"The Future of our Past: Architectural & Urban Conservation in India" by Prof. Abha Narain Lambah, Conservation Architect, Mumbai, at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 31st August 2012

Time : 3:00 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Place : Seminar Room, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi
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Event Details : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to a Public Lecture on ‘The Future of our Past: Architectural & Urban Conservation in India’ by Prof. Abha Narain Lambah, Conservation Architect, Mumbai.
Abstract : The urban fabric of Indian cities is held together by the tenuous warp and weft of historic buildings and modern in fills, strained with the overlay of the needs and aspirations of its millions, virtually bursting at the seams. In its bustling metropolitan cities where the historic fabric is often the centre of the downtown business districts, the pressures of urbanization constantly influence the fundamental equation between the old and the new, threatening to change the delicate balance between conservation and development. This dichotomy of the past and present is an unavoidable reality and yet, it is this interface between the historic and the modern, that makes for the intriguing dynamics within a city. 
The lecture explores the issues facing the conservation of India’s architectural heritage. It looks at the challenges that face the country’s historic stock. It takes stock of the existing framework for heritage preservation, the pressures of urbanization and development and suggests avenues that may at some future date, offer a direction for the establishment of future policy in the area of urban and rural conservation. It also explores through the architect’s own practice, a range of conservation projects from urban signage in a Mumbai’s Victorian streetscape, to projects in the rural hinterland, conservation and adaptive reuse of public buildings and models of public participation in the conservation of historic sites.

Speaker : Prof. Abha Narain Lambah is a practicing conservation architect based in Mumbai. She graduated with a Masters in Architecture from the School of Planning & Architecture New Delhi and was the recipient of the Sanskriti Award 2003, Eisenhower Fellowship 2001 and Charles Wallace Fellowship 1998. Her architectural practice covers a range of projects across India, from a 15th  Century Maitreya Buddha Temple in Ladakh to a 15th Century temple in Hampi and palace museums in Hyderabad and Gwalior, winning 7 UNESCO Asia Pacific Awards for Conservation. She has prepared management plans for sites such as Ajanta Caves, Sisupalgarh Fort Orissa, Viceregal Lodge Shimla and Santiniketan as well as the UNESCO nomination dossier for the Qutb Shahi Monuments of  Hyderabad.
Abha’s work in Mumbai covers a range of colonial buildings including the Convocation Hall, Tata Palace, Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Prince of Wales Museum and the Municipal Head Offices. She has co-edited a range of books including Architecture of the Indian Sultanates and the forthcoming Custodians of India’s Heritage: 150 years of the Archaeological Survey of India for Marg and has been a columnist for Indian Express and Hindustan Times.

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