We review two projects but what is very important is to look at the book and two exhibitions that put his body of work in certain contexts. Historical essays or curatorial texts bring into focus the thematic and questions necessary for a practice and a field to ask itself.

A G K Menon’s curatorial essay for the exhibition Raj Rewal: Memory, Metaphor and Meaning in his Constructed Landscape at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi takes advantage of the occasion to raise many questions on writing criticism and history of architecture in India, as well as the perspectives that have largely driven our views on, and approaches towards reading contemporary or Modern architecture in India. In that sense, the occasion of an exhibition, or the book does precisely this – open up Pandora’s box – instigate and churn-up questions that will feed new fuel and energy into the profession, the practice, and its larger scope in human and intellectual life.

Also, we also look at the Charles Correa Foundation – an initiative set up in Goa with a dedicated focus on research in the space of humanities, urbanities, and architecture. Correa’s buildings and writings have been intense indicators of what he thought of architecture, design and the context of working and building in India, and now that life-long endeavour and belief in the power and possibilities of design is converted into the Foundation and its activities.

We also conclude the series ‘What we talk about, when we talk about design...’ Much like the word Art, Design today is also a much misused and misunderstood term, and architecture can easily escape definition all the time – hence activities and engagements such as writing, making exhibitions, and shaping curriculum are continuous steps towards a critical understanding of the field, a deep engagement, and shaping a ‘thick description’ such that practice has a vibrant and fertile bedrock to grow from, firm itself in, but also later grow out of it, and shape itself within newer plains, landscapes, and shifting grounds.


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