CP Kukreja and Vishal Dar celebrates the architecture of JNU

The memorial to the late master architect CP Kukreja, who designed India’s grandiose educational complex, is being held in honour of its half-century anniversary with an exhibition organised by artist Vishal Dar.

Numerous creative minds were at work in the enormous post-independence terrain of India, attempting to mould a new democracy with instruments and gadgets that would help the country’s people adapt to a brave new world. The history of the creation of civilisations has always depended heavily on architecture. It is a record of its age, a reflection of its creators, and a time capsule, all at once.

The goal of this show, The Masterplan, is to introduce the audience to stories that have influenced India and its people. To contribute to architectural pedagogy, the creation of communal spaces, and the history of modern India, the goal is to convey the trip using the language that architects are most adept at: drawings and models. Through its display, the exhibition fosters a synergy between design, architecture, and art. The Jawaharlal Nehru University, constructed in Delhi during the 1970s, was the architect CP Kukreja’s first major project. Kukreja is a legendary figure in architecture. We see the connections between architecture, citizenship, and nation-building as the exhibition leads us through four chapters.

The first South Asian attempt to create a large university model at JNU, where an institution is imagined as a micro-city within the southern ridge of the Aravalli hills of New Delhi, will be the focus of the exhibition, which is a collaboration between the CP Kukreja Foundation for Design Excellence and artist Vishal Dar. India would raise its students here on these grounds to learn how to communicate and engage with the outside world.

The exhibition’s design is intended to be both experiential and instructional, akin to a studio inside a pavilion. We interact with the geology and the architecture that occupies it, as well as the ways in which the ecology and climate of this sanctuary are represented in the strategies used by the architect to sculpt and arrange the constructed environment.

For more info visit: https://www.cpkukreja.com/

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