Delhiwale: Dilli walla American

It is widely accepted that New Delhi’s finest modern buildings were designed by American architect Joseph Stein

It is widely accepted that New Delhi’s finest modern buildings were designed by American architect Joseph Stein. Take the US Embassy. Hailed on its completion as the “American Taj Mahal,” it too is a Stein creation... wrong! That distinction belongs to another American architect. The irony is that the American whose architecture profoundly shaped post-Independence Delhi is found not at the American Embassy, but at the nearby Australian High Commission.

Light, shadow, and shade were Joseph Stein’s essential raw materials. Even though it bears all of his hallmarks, the India Habitat Centre is unlike anything he had designed before. (HT Photo)

For the concluding dispatch in our series marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, it is fitting to celebrate the American who’s enduring legacy is found in India’s capital.

Born in Omaha in 1912, Stein made Delhi his karmabhoomi in the late 1950s, opening his first office on Asaf Ali Marg. His public buildings were not monumental, like the Lal Qila or the Viceregal Palace. As if drawn from Delhi’s very mitti, Stein’s structures sought to put Delhiwale at ease rather than intimidate them. To achieve this, he routinely married concrete with trees, gardens, shades, and water. Additionally, the buildings were made to coexist harmoniously with the city’s ruthless summer glare. You might have noted it yourself—as sunlight filters through jaali screens along the walls, it diffuses into a less harsh glow.

Indeed, light, shadow, and shade were Joseph Stein’s essential raw materials. This is evident at Triveni Kala Sangam, his first major landmark in the capital. There, staircases, terraces, corridors, and courtyards continually readjust the experience of daylight as it changes over the course of the day. The architect’s other masterpieces include the India International Centre, plus a few buildings around Lodhi Garden. In fact, a pathway there linking Max Mueller Marg to the garden is called Joseph Stein Lane.

Now, consider Stein’s last major building in Delhi. Even though it bears all of his hallmarks, the India Habitat Centre is unlike anything he had designed before. Its massive scale is intriguing, coming from an architect whose earlier buildings never sought superficial grandeur. This afternoon, a window cleaner in yellow helmet is working high on one of its facades. The man appears tiny against the vast building, see photo. The scene feels so unlike Stein. His earlier buildings kept people at the centre of the experience. Here, the building seems to dominate the individual.

Why did Joseph Stein choose such a different direction for his final work in Delhi? Was the scale demanded by the project, or was his architectural philosophy beginning to evolve? It is equally tempting to wonder how Stein would have responded to the Delhi of today, where our life outdoors is increasingly thwarted by extreme heat, climate change, dengue mosquitoes and virulent pollution. After all, his architecture strived to blur the boundaries between indoors and outdoors. Since the eminent American died 25 years ago, these questions will remain a Stein mystery.