RAHUL MEHROTRA: BLURRING BINARIES AND DESIGNING TRANSITIONS

Architect, urban planner, conservationist and educator, Rahul Mehrotra talks about his phenomenally diverse practice and the role of an architect in shaping this world.

- SEEMA SREEDHARAN

It’s difficult to compartmentalize architect Rahul Mehrotra’s oeuvre into a certain segment or specialization. Mehrotra’s architecture spans eras, styles, countries, and cultural divides. The architect articulates contemporary architectural narratives or complex interventions in conservation and restoration projects, as deftly as he would navigate an urban planning project. For Mehrotra, the responsibility of the architect doesn’t end at imagining a complex structure. He believes that design professionals must play a greater role in the public sphere. “Advocacy alone is not enough. It is contingent on us as a profession to also create the instruments for advocacy,” says Mehrotra.

Mehrotra currently divides his time between working in Mumbai and Boston and teaching at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University where he is Professor of Urban Design and Planning and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization.

In this interview the architect talks about his explorations in architecture and the larger responsibility of the architect towards the ‘planet’.

THE PRACTICE: MULTIPLE NARRATIVES