ANUPAMA KUNDOO: REDEFINING THE PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE

Noted architect Anupama Kundoo sits down for a tête-à-tête about her work that has spanned three decades and many unconventional courses, her guiding philosophies and creative journey that has garnered much international recognition

- NISHA KAPIL

Architect Anupama Kundoo’s approach towards architecture has always been unconventional and experimental. “I knew that I wanted to pursue my questions and my curiosities and make my own path” says Kundoo who started her journey as an architect at a very young age. Hut Petite Ferme was her first project, just after she graduated as an architect from Sir J. J College of Architecture and was travelling around in rural India. Her practice as an architect builds on her research into Indian building traditions and use of materials, and into future ways of living. Translating ancient techniques into a modern vocabulary in her buildings, she rethinks the potential of a more collective and sustainable lifestyle. She is one of the very few Indian female architects who have made a significant impact at international level due to her unwillingness to be bound by any conventional notions of architecture. Recently this year, Anupama received 2021 RIBA Charles Jencks Award for her unprecedented contribution towards sustainable architecture.

In a candid conversation, she talks about her vision, architecture as human-centric profession, about the choices she made and the perspective she followed which is still relevant even after three decades.