Habib Rahman and A.P. Kanvinde were influential Indian modernist architects. Rahman is known for landmark buildings like the Rashtrapati Bhavan and Victoria Terminus that blended traditional Indian elements like chajjas and jalis with modern design. Kanvinde studied under Claude Batley and Walter Gropius, adopting the Bauhaus style while emphasizing regional influences. Notable works include the IIT Kanpur campus arranged in functional blocks and the Doodhsagar Dairy featuring rhythmic ventilation shafts expressing modernization. Both architects played pivotal roles in developing distinctive Indian modern architecture.

1. INDIAN MODERNISM
HABIB RAHMAN & A.P KANVINDE.
NIVESH GAUR
SHREYA GERA

2. VICTORIA TERMINUS
RASHTRAPATI BHAWAN
ST. STEPHEN COLLEGE

3. “A building becomes architecture when it not only works
effectively but moves the human soul.”

4. • Padma
Shri, 1955
• Padma Bhushan , 1974
• Jk cement award,1995

11. “Rabindra Bhavan, which was nominated for the Aga Khan award in 1980, was the
first building where I could free myself from the influence of Walter Gropius. This
building belongs to India. Here I used traditional Indian elements such as chajjas,
jalis and overhanging roof. It was the first functional building to give me aesthetics
satisfaction. Maybe it was Rabindranath’s artistic genius that inspired me to give
an emotionally moving quality to the building. I feel proud to have been able to
design memorials to both the Mahatma and Gurudev.” Habib Rahman 1965

12. A.P KANVINDE

13. SIR J.J COLLEGE OF ARTS
IIT KANPUR
1935
AWARDED PADMA SHREE
1966
1916
1945
HARVARD SCHOOL OF DESIGN
National ScienceCentre
,New Delhi
1976
1973
DOODHSAGAR DAIRY
,MEHSANA
1991
ISKCON Temple, East of
Kailash, Delhi
1998
1993
IIA‟s Babu Rao Mhatre Great Masters Award
from JK Industries Ltd.
Gold Medal
1985

14. EXPIRIENCE UNDER CLAUDE BATLEY
Claude Batley introduced Kanvinde to the world of architecture. This was the period when Kanvinde learned to appreciate the values of Indian
architecture. He was familiarized with
• Its origins
•Architecture based on the exigencies of local climate, building materials and social conditions
•literate fusion of Western classical order with Indian building traditions
•climatological principles
In 1934, he published a volume of measured drawings of traditional „Indian‟ building and in his lectures he tried for an informed Kanvinde
remembers him as "a very important man in shaping the outlook of many architects of my generation, also of the earlier
generation“
Experience under WALTER GROPIUS
THE BAUHAUS STYLE
Studying under walter gropius, kanvind developed awhole new outlook towards architecture. He was greatly influenced by the Bauhaus style,
which later on was adopted in his various buildings. Kanvinde was initially unprepared for the space concepts taught in Gropius‟s school. Having
studied under Batley, he was not conversant with the progressive imagery and techniques of the International style. But progressively what he was
much affected by was the social order and the optimism implied by the Modernist paradigm.

15. THEORY AND
PHILOSOPHY

16. The various Bauhaus characteristics visible in Kanvinde's works would be
• Asymmetry
• Blocky
• Cubic shapes
• Smooth, flat plain, undecorated surfaces
•„Flat‟ roofs
• Adoption of steel-framed or reinforced-concrete post-and-slab.
Brick
Cement
Kanvinde played with space and form and much more importance to natural light.
He believed that “the relationships of the parts and materials of the building are a working morality.
STYLE- BRUTALISM & REGIONALISM
By the end of 1960s Kanvinde‟s expressive architecture was variously interpreted as "an architectural expression that
reflected the culture and aspirations" and "clearly reflected the rise of the Brutalist polemic of architecture.” Expressed
Concrete structure in combination with brick became the dynamic determinant of form and order.
Here the paradox is that what (Brutalism) in the West was popular for the dynamism and the aesthetic of vigour, in
neo-Gandhian India of 1970s is regarded a realistic and expressive product of India.

17. DOODHSAGAR DAIRY , MEHSANA

18. • The primary task was to respond to functional demands of the dairy interior: the need for effective layout and
optimal ventilation which formed the central idea of the design.
• The Doodhsagar dairy is monstrous, raw, and probably one of the first outbursts of what can be called Kanvinde’s
brutalism. The form is very rough, and blocky.
• To evacuate the heat generated out of milk condensing and spray
drying equipment, a system of ventilation ducts linking all the working
areas runs around the periphery of both the buildings eliminating the
ineffective exhaust fans.
Rhythmic Ventilation shafts
• The grid based spatial organisation and
Slit windows
shafts, although intrinsic to the technical
process, are articulated by Kanvinde to form
a rhythmic composition—reflecting a level
of autonomy in expression. The intention of
making a triumphant gesture of the
modernising dairy industry representing the
Graphic Bands
small scale dairy farmers.

19. IIT KANPUR
Centrally located academic block
Vehicular movement
Pedestrian movement
• Elevated pedestrian walkway
• Sheltered and yet openness
• Protection from hot sun yet allowing breezes

20. The Bauhaus influence in Kanvinde‟s style is clearly visible in
the buildings of IIT Kanpur.
•cubic shapes
•smooth, flat plain, undecorated surfaces
•complete elimination of all mouldings and ornament
•„flat‟ roofs
Terrace
Research
Research
Conference
Computer
Research
Computer
Terrace
• Reveals the internal functions in a building as
separate masses.
• Arranged in ways that were functional from inside
and elegant from outside.
• Kanvinde strongly believed that the elevation of a structure
should be defined by the functions inside.

21. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) MODERN ARCHITECTURE IN INDIA, POST INDEPENDENCE PERSPECTIVE- By Sarbjit Bhaga
2) ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN JOURNAL ON HABIB RAHMAN.
3) ARTICLES ON www.scribd.com.

22. THANK YOU