanneret left this world in 1967. I never met Pierre Jeanneret, but I have long been associated with many of his Indian colleagues who have worked directly with him.
I joined the Department of Architecture, Punjab (once headed by Pierre Jeanneret) in 1980 and served there for more than three decades. Luckily, I worked with many of the associates of Pierre Jeanneret, like UE Chowdhury, Jeet Malhotra, HS Chopra, and others.
Since the beginning of my professional career, I have listened to numerous tales about Pierre Jeanneret, who remained the Chief Architect of the Department of Architecture from 1952 to 1965. I started recollecting and writing some anecdotes to complete the new assignment my younger friend gave me.
I have learnt about Pierre Jeanneret from my senior colleagues that he was straightforward, humble, polite, down-to-earth, amicable, and caring. Apart from this, he was an outstanding architect with exceptional qualities like creativity, inquisitiveness, adaptability to new environments, skills to handle different building materials and understanding of the users' requirements.
During his one-and-a-half decade-old stint as head of the Department of Architecture, Pierre Jeanneret was loved and respected by his junior colleagues for his affectionate and caring attitude. There is an exciting yet touching anecdote. There came a time when the disbursements of salaries of the staff were stopped for one or two months. The reason was the delay in passing the annual budget by the state government and some other procedural delays. Resultantly, the entire staff faced tough times meeting their ends.
Due to this challenging situation, there was lots of whispering amongst the staff under tremendous financial pressure. Nobody told Pierre Jeanneret directly, mainly due to the language barrier as he was a French-speaking person and not quite fluent in English, what to talk of other local languages like Hindi and Punjabi. The staff was only Punjabi or Hindi-speaking, and most were not fluent in English.
After a few days, Pierre Jeanneret smelt the rat and felt everything was not going smoothly in the office. He called UE Chowdhury - the only lady architect in the department who could understand and speak French, English, Hindi, and many other languages. Jeanneret asked her if there was any resentment in the staff. UE Chowdhury explained that due to the non-disbursal of salaries, the staff members are tense and cannot concentrate on their work properly.
After knowing the whole story, Pierre Jeanneret asked UE Chowdhury to talk to staff members and prepare a list of essential and bare minimum money requirements. Having done that, Pierre Jeanneret paid the needy from his bank account. Such a generous person he was!
Despite his politeness and humbleness, Pierre Jeanneret was a steadfast person in matters related to planning and architecture. He has nourished the development of the Capital City of Chandigarh with utter sincerity, dedication, and selflessness. When he saw any violations or deviations from the core concepts of the city's planning, he handled it with a firm hand. There is an interesting anecdote.
As per the pre-decided edict, Chandigarh shall be kept a cattle-free city. Thus, residents were not allowed to keep cattle on their premises. Contrary to this edict, Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, the then Chief Minister of Punjab, kept a cow in his residence to meet his family's daily requirement of milk. Also, he has constructed a bare minimum infrastructure for the cow, like a manger (khurli). When Pierre Jeanneret learned about this development, he met the Chief Minister at his residence. Jeanneret asked the CM to demolish the manger and remove the cow immediately.
The Chief Minister, Partap Singh Kairon - a highly educated and towering politician then- tried to convince Jeanneret that he should have this privilege as a Head of the State. But Jeanneret politely and firmly declined his desire and insisted upon removing the violations. Kairon again tried to impress upon him authoritatively and asked for exemptions. When Pierre Peanneret judged that the CM was not relenting, he took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and, while handing it over to the CM, said, "Then here is my resignation."
On seeing this humble man's firm action, Kairon instructed his staff, "Boys, demolish the manger and remove the cow immediately; otherwise, he will tell Jawaharlal Nehru. (Kaka, khurli jaldi dhah deo, te gaan hata deo nahi tan isne Jawaharlal nu das dena hai). Such was a conviction of this humble and polite man!
Pierre Jeanneret nourished the development of Chandigarh with unparalleled love and dedication. Despite being the Chief Architect with all the facilities like an official car, he used to move around the city on his bicycle in the evenings and watch the progress of buildings under construction. In this way, he could meet many people and see any discrepancies rectified immediately according to his orders. The beautiful city has acquired its status due to the selfless services of people like Pierre Jeanneret.
As Head of the Department of Architecture, Pierre Jeanneret always groomed and encouraged his young Indian colleagues to think afresh and evolve innovative ideas in consonance with the spirit of Chandigarh’s architecture. Resultantly, many youngsters could put their signatures on many outstanding buildings in Chandigarh. For instance, when Jeet Malhotra was asked to design some schools, he evolved a system of triangular corbelled arches in brick. When Jeet Malhotra showed this design to Pierre Jeanneret, he said that it looked too decorative and may not go with the architecture of Chandigarh. So, Pierre Jeanneret asked Malhotra to keep it pending till the visit of Le Corbusier. When Le Corbusier visited Chandigarh, they showed him this design, and he readily agreed, saying that it is in the true spirit of the material, i.e., brick. Finally, based on this design, many schools were constructed. After more than six decades, these buildings still look as fresh as ever. Likewise, Pierre Jeanneret encouraged architect HS Chopra to design Nehru Hospital on the PGI campus. There are, of course, numerous other examples which show the mentorship qualities of Pierre Jeanneret.
Pierre Jeanneret was a very creative and hardworking person who never liked to sit idly. Whenever he found time from his professional commitments, he loved to craft wooden furniture out of cut pieces of logs, wooden slices from old tree trunks, bamboo, niwar, munjh, and steel bars. This furniture includes chairs, stools, centre tables, side tables, lamp shades, etc., and was primarily meant for his personal use. Later, when he left Chandigarh in 1965, he gifted these precious pieces of furniture to the Chandigarh Museum. Apart from this, Jeanneret was very fond of making sailboats for Sukhna Lake. He used to spend his weekends with his colleagues while making paddleboats and then enjoy boating at Sukhna Lake. At other times, Jeanneret would draw on the carpet with his attendant Bansi, and together they produced carpet (duree) designs. By doing so, he had taught us that we should not only be drawing-board architects but also should work with our hands to give shape to our creations.
Pierre Jeanneret was a great teacher who had a poetic way of teaching. He always taught through exemplary creative expression rather than lessons and sermons. He used to convey a lot through his conduct. Architect Jeet Malhotra once shared that Jeanneret felt cold much more than others. He would always have two heaters in his room, on either side of his chair. One freezing evening, Malhotra walked into his room to discuss some drawings, leaving the door open. There was a severe draught. Without saying anything, Jeanneret walked up to the door, lit a cigarette, and gently closed the shutter. He came to his chair to look at the drawings that Malhotra had brought, still composed and quiet. Malhotra says that this incident taught him a lesson, and he never left a door open behind him.
Recollecting another incident, Jeet Malhotra shared that he left some work half-finished to go to a movie on Sunday evening. The following morning, anticipating a severe rebuke, he walked apprehensively into the office and discovered that the strange man had completed the remaining work himself.
When Pierre Jeanneret left India, he gifted all his household belongings to his needy colleagues. Of these, Bansi, his peon and later attendant was the most beneficiary. Jeanneret built a house for him, gifted him a car, and made provision for his children's education when they grew up. Jeanneret was a man who had inspired many with his charismatic personality. He had an immaculate simplicity and loved India more intensely than most Indians. He bade farewell in these immortal words, "I now leave my home and go to a foreign country." Jeanneret left for Geneva on August 31, 1965. Back home, he fell ill and suffered severely till his last day. Jeanneret passed away on December 4, 1967. He wished his ashes to be immersed in the Sukhna Lake of Chandigarh so that he would become a part of his creation.
In April 1970, Pierre Jeanneret’s niece, Jacqueline, paid a special visit to Chandigarh to perform the immersion ceremony. Long live the memories of Pierre Jeanneret - the Saint Architect.
To add another feather in his cap (turban), Bahga has found a new love in free-hand sketching, especially portraits. During the lockdown period in 2020, he has made many sketches of architects and planners of international repute. Prominent among these include the portraits of Pierre Jeanneret, Louis Kahn, Jane Drew, Maxwell Fry, Otto Königsberger and Fariborz Sahba.
Bahga uses black charcoal pencil on ordinary white paper for his sketches. Many of his sketches have been published on wikipedia.org. Sarbjit Bahga chooses the subject for his sketches which are close to his heart. He finds immense pleasure and satisfaction in preparing sketches of architects he admires the most and considers them his mentors.
About his sketch of Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967) – the Chief Architect of the Capital Project of Chandigarh, and Louis Kahn (1901-1974) – the great American architect, it is understandable that being an ardent admirer of both, Bahga has made their sketches. It is his way of paying tribute to his masters.
The choice of preparing a sketch of Jane Drew (1911-1996) was due to Bahga’s student-teacher relationship with the great British architect. Jane Drew was a team member of Le Corbusier for designing the Capital City of Chandigarh. Along with her architect husband, Maxwell Fry, she worked for a few years at the beginning of the project. The duo was responsible for designing most of the buildings in Sectors 22 and 23, Chandigarh, apart from some institutional complexes. They worked on Chandigarh Project till the mid-1950s. Though Bahga has never met Jane Drew personally but was able to establish contact with the great lady through letters in 1990 while writing his first book – “Modern Architecture in India: Post-Independence Perspective” - published in 1993. Jane Drew was kind enough to go through the entire manuscript and gave her valuable advice for improvements in the book. She also wrote Foreword to the book, which was a great morale-booster for the young Sarbjit Bahga, Surinder Bahga and Yashinder Bahga – the book's co-authors. Due to this bonding with Jane Drew, Sarbjit sketched his great mentor.
Bahga also sketched Maxwell Fry (1899-1987) – husband of Jane Drew and a team member of Le Corbusier. The reason for this choice was that Bahga got an opportunity to live in a government house Type-9 in Sector 22, Chandigarh, for 13 years, from 1999 to 2012. During his stay in this house, he was able to feel and appreciate the nuances of Maxwell Fry's architecture. Maxwell Fry’s sketch is thus an ode to the legend.
Otto Königsberger (1908-1999) was a renowned German architect and planner. He worked in India extensively as an architect and planner for many cities like Bhubaneshwar, Jamshedpur, Mysore, and Bangalore (now Bengaluru). While working on their book, the Bahga brothers contacted Otto Königsberger through letters. He was kind enough to patronize the young Bahgas and contributed the master plan of the Capital City of Bhubaneshwar from his archives. It is due to this bonding that Bahga sketched this German genius.
Fariborz Sahba (b.1948) is an Iranian - American architect who designed the Bahá'í House of Worship, popularly known as Lotus Temple, in New Delhi. The building is the epitome of geometrical precision in the modern architecture of India. When the Bahga brothers were working on the book “Modern Architecture in India”, Fariborz Sahba patronized this project wholeheartedly. He contributed publication material of exceptional quality. As a result, Bahgas chose to put a magnificent photo of the Lotus Temple on the book's title page. Due to this, Fariborz Sahba and Bahga brothers developed a unique professional understanding. The pencil sketch of Fariborz Sahba prepared by Sarbjit Bahga is thus a tribute to the great architect of the 20th century.
As discussed above, the subject matter of each sketch prepared by Sarbjit Bahga has a hidden story of love, reverence, respect, and regard. One can say that Bahga has prepared these sketches from ‘dil se’ (from heart) to pay tribute to those visionary architects who influenced his life and works. We expect him to continue with this passion and unfold many more stories and sketches in future.
By virtue of having worked with modernists like Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Maxwell Fry, and Jane B. Drew, he had acted as a torch bearer to promote the principles of modern architecture in this region. Jane B. drew recorded her comments about H. S. Chopra as, "He has unusual feeling of form... and if he is given opportunity, this man can be relied upon to produce a building of real merit."
Book Reviews by Sarbjit Bahga
The book - A 100-YEAR JOURNEY is an anthology containing an eclectic mix of articles and pictorial essays by some like-minded school alumni. Through these articles, the authors have penned down their memories in the school, exciting anecdotes, tributes to their revered teachers, and introductions to some of the noted alumni. The book aims to record the love and feelings of the authors about the school, which will encourage and motivate future generations of students and teachers. This treatise is not an exhaustive school history; it is conceived as a coffee table book. Indeed, it will be helpful to the posterity and will encourage many youngsters to compile a detailed history book on the subject. Budding writers may get inspiration from this book and will carry forward the baton of historical research. Surely it will go a long way in preserving the reminiscences of a genuinely historical marvel of quality education.
Bollywood Showplaces: The Cinema Theatres in India is the first book of its kind, which unfolds the metamorphosis of the Indian cinema theatre and throws light on its development, history, design and associated personalities. Its authors, David Vinnels and Brent Skelly, who are members of the Cinema Theatre Association of the UK, and the Theatre Historical Society of America, deserve all praise for their meticulous research on the hitherto neglected aspect of the Indian film industry.
Books by Sarbjit Bahga
Campus Design by Sarbjit Bahga
Author: Gurdeep Kaur
HUMANE ARCHITECTURE : Campus Design by Sarbjit Bahga is a monologue on the planning, architecture and design of Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health, Amritsar, Punjab, India designed by Architect Sarbjit Bahga. This book describes the challenges in designing a mental hospital and the experiences of the architect.
Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health (VSIMH) which was earlier known as the Government Mental Hospital, Amritsar was established in 1948. The new complex replaced the old one in 2003 when its condition gradually deteriorated to the most inhumane level. The hospital campus for the insane is located on a 47-acre plot in the heart of the city of Amritsar. The state-of-the-art new hospital is a unique model in itself with respect to its planning and architecture. The designing of such a hospital was a gigantic task for the architect, especially when no such prototype existed in India prior to its establishment. The architect and his team of advisors evolved an indigenous model which fulfils the requirements of its inhabitants and suits to the local conditions as well.
Authors: Sarbjit Bahga, Surinder Bahga, Yashinder Bahga
Contemporary Indian Houses is a well illustrated document of changing trends in architectural tune. It is not only a reflection of contemporary Indian architecture but also source of reference material for architecture historians. Moreover, it fulfills the needs of architects and other professionals engaged in house construction activity along with those general readers who wish to keep themselves informed of what is happening in the field of creative design. For instance, before getting their houses designed prospective house owners, particularly the urban elite, would find in this publication interesting material on the latest trends in domestic architecture.
The book discusses fifty-one architect-designed built-up houses selected from different parts of India. They display the diversity of needs, tastes and building materials in the context of different weather conditions and social trends. Different architectural appearances or external expressions have determined the classification of the houses into five sections. This grouping keeps the reader’s growing interest in the external aspect of a residential structure. The emphasis is on the built-form rather than on the interior and its décor. Each house is accompanied by an explanatory text and supplemented by appropriate drawings and photographs to present a comprehensive picture of India's many-splendoured domestic architecture.
The Indian Architecture
Authors: Sarbjit Bahga and Surinder Bahga
The book, though a modest addition to the voluminous publications, mostly descriptive, on these legendry architects, hope to throw light on some features hitherto not dealt with in earlier existing literature. The present book discusses almost all the works of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in India including some lesser-known ones as well as some projects which were not realized. Indeed some of these have been written about for the first time. In Particular Pierre Jeanneret’s works which were not so well-known earlier but find a befitting coverage in this book. Published after more than six decades of Chandigarh’s inception, this work portrays the up-to-date scenario of the built-environment vis-à-vis the inhabitants’ views on it. The reaction of the ultimate recipients of any delivery system, naturally based on their felt needs, is a most critical aspect for any in-depth analysis.
Authors: Hardial Singh Johl and Sarbjit Singh Bahga
This is a "ground breaking" book for town planners, architects, landscapists and city planners who face the enormous task of creating and planning cities, buildings, parks and open spaces in the face of challenging unprecedented urbanization. It is an encyclopedia of knowledge on methods and techniques to solve the intricate problems of urban planning with tree plantation. This book is an excellent reference guide that cites New Delhi and Chandigarh as examples of cities where tree plantation was a priority. The book offers valuable concepts of tree planting accompanied with photographs and illustrations to describe the appropriate use of trees in different urban settings. It provides a detailed description of the fundamental requirements of tree plantation around roads, buildings, open spaces and parks taking into account the important considerations pertaining to the structure and textures of trees, their density and diversity in growth patterns, scale, colour, form and detail. The book includes "lessons learnt" with insights into opportunities for improvement in future planning and development. The one chapter pertaining to the concept of developing the entire city into a park makes this book unique and creative.
• Authors: Hardial Singh Johl and Sarbjit Singh Bahga
It is a product of several decades of observation, knowledge and practical experience about important materials, their characteristics, functions, aesthetic values and their abilities to contribute towards development of better landscapes. The salient features of plants have been described along with coloured photographs of each kind. It, therefore, helps in choosing the right kind of species for proper landscaping.
This book in essence provides the broad landscaping perspective and deep knowledge of all kinds of plants to help all avid gardeners across the spectrum from new to experienced, a chance to create their own environs. This book is also especially valuable for professionals who are responsible for creating outstanding habitat for the people. It is a guide for all kinds of landscape materials and would serve as a model for the present and future generations. The applicability of this book is for almost all the countries of the world obtaining tropical, sub-tropical, sub-montane, semi cold as well as semi-arid regions.
Teaching Documents by Sarbjit Bahga
An International architectural exhibition showcasing CHANDIGARH & OTHER WORKS OF Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in India.
The Architect of Architects Act & Humorous Lawmaker
Sarbjit Singh Bahga
The Indian architectural fraternity owes much to the architect-turned-politician Piloo Mody, who spearheaded the passing of an important Bill in the Parliament that enabled the Architects Act of 1972. The Act provides for the registration of architects and overlooks their roles and responsibilities. Besides, it streamlines architecture education to produce excellent and responsible architects. The status of the profession of architecture in India today is all due to the foresightedness of visionary architect and politician Piloo Mody. On behalf of all architects, the author pays rich tribute to Piloo Mody on his 97th birth anniversary, which falls on 14 November 2023.
Piloo Mody (14 November 1926 – 29 January 1983) was elected to the 4th and 5th Lok Sabha and served in the Rajya Sabha from 1978 until he died in 1983. An advocate of liberalism and freedom, Piloo Mody was a founding member and Executive Vice-President of the Swatantra Party. He also served as Vice-President of the Indian Institute of Architects and Member of the Board of Governors, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and Committee of the All-India Board of Technical Education on Architecture and Regional Planning.
Born in an affluent Parsi family, Piloo Mody studied at the Doon School, Dehradun. After that, he studied architecture at Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Bombay (now Mumbai), and completed his Bachelor of Architecture. For a master's degree in architecture, Mody attended the University of California, Berkeley, USA. After completing his studies, he married Lavina Colgan, a Swiss-born-American and his classmate at Berkeley, on 3 January 1953.
After his stint in the USA, Piloo Mody returned to India and worked on the Capital Project of Chandigarh for two years. Then Mody and his wife Lavina Colgan established their architectural practice under the name 'Mody and Colgan' with headquarters at Stadium House, Veer Nariman Road, Churchgate, Bombay (Mumbai). The husband-wife duo of Piloo Mody and Lavina Colgan designed several outstanding buildings and complexes in the 1950s and 1960s.
Some of their prominent projects include the headquarters of Engineering Construction Corporation at Chennai, residential apartments for senior officials of TISCO, another residential complex, Olympus, three office buildings for TELCO, Headquarters of Bharat Bijlee, Mukand Iron and Steel, Sandoz, Voltas’ Diners Club and Business Service Centres. Another significant building that Piloo Mody designed in collaboration with Durga Bajpai is the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi. The design of this hotel, with well-integrated services and the structure of precast concrete beams, slabs, louvers, and balcony railings, was in sync with the international style of architecture. Of these, the Headquarters of Engineering Construction Corporation was conferred with the Fédération Internationale de la Précontrainte award for excellence in pre-stressed concrete.
A thorough perusal of Piloo Mody’s architectural works reveals that he was ahead of his time, very meticulous, practical, curious, and always eager to use innovative technology.
HUMOUR IN THE PARLIAMENT
Besides his professional pursuits, Piloo Mody was known for his constant use of wit and humour in his parliamentary speeches. Due to his conservative and pro-American views, Mody was often accused by the members of the ruling Congress Party of being a "Washington parrot." To counter that, once he came to the House wearing a placard reading "I am a CIA agent." The Chairman ordered him to remove it. He did so, remarking, "I am no longer a CIA agent."
Once, during a debate, JC Jain, a member of the ruling party, started needling Piloo Mody. He lost his temper and shouted at Jain, "Stop Barking." Jain was up, yelling and pleading with the Chair, "Sir, he is calling me a dog. It is unparliamentary language." Chairman Hidayatullah agreed and ordered, "This will not go on record." Not to be outdone, Piloo Mody corrected himself by saying, "All right then, stop braying." Jain did not know what the word implied, and it stayed on record.
On another occasion, Piloo Mody, while listening to a speech by a minister in the Parliament, felt outraged at some point. A plump and heavy man, Mody stood up and showed his back to the minister. That was his way of insulting the minister. When the minister complained to the speaker, he asked Mody if, indeed, he had shown his back to the minister and thereby insulted the House. Mody stood up again and told the speaker to look at him before telling him, "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have no front, no back, no flanks. I am round all over. So how could I have shown my back to the minister?" The House exploded in loud laughter, and the matter died down.
When Piloo Mody expressed dissatisfaction over the reported export of 15,000 tons of sugar, the minister Rao Birender Singh replied, "The quantity of 15,000 tons, Mr. Mody, compared to your size, is very small." Piloo Mody humorously replied, “Several things compared to my size are very small, including you.”
Once, a minister, while replying to a hot argument, said, "I am not supposed to respond to every barking dog." Then Piloo Mody rose to speak and said," Speaker, Sir, on the Treasury benches, we have great people sitting, pillars of the government, pillars of democracy. And, we are dogs, and everyone knows how a dog treats a pillar." The House busted in laughter.
When Giani Zail Singh, as Home Minister, was piloting a bill in the Rajya Sabha, Piloo Mody, a member of the House, participated in the debate. While replying to the debate, Gianiji, referring to Piloo Mody's comments on the Bill, stated in Hindi, “Piloo Mody to bade seasonal member hain.” The whole House started laughing. Another minister, sitting next to Gianiji, whispered to him to say that the word is "seasoned." Thereupon Gianiji again said, ”Mujhe to angrezi thodi aati hai. Inko to inki biwi ne anrezi padhai hai.” Piloo Mody thumped his desk and raised a point of order. The whole House was looking at Piloo Mody. The Deputy Chairman asked, “What is your point of order?” Piloo Mody stated, “Gianiji is grossly misinformed. My wife did not teach me English. I taught her English.” The whole House busted into laughter again. Piloo Mody’s wife was a Swiss.
Similarly, once, there was a debate in Parliament about the import of railway tracks and wagons for quick replacement. Indradeep Sinha – an opposition member, believed these should be manufactured locally instead of importing because it caused delays. Piloo Mody interrupted to say that the delay was caused not by importing it but by manufacturing it. Sinha replied to Piloo Mody, "You are not the sole importing agent. There are so many others.” The Chairman corrected Sinha, "No, he is not an importing agent. He is an exporting agent." Piloo Mody added, "I export ideas on a barren market."
When Shyam Lal Yadav was elected as the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, members of various political parties in the House started extending their congratulations to him. Piloo Mody congratulated and warned the newly appointed Deputy Chairman, "I beg to move a vote of congratulations to my friend, Shri Shyam Lal Yadav. I have no doubt in my mind that my good friend will continue to be as partisan as he was in the past. I want to assure my friend, neighbour, and colleague that I wish him very happy times in the Chair with the least amount of acrimony and warn him that if he does not behave when he returns to this Chair, I will sit on him." The Deputy Chairman, when not presiding, sits next to the Leader of the Opposition.
Piloo Mody's sense of humour was not only in his speeches but in his writings too. He was known to address Indira Gandhi as IG in his letters and sign off as PM (Piloo Mody). He often told Indira Gandhi, ”I am permanent PM; you are temporary."
Apart from being a humorous parliamentarian and brilliant architect, Piloo Mody was a renowned author, having two books to his credit. His first book, “ZULFI, MY FRIEND” (1973), was penned on the life and times of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, his close friend and classmate, who became Prime Minister of Pakistan in the 1970s. Mody's second book was, “Democracy Means BREAD AND FREEDOM” (1979), which he wrote during his 16 months in jail during the infamous Emergency period in 1975. The book was an attempt to trace the genesis of democracy and search for the origins of the attitudes and institutions that sustain it. Piloo Mody also served as editor of an English weekly, “March of the Nation,” published from Bombay, and wrote numerous articles for the national and international newspapers and magazines. Mody’s legacy is commemorated by the Piloo Mody College of Architecture in Cuttack, Odisha, and FIDE’s Piloo Mody Memorial Open Chess Tournament, named in his honour.
Long live the memories of Piloo Mody!
*****
By Sarbjit Bahga
A Nepal-born American architect asked me to pen some untold anecdotes and stories of Pierre Jeanneret. He intended to know something more and different about Pierre Jeanneret, his personality and relationship with his staff and his ways of tackling senior functionaries of the government. I found the suggested topic very interesting but doubted whether I could do justice to it. The reason was an age difference, as I was only ten years old when Pierre Jeanneret left this world in 1967. I never met Pierre Jeanneret, but I have long been associated with many of his Indian colleagues who have worked directly with him.
I joined the Department of Architecture, Punjab (once headed by Pierre Jeanneret) in 1980 and served there for more than three decades. Luckily, I worked with many of the associates of Pierre Jeanneret, like UE Chowdhury, Jeet Malhotra, HS Chopra, and others.
Since the beginning of my professional career, I have listened to numerous tales about Pierre Jeanneret, who remained the Chief Architect of the Department of Architecture from 1952 to 1965. I started recollecting and writing some anecdotes to complete the new assignment my younger friend gave me.
I have learnt about Pierre Jeanneret from my senior colleagues that he was straightforward, humble, polite, down-to-earth, amicable, and caring. Apart from this, he was an outstanding architect with exceptional qualities like creativity, inquisitiveness, adaptability to new environments, skills to handle different building materials and understanding of the users' requirements.
During his one-and-a-half decade-old stint as head of the Department of Architecture, Pierre Jeanneret was loved and respected by his junior colleagues for his affectionate and caring attitude. There is an exciting yet touching anecdote. There came a time when the disbursements of salaries of the staff were stopped for one or two months. The reason was the delay in passing the annual budget by the state government and some other procedural delays. Resultantly, the entire staff faced tough times meeting their ends.
Due to this challenging situation, there was lots of whispering amongst the staff under tremendous financial pressure. Nobody told Pierre Jeanneret directly, mainly due to the language barrier as he was a French-speaking person and not quite fluent in English, what to talk of other local languages like Hindi and Punjabi. The staff was only Punjabi or Hindi-speaking, and most were not fluent in English.
After a few days, Pierre Jeanneret smelt the rat and felt everything was not going smoothly in the office. He called UE Chowdhury - the only lady architect in the department who could understand and speak French, English, Hindi, and many other languages. Jeanneret asked her if there was any resentment in the staff. UE Chowdhury explained that due to the non-disbursal of salaries, the staff members are tense and cannot concentrate on their work properly.
After knowing the whole story, Pierre Jeanneret asked UE Chowdhury to talk to staff members and prepare a list of essential and bare minimum money requirements. Having done that, Pierre Jeanneret paid the needy from his bank account. Such a generous person he was!
Despite his politeness and humbleness, Pierre Jeanneret was a steadfast person in matters related to planning and architecture. He has nourished the development of the Capital City of Chandigarh with utter sincerity, dedication, and selflessness. When he saw any violations or deviations from the core concepts of the city's planning, he handled it with a firm hand. There is an interesting anecdote.
As per the pre-decided edict, Chandigarh shall be kept a cattle-free city. Thus, residents were not allowed to keep cattle on their premises. Contrary to this edict, Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, the then Chief Minister of Punjab, kept a cow in his residence to meet his family's daily requirement of milk. Also, he has constructed a bare minimum infrastructure for the cow, like a manger (khurli). When Pierre Jeanneret learned about this development, he met the Chief Minister at his residence. Jeanneret asked the CM to demolish the manger and remove the cow immediately.
The Chief Minister, Partap Singh Kairon - a highly educated and towering politician then- tried to convince Jeanneret that he should have this privilege as a Head of the State. But Jeanneret politely and firmly declined his desire and insisted upon removing the violations. Kairon again tried to impress upon him authoritatively and asked for exemptions. When Pierre Peanneret judged that the CM was not relenting, he took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and, while handing it over to the CM, said, "Then here is my resignation."
On seeing this humble man's firm action, Kairon instructed his staff, "Boys, demolish the manger and remove the cow immediately; otherwise, he will tell Jawaharlal Nehru. (Kaka, khurli jaldi dhah deo, te gaan hata deo nahi tan isne Jawaharlal nu das dena hai). Such was a conviction of this humble and polite man!
Pierre Jeanneret nourished the development of Chandigarh with unparalleled love and dedication. Despite being the Chief Architect with all the facilities like an official car, he used to move around the city on his bicycle in the evenings and watch the progress of buildings under construction. In this way, he could meet many people and see any discrepancies rectified immediately according to his orders. The beautiful city has acquired its status due to the selfless services of people like Pierre Jeanneret.
As Head of the Department of Architecture, Pierre Jeanneret always groomed and encouraged his young Indian colleagues to think afresh and evolve innovative ideas in consonance with the spirit of Chandigarh’s architecture. Resultantly, many youngsters could put their signatures on many outstanding buildings in Chandigarh. For instance, when Jeet Malhotra was asked to design some schools, he evolved a system of triangular corbelled arches in brick. When Jeet Malhotra showed this design to Pierre Jeanneret, he said that it looked too decorative and may not go with the architecture of Chandigarh. So, Pierre Jeanneret asked Malhotra to keep it pending till the visit of Le Corbusier. When Le Corbusier visited Chandigarh, they showed him this design, and he readily agreed, saying that it is in the true spirit of the material, i.e., brick. Finally, based on this design, many schools were constructed. After more than six decades, these buildings still look as fresh as ever. Likewise, Pierre Jeanneret encouraged architect HS Chopra to design Nehru Hospital on the PGI campus. There are, of course, numerous other examples which show the mentorship qualities of Pierre Jeanneret.
Pierre Jeanneret was a very creative and hardworking person who never liked to sit idly. Whenever he found time from his professional commitments, he loved to craft wooden furniture out of cut pieces of logs, wooden slices from old tree trunks, bamboo, niwar, munjh, and steel bars. This furniture includes chairs, stools, centre tables, side tables, lamp shades, etc., and was primarily meant for his personal use. Later, when he left Chandigarh in 1965, he gifted these precious pieces of furniture to the Chandigarh Museum. Apart from this, Jeanneret was very fond of making sailboats for Sukhna Lake. He used to spend his weekends with his colleagues while making paddleboats and then enjoy boating at Sukhna Lake. At other times, Jeanneret would draw on the carpet with his attendant Bansi, and together they produced carpet (duree) designs. By doing so, he had taught us that we should not only be drawing-board architects but also should work with our hands to give shape to our creations.
Pierre Jeanneret was a great teacher who had a poetic way of teaching. He always taught through exemplary creative expression rather than lessons and sermons. He used to convey a lot through his conduct. Architect Jeet Malhotra once shared that Jeanneret felt cold much more than others. He would always have two heaters in his room, on either side of his chair. One freezing evening, Malhotra walked into his room to discuss some drawings, leaving the door open. There was a severe draught. Without saying anything, Jeanneret walked up to the door, lit a cigarette, and gently closed the shutter. He came to his chair to look at the drawings that Malhotra had brought, still composed and quiet. Malhotra says that this incident taught him a lesson, and he never left a door open behind him.
Recollecting another incident, Jeet Malhotra shared that he left some work half-finished to go to a movie on Sunday evening. The following morning, anticipating a severe rebuke, he walked apprehensively into the office and discovered that the strange man had completed the remaining work himself.
When Pierre Jeanneret left India, he gifted all his household belongings to his needy colleagues. Of these, Bansi, his peon and later attendant was the most beneficiary. Jeanneret built a house for him, gifted him a car, and made provision for his children's education when they grew up. Jeanneret was a man who had inspired many with his charismatic personality. He had an immaculate simplicity and loved India more intensely than most Indians. He bade farewell in these immortal words, "I now leave my home and go to a foreign country." Jeanneret left for Geneva on August 31, 1965. Back home, he fell ill and suffered severely till his last day. Jeanneret passed away on December 4, 1967. He wished his ashes to be immersed in the Sukhna Lake of Chandigarh so that he would become a part of his creation.
In April 1970, Pierre Jeanneret’s niece, Jacqueline, paid a special visit to Chandigarh to perform the immersion ceremony. Long live the memories of Pierre Jeanneret - the Saint Architect.
To add another feather in his cap (turban), Bahga has found a new love in free-hand sketching, especially portraits. During the lockdown period in 2020, he has made many sketches of architects and planners of international repute. Prominent among these include the portraits of Pierre Jeanneret, Louis Kahn, Jane Drew, Maxwell Fry, Otto Königsberger and Fariborz Sahba.
Bahga uses black charcoal pencil on ordinary white paper for his sketches. Many of his sketches have been published on wikipedia.org. Sarbjit Bahga chooses the subject for his sketches which are close to his heart. He finds immense pleasure and satisfaction in preparing sketches of architects he admires the most and considers them his mentors.
About his sketch of Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967) – the Chief Architect of the Capital Project of Chandigarh, and Louis Kahn (1901-1974) – the great American architect, it is understandable that being an ardent admirer of both, Bahga has made their sketches. It is his way of paying tribute to his masters.
The choice of preparing a sketch of Jane Drew (1911-1996) was due to Bahga’s student-teacher relationship with the great British architect. Jane Drew was a team member of Le Corbusier for designing the Capital City of Chandigarh. Along with her architect husband, Maxwell Fry, she worked for a few years at the beginning of the project. The duo was responsible for designing most of the buildings in Sectors 22 and 23, Chandigarh, apart from some institutional complexes. They worked on Chandigarh Project till the mid-1950s. Though Bahga has never met Jane Drew personally but was able to establish contact with the great lady through letters in 1990 while writing his first book – “Modern Architecture in India: Post-Independence Perspective” - published in 1993. Jane Drew was kind enough to go through the entire manuscript and gave her valuable advice for improvements in the book. She also wrote Foreword to the book, which was a great morale-booster for the young Sarbjit Bahga, Surinder Bahga and Yashinder Bahga – the book's co-authors. Due to this bonding with Jane Drew, Sarbjit sketched his great mentor.
Bahga also sketched Maxwell Fry (1899-1987) – husband of Jane Drew and a team member of Le Corbusier. The reason for this choice was that Bahga got an opportunity to live in a government house Type-9 in Sector 22, Chandigarh, for 13 years, from 1999 to 2012. During his stay in this house, he was able to feel and appreciate the nuances of Maxwell Fry's architecture. Maxwell Fry’s sketch is thus an ode to the legend.
Otto Königsberger (1908-1999) was a renowned German architect and planner. He worked in India extensively as an architect and planner for many cities like Bhubaneshwar, Jamshedpur, Mysore, and Bangalore (now Bengaluru). While working on their book, the Bahga brothers contacted Otto Königsberger through letters. He was kind enough to patronize the young Bahgas and contributed the master plan of the Capital City of Bhubaneshwar from his archives. It is due to this bonding that Bahga sketched this German genius.
Fariborz Sahba (b.1948) is an Iranian - American architect who designed the Bahá'í House of Worship, popularly known as Lotus Temple, in New Delhi. The building is the epitome of geometrical precision in the modern architecture of India. When the Bahga brothers were working on the book “Modern Architecture in India”, Fariborz Sahba patronized this project wholeheartedly. He contributed publication material of exceptional quality. As a result, Bahgas chose to put a magnificent photo of the Lotus Temple on the book's title page. Due to this, Fariborz Sahba and Bahga brothers developed a unique professional understanding. The pencil sketch of Fariborz Sahba prepared by Sarbjit Bahga is thus a tribute to the great architect of the 20th century.
As discussed above, the subject matter of each sketch prepared by Sarbjit Bahga has a hidden story of love, reverence, respect, and regard. One can say that Bahga has prepared these sketches from ‘dil se’ (from heart) to pay tribute to those visionary architects who influenced his life and works. We expect him to continue with this passion and unfold many more stories and sketches in future.
By virtue of having worked with modernists like Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Maxwell Fry, and Jane B. Drew, he had acted as a torch bearer to promote the principles of modern architecture in this region. Jane B. drew recorded her comments about H. S. Chopra as, "He has unusual feeling of form... and if he is given opportunity, this man can be relied upon to produce a building of real merit."
The book - A 100-YEAR JOURNEY is an anthology containing an eclectic mix of articles and pictorial essays by some like-minded school alumni. Through these articles, the authors have penned down their memories in the school, exciting anecdotes, tributes to their revered teachers, and introductions to some of the noted alumni. The book aims to record the love and feelings of the authors about the school, which will encourage and motivate future generations of students and teachers. This treatise is not an exhaustive school history; it is conceived as a coffee table book. Indeed, it will be helpful to the posterity and will encourage many youngsters to compile a detailed history book on the subject. Budding writers may get inspiration from this book and will carry forward the baton of historical research. Surely it will go a long way in preserving the reminiscences of a genuinely historical marvel of quality education.
Bollywood Showplaces: The Cinema Theatres in India is the first book of its kind, which unfolds the metamorphosis of the Indian cinema theatre and throws light on its development, history, design and associated personalities. Its authors, David Vinnels and Brent Skelly, who are members of the Cinema Theatre Association of the UK, and the Theatre Historical Society of America, deserve all praise for their meticulous research on the hitherto neglected aspect of the Indian film industry.
Campus Design by Sarbjit Bahga
Author: Gurdeep Kaur
HUMANE ARCHITECTURE : Campus Design by Sarbjit Bahga is a monologue on the planning, architecture and design of Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health, Amritsar, Punjab, India designed by Architect Sarbjit Bahga. This book describes the challenges in designing a mental hospital and the experiences of the architect.
Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health (VSIMH) which was earlier known as the Government Mental Hospital, Amritsar was established in 1948. The new complex replaced the old one in 2003 when its condition gradually deteriorated to the most inhumane level. The hospital campus for the insane is located on a 47-acre plot in the heart of the city of Amritsar. The state-of-the-art new hospital is a unique model in itself with respect to its planning and architecture. The designing of such a hospital was a gigantic task for the architect, especially when no such prototype existed in India prior to its establishment. The architect and his team of advisors evolved an indigenous model which fulfils the requirements of its inhabitants and suits to the local conditions as well.
Authors: Sarbjit Bahga, Surinder Bahga, Yashinder Bahga
Contemporary Indian Houses is a well illustrated document of changing trends in architectural tune. It is not only a reflection of contemporary Indian architecture but also source of reference material for architecture historians. Moreover, it fulfills the needs of architects and other professionals engaged in house construction activity along with those general readers who wish to keep themselves informed of what is happening in the field of creative design. For instance, before getting their houses designed prospective house owners, particularly the urban elite, would find in this publication interesting material on the latest trends in domestic architecture.
The book discusses fifty-one architect-designed built-up houses selected from different parts of India. They display the diversity of needs, tastes and building materials in the context of different weather conditions and social trends. Different architectural appearances or external expressions have determined the classification of the houses into five sections. This grouping keeps the reader’s growing interest in the external aspect of a residential structure. The emphasis is on the built-form rather than on the interior and its décor. Each house is accompanied by an explanatory text and supplemented by appropriate drawings and photographs to present a comprehensive picture of India's many-splendoured domestic architecture.
The Indian Architecture
Authors: Sarbjit Bahga and Surinder Bahga
The book, though a modest addition to the voluminous publications, mostly descriptive, on these legendry architects, hope to throw light on some features hitherto not dealt with in earlier existing literature. The present book discusses almost all the works of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in India including some lesser-known ones as well as some projects which were not realized. Indeed some of these have been written about for the first time. In Particular Pierre Jeanneret’s works which were not so well-known earlier but find a befitting coverage in this book. Published after more than six decades of Chandigarh’s inception, this work portrays the up-to-date scenario of the built-environment vis-à-vis the inhabitants’ views on it. The reaction of the ultimate recipients of any delivery system, naturally based on their felt needs, is a most critical aspect for any in-depth analysis.
Authors: Hardial Singh Johl and Sarbjit Singh Bahga
This is a "ground breaking" book for town planners, architects, landscapists and city planners who face the enormous task of creating and planning cities, buildings, parks and open spaces in the face of challenging unprecedented urbanization. It is an encyclopedia of knowledge on methods and techniques to solve the intricate problems of urban planning with tree plantation. This book is an excellent reference guide that cites New Delhi and Chandigarh as examples of cities where tree plantation was a priority. The book offers valuable concepts of tree planting accompanied with photographs and illustrations to describe the appropriate use of trees in different urban settings. It provides a detailed description of the fundamental requirements of tree plantation around roads, buildings, open spaces and parks taking into account the important considerations pertaining to the structure and textures of trees, their density and diversity in growth patterns, scale, colour, form and detail. The book includes "lessons learnt" with insights into opportunities for improvement in future planning and development. The one chapter pertaining to the concept of developing the entire city into a park makes this book unique and creative.
• Authors: Hardial Singh Johl and Sarbjit Singh Bahga
It is a product of several decades of observation, knowledge and practical experience about important materials, their characteristics, functions, aesthetic values and their abilities to contribute towards development of better landscapes. The salient features of plants have been described along with coloured photographs of each kind. It, therefore, helps in choosing the right kind of species for proper landscaping.
This book in essence provides the broad landscaping perspective and deep knowledge of all kinds of plants to help all avid gardeners across the spectrum from new to experienced, a chance to create their own environs. This book is also especially valuable for professionals who are responsible for creating outstanding habitat for the people. It is a guide for all kinds of landscape materials and would serve as a model for the present and future generations. The applicability of this book is for almost all the countries of the world obtaining tropical, sub-tropical, sub-montane, semi cold as well as semi-arid regions.
An International architectural exhibition showcasing CHANDIGARH & OTHER WORKS OF Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in India.