Building and Unbuilding the City Museum
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- ISBN 9781032973586
- Weight: 680g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 02 Apr 2026
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Sanskar Kendra stands as one of Le Corbusier's lesser-known architectural achievements, a cultural center designed for post-independence Ahmedabad that now faces an uncertain future. This book examines Sanskar Kendra both as a physical artifact and as a site of broader cultural debates.
Originally conceived as a Citizens' Cultural Center to serve India's emerging modern society, the building was intentionally designed as an alternative to colonial and European museum models. Today, however, the abandoned structure seems increasingly disconnected from the rapidly changing city growing around it. Through detailed analysis of the project's ambitious beginnings and the debates surrounding its potential demolition, the collection explores themes ranging from concrete construction techniques to questions about who gets included—and excluded—from public cultural spaces. The essays bring together local and international perspectives on pressing contemporary issues: how we care for and maintain our built environments, what it means to create truly participatory public spaces in an age of market-driven development, and how design can serve as a tool for social change. Two of the chapters take a visual approach to these questions. Award-winning architectural photographer Randhir Singh contributes a photo essay that captures the building's current state, while another chapter presents speculative architectural designs that imagine alternative futures for Sanskar Kendra. This book concludes with renowned architect B.V. Doshi's reflections on the architect's responsibility to society.
This book will appeal to scholars, educators, and students working in architectural theory, history, and design education. It's also valuable for readers interested in visual culture, urban studies, museum and curatorial studies, and South Asian studies.
Sarosh Anklesaria is an Associate Teaching Professor and Track Chair of Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Architecture program. Educated at CEPT University, Ahmedabad (Dip.Arch.), and Cornell University (M.Arch.), he has practiced in the United States, Switzerland, and India. His research and design advance architecture at the intersection of spatial justice and ecology in the built environment—recent projects address aging modernism in South Asia and architectures of just transitions in post- and deindustrializing contexts.
Lily Chi is an Associate Professor of Architectural Design, Theory, and History at Cornell University. She received her B.Arch. in Canada and her M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Architectural History and Theory at Cambridge and McGill Universities. Her current work examines the agency of built space as posed in post-war efforts to counter the effects of industrial capitalism on the urban everyday. Chi is co-editor of Seeding Urban Transformation (2026).
