Structure – Works of Mahendra Raj
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This new book explores the work of Mahendra Raj, arguably India's most significant structural engineer. Born in 1924, Raj studied in Lahore and gained his first working practice at the Punjab Public Works Department. He completed his education by working with engineering firms in the US and degrees he took from University of Minnesota and Columbia University, New York in 1955-59. He established his independent practice in New Delhi in 1960. Many of Raj's structures are recognised as monuments narrating the history of energetic nation building in post-independence India. Some of them are unique, such as the Hall of Nations and Industries (New Delhi, 1972) with its large-span concrete space frame, the Hindon River Mill (Ghaziabad, 1973) with a series of bowstring concrete arches. Especially during the 1980s, Raj designed further innovative, ground-breaking structures, most notably the NCDC Office (New Delhi, 1980) and the State Trading Corporation building (New Delhi, 1988).
The Structure features twenty-eight of Mahendra Raj's buildings from all periods of his career in detail and richly illustrated with photographs and colour reproductions of archival plans as well as selected sections and plans. Essays by expert authors, interviews with Mahindra Raj, and an illustrated complete list of works round out this first comprehensive monograph on a pioneer of structural engineering.
Vandini Mehta is an architect and independent urban researcher. She also works as visiting faculty member in the Urban Design Program of SPA (School of Planning and Architecture), New Delhi and at Sushant School of Architecture, Gurgaon. Rohit Raj Mehndiratta is an architect, holding degrees from School of Architecture CEPT in Ahmedabad and from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ariel Huber is an architect and architectural photographer based in Lausanne, Switzerland.