Building in India – A Shared Desire for Dignity – Brinda Somaya

About: Brinda Somaya, is an architect and urban conservationist. Upon completion of her Bachelor of Architecture from Mumbai University and her Master of Arts from Smith College in Northampton, MA, U.S.A, she started her firm Somaya and Kalappa Consultants in 1978 in Mumbai, India. In May 2012 she was the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from her alma mater, Smith College. In 2014 she was awarded the Indian Institute of Architects – Baburao Mhatre Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement. In 2016 she was appointed as the Chairperson of the Board of Governors, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada. In 2017 She joined the Board of the Lafargeholcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, Zurich, Switzerland. Presently she is the A.D. White Professor-at-large at Cornell University, U.S.A. Her firm has recently won the competition for the `Restoration and Upgradation of the historic Louis Kahn Buildings of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).Over four decades she has merged architecture, conservation and social equity in projects ranging from institutional campuses and rehabilitation of an earthquake-torn village to the restoration of an 18th century Cathedral, showing that progress and history need not be at odds. In 2004 Brinda Somaya won the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage award for the restoration of the St. Thomas Cathedral in Mumbai. Her monograph `Brinda Somaya Works & Continuities’ was published in 2018.