Aditya Prakash (architect)

Aditya Prakash exhibited his art in several galleries all over India, including the Taj Art Gallery in Mumbai. Four of his architectural drawings are included as a part of the 2022The Project of Independence exhibition at MoMA Museum of Modern Art in New York.

One Continuous Line: Art, Architecture and Urbanism of Aditya Prakash written by Vikramaditya Prakash was published by Mapin Publishing in 2021. This book was awarded a grant by the Graham Foundation.

Aditya Prakash's archive was acquired by the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal in 2020.

After retiring from CCA in 1982, Aditya Prakash opened his own private design practise under the name of Arcon Architects, which designed several projects in North India, including a housing complex for the Reserve Bank of India in Chandigarh, Milkfed Milkplants, Rohtak and several administrative buildings for the Agricultural University in Rohtak.

In 1968, Aditya Prakash returned to Chandigarh as the Principal of the Chandigarh College of Architecture. Early in the 1970s Prakash became an ardent champion of sustainable architecture and urbanism, as what he called 'self-sustaining settlements'. He published several articles and wrote a critique of Chandigarh planning under this title. He also studied the villages surrounding Chandigarh and the informal sector of the city, particularly the 'rehris' or mobile carts.

From 1963 Aditya Prakash moved to Ludhiana to design the new Punjab Agricultural University. Agricultural universities "that formed the academic core of this transnational transfer of knowledge". During this time he became very interested in architectural photography and acquired a Rolliflex TLR and an Argus C3 to photograph his buildings under construction. Here the square frame of the Rolliflex frames the views and the rectangle of the Argus directs the eye out towards the landscape.

One of Aditya Prakash's key designs was that of the Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA) which was based on the design of Le Corbusier's Chandigarh College of Art. The budget allocated to CCA was smaller than that for the College of Art. To meet the reduced budget, Prakash decided to scale down the whole building. To do this he had to study Le Corbusier's Modulor, and he created a new 'Indian Modulor' adjusting the original dimensions to fit the Indian brick size. Prakash was closely associated with the design of theatres in Chandigarh. He designed the basic forms of Chandigarh's KC Theatre, Neelam Theatre and Jagat Cinema. His most significant project in Chandigarh was the Tagore Theatre which he designed in 1961 for the centenary of an Indian poet and philosopher Dr. Rabindranath Tagore. This building was designed on strict functionalist lines focused on the interior spaces and their acoustic and visual order. The Tagore Theatre became involved in controversy when it was completely gutted and made into an auditorium by another local architect.

Prakash began studying architecture at the Delhi Polytechnic (now School of Planning and Architecture) in 1945. In the middle of his course, India's independence forced the English faculty leading the Polytechnic to return to England. At their suggestion, Prakash also moved to London in August 1947 and began to attend evening classes in architecture at the London Polytechnic (now Bartlett), while working with W. W. Woods. After becoming an A.R.I.B.A. in 1951, Prakash moved to Glasgow where he briefly worked and studied art at the Glasgow School of Art, before joining the Chandigarh Capital Project team as Junior Architect on 1 November 1952.

In 1952 Aditya Prakash was assigned to work with Le Corbusier on the design of the School of Art. The process of designing this building with Le Corbusier, especially the rhythm of the piers and the section, was a formative experience in Aditya Prakash's career.

Prakash worked in the Chandigarh Capital Project Office from 1952 to 1963. During this time he designed several public buildings in Chandigarh, including the District Courts Building in Sector 17, the Jang Garh (Marriage Hall) in Sector 23, the Indo Swiss Training Centre in Sector 30, the Government of India Textbook Press in Industrial Area Phase – 1, The Central Craft Institute in Sector 11, The Tagore Theatre in Sector 18, the Chandigarh College of Architecture in Sector 12, the Architecture "Corbu" Hostel in Sector 12 and the Behl House in Sector 18.

Aditya Prakash ([ɑːd̪it̪jə pr̩ːkɑːɕ];10 March 1924, Muzaffarnagar – 12 August 2008 in Ratlam), was an architect, painter, academic and published author. He belonged to the first generation of Indian Modernists closely associated with Chandigarh and the developmentalist practices of postcolonial India under Jawaharlal Nehru. He designed over 60 buildings all in north India. His paintings are held in private collections worldwide. His architecture and art adhered strictly to modernist principles. As an academic, he was one of the earliest Indian champions of sustainable urbanism. He published two books and several papers on this topic. His archives are held at the Canadian Centre for Architecture at Montreal, Canada.