The Inspiring Journey of Pravina Mehta, Architect and Activist
Pravina Mehta of Mumbai was a leading Indian architect, planner and also a political activist. Before she started her study of architecture at the Sir J. J. College of Architecture, during the Indian independence movement, she was inspired by Sarojini Naidu, a freedom fighter and participated in the street protests against the British Raj.
She was involved in the conceptualization and proposal of the New Bombay plan in 1964 in collaboration with Charles Correa and Shirish Patel.
That involved extension of the island city located to the east on the mainland. This plan was published in MARG, a Bombay journal of art and architecture.
She, along with Minnette De Silva and Yasmeen Lari, was also actively involved in upliftment of people living in slums and in the rehabilitation of earthquake-affected people by developing low-cost housing, combined with environmental aspects and urban planning. Mehta was among the first batch of trained women architects of India.
Early life and education
In 1940s, she had her initial education at the Sir J. J. College of Architecture. Unfortunately, she discontinued her education as she took active interest in the Indian independence movement, and then moved to the United States to pursue her studies in architecture.
During the independence movement, she even suffered imprisonment. In US, she was educated in the Illinois Institute of Design. There she got her bachelorโs degree in architecture.
She obtained her masterโs degree in architecture from the University of Chicago. After completing masters, she practiced for two years in Washington, D.C. She returned to India in 1956 to pursue her professional career in architecture.
Professional life
Mehta was involved in the design of houses, factories, schools, and institutions, but her structures no longer exist. In her plans, she adopted the modern practices of architectural designs she had imbibed during her studies in the US to an independent and โresurgent Indiaโ.
One such modern adaptation was her use of red sandstone to handcraft a stairway. She headed a research unit in Bombay city, as its population was multi-social and where the socio-economic issues were complex. The research unitโs task was to study the multi-diversity of the city.
They had to conserve its socio-cultural life styles while evolving city plans to meet housing, sanitation, water supply, and other needs. She also aimed at establishing a link between architecture and other art forms. It was her view that traditional Indian art forms could be translated to โthe language of concrete and mortarโ.
Her notable architectural designs include the Patel House, Kahim. Patel House is a weekend resort facing the sea built in 1962. It is said that it was influenced by Le Corbusier.
Her another popular design was and the Factory Chinchwada in Maharashtra called the J.B. Advani Oerlikon Electrodes Factory. It was built in 1963 with labour-intensive on-site fabrication, and whose ventilation and lighting were provided by a rhythmic arrangement of windows.
In 1964, Patel, Mehta & Correa together, proposed a plan for New Bombay (now known as Navi Mumbai). It was different from the earlier plans prepared to extend the city limits upstream of the peninsula.
Their vision has been compared to that in the popular Bollywood film Shre 420, a film set in Bombay, the theme of which was hope. In this effort under the influence of MARG, CIDCO gave them โkey decision-making positionsโ.
It enabled them to prepare the Draft Development Plan of October 1973. In August 1979, the plan was approved for implementation. The plan proposed government initiatives which included building new roads, bridges and industrial zoning.
Mehta and her husband were also involved in dance, and she tried to blend the rhythm of the dance form in the planning of her buildings. It was a fine example of her blending the two forms is reflected in the audiovisual recording centre at Arehi, in a limited space of 600 square feet (56 m2).
She maintained an aesthetic presentation of folklore and traditional colours. Working in a male-dominated society, her approach to work was dictated by her saying, โWhen a woman is truly committed to her career, when there is an inner compulsion, she ceases to regard herself as a woman but only acts as a professionalโ.
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