This is the focus of our work. The main research areas have been vernacular, colonial and modern architecture of India. In addition, Madhavi Desai has also been involved in the area of gender and the built environment.

Research

The following are the main research projects going on:

  • Women in Architecture in India: Independence, Modernism and Gender (By Madhavi Desai)
  • Domestic Regional Architecture of Gujarat: The Socio-cultural Nuances: 1850 to 1947 (By Miki Desai)
  • Wooden Architecture of Kerala: A Distinct Tradition in the Indian Subcontinent (By Miki Desai)
  • An Inquiry into Gender and Architecture of the Colonial Bungalow Form in Gujarat, India: 1900 to 1970 (By Madhavi Desai)


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Publications

The following publications are available:

Madhavi Desai, Miki Desai and Jon Lang

  • The Bungalow in Twentieth Century India: The Cultural Expression of Changing Ways of Life and Aspirations in the Domestic Architecture of Colonial and Post-Colonial Society, Ashgate Publishing Ltd., UK
  • Architecture and Independence: The Search for Identity, India - 1880 to 1980, Oxford University Press, New Delhi: 1997

Miki Desai

  • an Exhibition Catalogue, titled Architecture in Gujarat, Indien (translated in German by F. Keller), The Rietberg Museum, Zurich , 1990

Madhavi Desai

  • Women and the Built Environment, Zubaan (Formerly Kali for Women), New Delhi, 2007 (Editor)
  • Traditional Architecture: House Form of the Islamic Community of the Bohras in Gujarat, Council of Architecture, Pune, 2007 Women Architects and Modernnism in India, 2016

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