Making of a Practice | Kaiwan Mehta in conversation with Rahul Mehrotra

In this concluding conversation in the four-episode podcast series, Rahul Mehrotra reflects on his 30 years journey in the city of Mumbai, from early years of setting up a studio, discussing the history as well as the urban conditions of this city through his writings, to his most recent encounter with the city where the studio is currently working on two public buildings.

In the episode Mehrotra and Mehta discuss the instruments of advocacy can be deployed by an architect and collaboration with the civil society act as a bridge between the citizens and the makers of the city. The episode also touches upon the most recent publication by Rahul Mehrotra – Kinetic City and Other Essays, a compilation of essays written by Rahul Mehrotra from 1990-2020.

In this conversation, Rahul Mehrotra speaks to Kaiwan Mehta about some early projects by RMA Architects in Mumbai and how they influenced the ideas and thoughts of the studio, specifically about the three most recent projects in Ahmedabad, a city Rahul has closely been involved with since his years at CEPT. These three projects, all institutional buildings designed by RMA Architects in Ahmedabad are Lilavati Lalbhai Library at CEPT University, School of Arts and Sciences at Ahmedabad University and School of Public Policy at IIM.

Continuing the conversation on the formative years of RMA Architects, Kaiwan Mehta speaks to Rahul Mehrotra about the themes of Continuity and Context. The conversation focusses on the city and architecture in India.

This episode touches on two seminal books, Bombay – Cities Within that Rahul Mehrotra co-authored with Sharada Dwivedi and The Critical Mosaic, South Asia Volume 8 edited by Mehrotra for the World Architecture series by Kenneth Frampton, Mehrotra explains how research and writing are a tool for him to contextualise as an architect, urbanist and educator.

In this episode, Kaiwan Mehta and Rahul Mehrotra talk about Rahul's early years as an architect and the time leading up to the setting up of his practice, Rahul Mehrotra Associates, now RMA Architects.

The discussion touches on Mehrotra’s training as a young student at CEPT University in Ahmedabad in the late 70’s; his early years of working with architects in Boston and Mumbai on city-scale projects; and his encounters with the city of Mumbai that later becomes the focus and interest of much of the work written by Mehrotra as well as the context within which the practice is set up in 1990.