THE INVISIBLE MONUMENT

Yogesh Chandrahasan transforms The National War Memorial into a landscape of emotions, where 25,000 names find their eternal home in four concentric circles of protection, sacrifice, bravery, and rebirth

- Text by: Kashish Kaushal

Patriotism is a complex emotion. It's complicated because it presents itself like a transverse wave. Especially for a country like India, on some days the highs are too high (think Independence Day, Republic Day, Gandhi Jayanti, Kargil Diwas etc.) but, on other days, it gently dissipates and settles down in a modest corner of our mundane lives. What lies beyond these troughs and crests are the sacrifices of hundreds and thousands of soldiers who selflessly laid down their lives for our great country.

Honouring their memory and valour is the least that can be done to keep them alive while they continue to inspire generations. This is where memorials come in.

Architecture in post-independence India has been effective in nation-building, with memorials serving as repositories of collective memory that keep the freedom movement alive in public consciousness. However, for nearly six decades after independence, India lacked a national war memorial. Yogesh Chandrahasan is an architect by profession, a landscape enthusiast at heart and an inherent prudent designer. He is a founding partner in the architecture firm WeBe Design Lab where he dedicates his time in architectural design, interior design, landscape design and product design. He envisions to create spaces that are empathetic, inclusive and communitarian enriching the experience of the users and the perceivers. His role in WeBe apart from being a prudent designer is to cultivate creative well being in the firm. The names of 25,000 soldiers who died protecting the nation existed in just old, rugged files and registers but nowhere could a mother in mourning touch her son’s name etched in stone. At the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi, the National War Memorial rises quietly, embodying more than architectural prowess—it is a choreography of space, light, and narrative engineered by WeBe Design Lab under principal architect Yogesh Chandrahasan.