Hasmukh Patel

One of India's finest modernist architects, he will be remembered for a significant body of work that permanently etched India's progressive landscape. As a special tribute, Ismet Khambatta writes why he stood out, as a professional as well as a human being

- Ismet Khambatta

Architect and educator Hasmukh Patel practiced in India at a time when modern architecture was at its peak. The works of Le Corbusier had held Indian architects in thrall for half a generation. Now a younger, more confident group of modernists was emerging from the shadow of the master and starting to define the manner in which a progressive India would live and work. Hasmukh Patel was a modern Indian. He was born in a village in rural Gujarat, grew up in the inner city lanes of Baroda and Ahmedabad, studied architecture at MS University Baroda – whe