{"id":363113,"date":"2026-01-10T17:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T17:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/363113\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T17:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T17:42:20","slug":"the-everyday-legacy-of-indian-modernism-building-for-the-post-independence-middle-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/363113\/","title":{"rendered":"The Everyday Legacy of Indian Modernism: Building for the Post-Independence Middle Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>Chandigarh Secretariat \/ Le Corbusier. Photo \u00a9 Laurian Ghinitoiu<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.archdaily.com\/1037432\/the-everyday-legacy-of-indian-modernism-building-for-the-post-independence-middle-class<\/p>\n

Indian modernism<\/a> is often narrated through a narrow lens: a handful of iconic institutions, master architects<\/a>, and formally radical experiments that came to symbolize the nation’s post-Independence aspirations. Yet this version of history overlooks the far larger body of modernist architecture that quietly shaped everyday life across the country. Beyond celebrated campuses<\/a> and canonical buildings exists a vast, dispersed landscape of housing blocks<\/a>, offices<\/a>, hostels<\/a>, hospitals<\/a>, markets<\/a>, and townships \u2014 structures that were designed to function and endure. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>\"The<\/a>\"The<\/a>\"The<\/a>\"The+ 6<\/a><\/p>\n

These buildings were not conceived as monuments<\/a>. They were instruments of governance<\/a>, welfare, industry<\/a>, and service. Their contribution to Indian modernism<\/a> lies not in visual novelty but in their capacity to absorb time, modification, and continuous occupation. Seen together, they form a parallel modernist legacy, one grounded in use, repetition, and social continuity rather than authorship or form. Across cities such as Delhi<\/a>, Chandigarh<\/a>, Bhopal<\/a>, Bhubaneswar<\/a>, Ranchi<\/a>, and numerous Tier-2 towns, government staff housing developed by the Central Public Works Department constitutes one of the most extensive modernist building stocks in the country. Built between the 1950s and 1980s, these walk-up apartment <\/a>blocks were characterized by standardized plans, minimal detailing, and a strict emphasis on efficiency.<\/p>\n

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