Gautam Bhatia

Gautam Bhatia graduated in Fine Arts and went on to get a Masters degree in Architecture. A Delhi-based architect, he has received several awards for his drawings and buildings and has also written extensively on architecture. Besides a biography on Laurie Baker, he is the author of Punjabi Baroque, Silent Spaces and Malaria Dreams – a trilogy that focuses on the cultural and social aspects of architecture. The Punchtantra, - a rewriting of the original Panchatantra into contemporary folk-tales and Comic Century, An Unreliable History of the 20th Century were published by Penguin India, while Whitewash: An Unkind View of India and its Makers was released in May 2007. Two shows of drawings and sculpture entitled Looking Through Walls and The Good Life examined disparities between the professed goals of architecture and the public perception of building. A recent collaborative arts project entitled Desh Ki Awaaz, weaved together themes from contemporary urban Indian experience, including politics, film, religion, cricket and family life and with the aid of traditional artists rendered them into a contemporary idiom. Lie, a graphic novel released in March 2010 was also a result of the collaboration. Bhatia is currently working on Below the Horizon – A City Underground, a project of drawing and ideas.]

Notable Buildings

1. Campus for the Indian Institute for Child Welfare, Delhi

2. Bharatendu Natak Academy, Lucknow

3. District Institute for Education and Training, Gangtok

4. Monolith Resorts, Bhimtal

5. Country Inn Resort, Corbett Park

6. Devigarh Palace Hotel, Udaipur

7. Institute for the Blind, Delhi

8. HUDCO Housing, Andrews Gunj, Delhi

Architectural Awards

1. 2007 Archi-Design Award for Recreational Architecture

2. 2003 A+D National Award for Institutional Building

3. 2003 A+D National Award for Housing

4. 2003 A+D National Award for Hotels

5. 2002 JK Architect of the Year Award for Monolith Resorts, Bhimtal

6. 2001 Habitat Award, Visual Arts Gallery, Habitat Centre

7. 1999 Inside Outside Designer of the Year Award for Devigarh Palace Hotel, Udaipur

8. 1998 JK Architect of the Year Award for the Children’s Retreat, Delhi

9. 1994 First Prize Architectural Competition for the CRY-Oxfam Headquarters, Delhi

10. 1987 First Prize Architectural Competition for Memorial to Mahatma Gandhi

11. 1986 Second Prize Architectural Competition for the Indira Gandhi Centre for Arts, Delhi

Honours

1. Received Ford Foundation grant for Desh Ki Awaaz, a collaborative arts project, 2004

2. Received grant from the Charles Wallace Trust for research on Colonial Architecture at the India Office Library, London,1997

3. Received grants from the Graham and Fulbright Foundations for research on mud architecture at the Aga Khan Program at Harvard University and MIT, 1992

4. Received Ford Foundation Grant for a Documentation of Mud Architecture,1986

5. Awarded 1977 Louis Kahn Fellowship in Architecture, Univ. of Pennsylvania

6. Awarded 1976 Dales Memorial Fellowship for Architectural Study in Europe

7. Awarded First Place Lisner Gallery Art Exhibition, Washington, D.C.

Media/Communications

1. Guest Editor for Architecture + Design Monograph on the House in India, 1990

2. Guest Editor for Shelter – A Supplement to Inside Outside magazine, 1988

Books

• Punjabi Baroque and Other Memories of Architecture, by Gautam Bhatia, Kundanika Kapadia. Penguin Books, 1994. ISBN 0-14-024075-6.
• Silent Spaces and Other Stories of Architecture. Penguin Books, 1994. ISBN 0-14-024609-6.
• Malaria dreams and other visions of architecture. Penguin Books, 1996. ISBN 0-14-026213-X
• Punchtantra: parables for the 21st century. Penguin Books, 1998. ISBN 0-14-027116-3.
• A Short History of Everything: A Novel. HarperCollins Publishers India, 1998. ISBN 81-7223-340-X.
• Laurie Baker, life, work, writings, Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO). Viking, 1991.
• Eternal Stone: Great Buildings of India, Penguin Books, 2000. ISBN 0-14-029159-8.
• A Moment in Architecture. Tulika Books, 2002.
• Chandigarh: The Making of an Indian City.
• Comic Century: An Unreliable History of the 20th Century, Penguin India, 2005. ISBN 0-14-303140-6.^[1]
• Whitewash : Tabloid That Is About The India That Isn't. The Viveka Foundation. 2007. ISBN 81-88251-31-3.^[2]

Exhibitions/Research

1. Politics as Art, India Art Fair, New Delhi, 2013 and 2014

2. Desh Ki Awaaz, A Collaborative Arts Exhibit, Triveni Gallery, New Delhi, 2009

3. Nature of the City, Group Show, Religare Gallery, New Delhi, 2008.

4. Indian Art. Group Show, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, 2006.

5. Around Architecture. Group Show, Gallery SKE, Bangalore 2005.

6. The Good Life. An Exhibition of Drawings, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, January, 2004

7. Borderless Terrain. Group Show, Visual Arts Gallery, Habitat Centre, September 2002

8. Looking Through Walls: Architecture in the Age of McDonalds, An Exhibition of Drawings, Visual Arts Gallery, Habitat Centre, August 2001

9. Unbuilt India: Curated exhibition on Unbuilt Projects, Vis-à-Vis Design Centre, Delhi 2001

10. Shelter in India: A 2-year research project on Indian House Types. Sponsored by HUDCO, 1986

11. Traditional Architecture: A Study of Mud Buildings. Sponsored by the Ford Foundation, 1985

12. The Mud House: Indigenous Buildings in the Developing World, London 1992.

13. A Place to Live: Housing Practices Exhibition at Rabindra Bhavan, 1987. Sponsored by HUDCO

References

External links

• Gautam Bhatia columns at Indian Express.
• Gautam Bhatia columns at Outlook
• Gautam Bhatia columns at Mint