Architectural Practice in India: A Millennial Archaeology

Organisational Restructurings (Managerial Impetus, the Logistical Turn)

Sujal Kothawade

Discussants: Ravi Sarangan, Brinda Somaya and Ratan Batliboo. Moderated by Ravindra Punde

Over the last few years, conversations around architecture in India have begun to shift noticeably, not towards form or style, but towards practice itself. This shift feels overdue. The spaces we inhabit today emerge from conditions that are radically different from those that shaped architectural production in the decades immediately following Independence. The scale of development, the velocity of construction, and the actors involved have altered the discipline from within, making it difficult to speak of architecture as a singular or stable entity.

Earlier attempts to understand architecture in India often relied on coherent narratives; modernity, nation-building, identity. These frameworks allowed architecture to be read as an ideological project, anchored to specific figures, moments, and aspirations. While such narratives were instrumental in shaping disciplinary discourse, they now seem insufficient to account for the contemporary landscape. The forces that produce today’s built environment do not align neatly with those earlier ideals. Instead, architecture finds itself entangled in complex networks of capital, governance, infrastructure, and administration.

What becomes evident is that architecture can no longer be approached only through buildings or intentions. It must be examined through the conditions that make practice possible. The question then shifts: not what architecture looks like, but how it operates.

It is within this terrain that the recent SEA City Conversations will situate themselves. Rather than offering a linear history, the series proposes a form of excavation; probing the last three decades to uncover how architectural practice has adapted, reorganized, and, at times, resisted the changing political and economic climate. The millennial turn in India did not simply introduce new projects; it reshaped the frameworks through which architects work, collaborate, and make decisions.

The series opens by foregrounding a transformation that often remains invisible in architectural discourse: the restructuring of the architectural office itself. Following economic liberalization, the discipline was drawn into an expanded field of development. Projects grew in size and complexity, timelines tightened, and coordination across consultants, agencies, and contractors became unavoidable. Architecture began to intersect more directly with systems of management, logistics, and delivery.

Under these conditions, the architectural firm gradually evolved into an organizational apparatus. Roles diversified, workflows became segmented, and protocols were introduced to handle increasing demands. Design no longer existed in isolation; it was embedded within chains of approval, regulation, finance, and execution. The presence of international investment further intensified this shift, bringing with it new benchmarks, standards, and operational models that redefined professional practice.

This moment raises several unresolved questions. How does architectural agency change when projects become infrastructural rather than singular? What happens to the architect’s relationship with the site when coordination outweighs authorship? And how does one negotiate the tension between spatial intent and managerial efficiency?

By centering the discussion on organizational change, the session reframes architecture as a practice shaped as much by internal structures as by external outcomes. It suggests that the built environment is not only a product of design thinking, but also of administrative decisions, managerial logics, and institutional alignments. In doing so, it invites a reconsideration of where architecture truly resides: in drawings and buildings, or in the systems that enable them to materialize.