Brinda Somaya’s architecture does not come with a show. It unfolds gradually like a long-forgotten yet instinctively known footpath. Her practice, constructed over decades, defies classification. It is neither strongly modernist nor strictly traditional. Rather, it speaks in a language of continuity, where memory, material and meaning are equal partners.
Born in 1949 in Mumbai, Brinda Somaya came from a household where arts were not additions but an integral part of the way of life. Her father, a civil engineer who loved literature, and her mother, who was a student of botany and anthropology, provided her with a lens to view the world as interrelated. Such a foundation at a young age would come to shape her richly textured design philosophy.
A Dialogue-Based Education
Picture Courtesy- Mapin Publishing
Somaya learned architecture at Mumbai University before migrating to the United States to read for a Master’s in Architecture and Urban Planning at Smith College. But it was neither the academic strictness nor the Western canon that framed her ethos. It was coming back to India that provided her words with depth.
India was experiencing swift social change in the early 1970s. The architectural profession was at a turning point between inherited forms and borrowed ideals. Brinda Somaya modestly started her practice from a garden workshop in Mumbai, so that work could unfold not out of ambition but out of listening.
A Practice Rooted in Place and People
Picture Courtesy- Good Homes
Somaya’s work cradles the landscape softly. It hears its context and answers with interventions that never look to dominate. Whether it is a school constructed after an earthquake or the restoration of an ancient university, her architecture maintains the integrity of context.
As the core of her practice is a dedication to participatory design, she has repeatedly expressed the architect’s role as a custodian of the built and unbuilt world. This ideology means that the work she does is lived in before it is actually occupied.
Key principles that characterise her approach to architecture
- Material honesty and responsiveness to climate
- Respect for cultural and social histories
- Integration of local craft and construction systems
- Strong narrative and site-specific design
- She has no one style. She has only intent.
- Restoration as Resistance
One of the most important contributions of Somaya is in architectural conservation. Restoration of the St Thomas Cathedral in Mumbai, done by her, received both national and international accolades. The work extended way beyond cosmetic rehabilitation. It encompassed structural repair, archaeological record and historical study. She treated the building as a living organism whose scars, layers and rhythms had to be understood, rather than as a monument to be preserved in stasis.
The same spirit is evident in her work at the Nalanda International School and the reconstruction of Bhadli Village after the earthquake. These projects are about renewal, not recreation.
Eminent Projects That Influenced Indian Architectural Debate
Picture Courtesy- thinkMATTER
From a broad sweep of typologies, Brinda Somaya has produced works that address various needs with unobtrusive ingenuity.
Some of her highly acclaimed works are
- Restoration of St Thomas Cathedral in Mumbai
- Nalanda International School in Vadodara
- Rehabilitation of Bhadli Village in Gujarat
- Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences in Goa
- TCS House in Mumbai
All these projects demonstrate her capacity to move from scale to function without sacrificing the integrity of her approach. Institutions, homes, public buildings and heritage precincts are all treated with the same care.
Leadership in a Changing Landscape
Picture Courtesy- Rethinking The Future
Within a male-dominated profession that has long been characterised by male storytelling, Brinda Somaya has been an unobtrusive but constant presence. She was the Chair of the Board of Governors, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, and the first woman to hold the position. She was awarded the Wienerberger Golden Architect Award for lifetime achievement in 2014.
Her leadership is not characterised by proclamation but by subtle steadiness. Through SNK Consultants, a firm she shares with her daughter Nandini Somaya Sampat, she continues to navigate the conversation between tradition and modernity with grace.
A Feminist Architecture Without Labels
Picture Courtesy- Neuroject
Even though Somaya never placed herself within the category of feminist architecture, her work indisputably puts empathy and inclusivity at center stage. She has frequently spoken about designing buildings that enable women to inhabit them completely and without fear. In villages, schools and community centers, her architecture is a space for equity.
Her practice has further played a major role in the visibility of Indian women architects. Through shows like ‘Women in Architecture 2000 Plus’, she assisted in rewriting the text that had dominated for so long and excluded women from the field of architecture.
Brinda Somaya’s built experiences continue to speak across ages, not through huge theories but through lived experiences. Her architecture has nothing to do with permanence. It’s all about being present. In an era when design tends to come perilously close to being a commodity or spectacle, Somaya reminds us of another path. A path where spaces don’t perform, they engage; where walls don’t separate, they convene; where design doesn’t prescribe, it hears.
She has added something unique to Indian architecture. Not buildings alone, but a philosophy of compassion.
Ar. Pranjali Gandhare
Architect | Architectural Journalist | Historian
