Modern architecture died in St Louis, Missouri, on July 15, 1972, at 3.32 pm (or thereabouts); Charles Jencks famously quipped at the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex. To the author of this work, the image of the debris, rather than signalling the demise of the modernist project, opens it out to other (or perhaps othered is a better word) perspectives: other countries, other ways of being, other realities and histories otherwise unexplored. Gaining traction in scholarship that looks to rethink the legacies of modernism, such discourse has now seeped into the mainstream. A case in point is the somewhat contentious exhibition at MoMA in 2022, The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985, one of the first times a major museum had put on a showcase centred on decolonisation and how it influenced architecture and design.

Stories such as these indicate a shift from modernity that did not originate in the West alone but was incubated in its colonies, a small step away from idealism. This idealism has championed the singular voice (male, of course) and the idea that permanence is to be rewarded. This is not without its contradictions. Modern architecture, deemed to be poorly constructed (in the present age), has been torn down, with ‘state-of-the-art’ complexes replacing these, heralding the saccharine models of globalism.

The re-examination of the singular voice, refracted through the lens of the ‘wretched of the earth,’ offers a critical voice to these legacies of modernity: toxic, violent, fragmented and yet radical. In the past year, STIR has platformed shows, books, projects and events that tell a different tale that question if we have ever been modern (Bruno Latour, of course, disagrees) and, in response, add a plurality of perspectives to the occidental gaze, shattering it. In this article, we list those views from the veritable ‘margins’ that expanded our imaginations, the best of 2024.

The legacy of women

1. 88 Acres: The Watapuluwa Housing Scheme by Minnette De Silva at MMCA, Sri Lanka

In a comprehensive exhibition at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Colombo, on view from November 30, 2023, till July 7, 2024, curators Sharmini Pereira and Ritchell Marcelline explored modernist architect Minnette de Silva’s legacy through her design of the Watapuluwa Housing Scheme. Shedding light on de Silva and her work, often restricted to academic circles, the exhibition dwelled on a sizeable project she was invited to work on, the Watapuluwa Housing Scheme.

"Ahead of its time in providing affordable accommodation for a diverse ethno-religious community of government public servants in Sri Lanka,” the housing project is also relevant to the contemporary conditions of the country recovering from a devastating economic crisis. The architectural exhibition included a specially commissioned film by three contemporary artists, Irushi Tennekoon, Sumedha Kelegama and Sumudu Athukorala, that narrated de Silva’s life, weaving her architectural concerns through the story of the design and construction of Watapuluwa.

2. A Call to Return: A Journey with Didi Contractor by Lakshmi Swaminathan

Chronicling the unparalleled Didi Contractor’s day-to-day through the eyes of Chennai-based Lakshmi Swaminathan, a recently published book, A Call to Return: A Journey with Didi Contractor, gives readers the sense of a woman deeply concerned with questions of community and the natural environment and their intersections with architecture. In a profession that is still dominated by the ‘male genius’ in India (despite most architecture colleges seeing a majority of girls enrolling each year), the life of Contractor is as much inspiration as it is instigation: to rail against such a patriarchal stronghold, and more so, to do it with the care that she often demonstrated in all of her built work.

As Swaminathan recounts Contractor mentioning, “Maybe my ‘style’ comes out of caring, how I care for what I care about. But then still, somehow, my signature is there. It is unavoidable. I’m not in any way trying to put my mark on my buildings.” The self-taught American architect who spent her whole life in the country contributed 25 completed buildings, which include three institutions, two resorts and a craft centre in Kangra, in addition to her illustrious role in disseminating the wisdom of vernacular architecture.

The legacy of nation-building

3. Memorial to Socialist Modernity organised by Rohit Raj Mendiratta at the STIR Gallery, New Delhi

Two exhibitions at this year’s iteration of India Art Fair explored questions of nation-building in India in a decidedly polemic time (whether you read this as the present or the past is up to you). Memorial to Socialist Modernity exhibited at the STIR gallery and organised by Indian architect and artist Rohit Raj Mehndiratta, architect and co-founder of SVR (Studio VanRO) Foundation, examined the works of his father, Mahendra Raj. Veering off the path of the architect and their contribution to nation-building, Mehndiratta presented drawings and photographs of his father’s work. Raj was a structural engineer, perhaps most well known (in the eyes of this author) for the radical design of the Hall of Nations (date of demise: April 23, 2017).

Critically examining the fertile period of nation-building from the mid-50s onwards and its eventual demise in the face of globalisation and an aspirational aesthetic through three instances, the government colony Sarojini Nagar (1955 – 2019) in New Delhi along with two of structural engineer and designer Mahendra Raj’s engineering feats, Hall of Nations, Delhi (1972 – 2017), and Hindon River Mills, Ghaziabad (1973 – 2021), the exhibition not only brought up questions of Modernist style (often polemical) but the idea of demolition as memorialisation. Has the socialist modernist project in the country truly declined? The answer might be in the mummified fragments of the showcase.

4. The Masterplan organised by the CP Kukreja Foundation for Design Excellence, curated by artist and architect Vishal K Dar

The Masterplan, a project by the CP Kukreja Foundation for Design Excellence, curated by Indian artist and architect Vishal K Dar, commemorated the grand designs of the 70s as exemplified by the masterplan of JNU. Conceived by the late Indian architect, CP Kukreja, the exhibition explored the genesis of the university’s masterplan, explored the intersections of architecture, climate and nation-building through ‘visual chapters,’ delving into narratives that shaped post-independence India for generations to come.

On view from February 1 – 4, 2024, at India Art Fair and then travelling to CEPT later in the year, the project facilitated a new understanding of the narratives usually attributed to post-independent Indian architecture, dwelling on the aspirational nature of such institutional architecture.

Toxic legacies

5. Soengoe Kondre / Submerged Heritage curated by Vincent van Velsen

Before expanding on the themes undergirding the following two showcases, a disclaimer is necessary. These insightful works, while looking at the legacies of colonialism in countries of the Global South, were exhibited in the Netherlands (a colonial state they critically examine). The first of the two, Soengoe Kondre / Submerged Heritage, curated by Vincent van Velsen, an Amsterdam-based critic, writer, researcher and curator, exhaustively details the environmental destruction, extraction of resources, displacement, socio-political and cultural annihilation incurred in Suriname, the former Dutch colony on the Caribbean coast of South America.

Particularly, it focuses on the Brokopondo water reservoir, which was part of the Afobaka dam that powered an aluminium smelting factory. To build the dam (a sign of progress and development), many communities were displaced from their native lands. What the colonisers believed was their manifest due was so because these communities, maroon tribes, had no deeds or official claims to the terrain; hence, in the eyes of the colonisers, free uninhabited land. The indigenous peoples’ lack of claims to the land also meant they forego any retribution or reparations for the violent act of displacement. 

6. Performing Colonial Toxicity curated by Samia Henni

Turning a critical eye on the French occupation of Algeria and the aftereffects of their nuclear program—carried out in the Algerian Sahara from 1960 to 1966—on human and non-human life, architectural historian and curator Samia Henni produced Performing Colonial Toxicity at Framer Framed, an art gallery in Amsterdam, and now a travelling show. It depicted the ongoing violence of the colonial acts of the French government in denying that the nuclear program had any ill effects (or even existed) through redacted documents, visual evidence and testimonies of the communities living in the desert.

Again, the infliction of such ‘innovation’ in the region was justified through the conviction that the desert was devoid of life, disregarding nomadic communities and their relationship with their territories. Henni also partnered with an online database, the Testimony Translation Project, which digitises and translates over 700 pages of written and oral testimonies by French and Algerian victims of the nuclear detonation programme. The exhibition is vital not only in revealing such violence but also in demanding action, to remember and document what has occurred despite the supposed independence of the people from coloniality.

Re-thinking legacy

7. Looking at modernist Lebanon and its ‘toxic grounds’ in conversation with Bernard Khoury

In conversation with STIR, Lebanese architect Bernard Khoury recounted the life of his father, Khalil Kouri and the modernist context of Lebanon. Following independence, which saw a boom in construction and development and the idealisation of the Western model to redevelopment following the civil war in the 90s, with real estate company Solidere’s master plan for regeneration, the territorial context for Lebanon and hence Beirut, is marred by its complex histories of strife. Khoury’s practice rails against this corporate, developer-driven perspective that presents picturesque historic quarters and sleek glass towers and forms part of Khoury’s critique of such redevelopment efforts.

As Khoury passionately argues, by ignoring that which had shaped the built environment quite drastically in the period of conflict and resorting to history represented by an outside perspective, the developers and the foreign colleagues who were invited to design buildings in the area (among them luminaries such as Steven Holl and Norman Foster) display a “naive understanding” of a country with “a complex history and social fabric”. The conversation instead focused on Khoury’s projects, the products of a dialogue with the structures’ political and economic contexts—painting the city’s image in a state of constant flux and offering a much more nuanced portrait of the nation-state.

8. The Terra Pavilion by Studio Sangath

Anyone who has taken a history of architecture class in the country (and even those who have never needed to pay heed to the subject!) is well aware of the legacy of the master, BV Doshi. Having trained with Corbusier in Paris and then Chandigarh, Doshi set up his own practice in Ahmedabad in the 1970s. Influenced by the European avant-garde, Doshi’s take on modernism in the country critically dialogued with Indian traditional forms and contexts.

Today, the atelier, Studio Sangath, is supervised by his daughter along with her partner, Khushnu Panthaki Hoof and Sönke Hoof. The idiom of the practice has shifted its focus, emphasising the development of an architectural language that embraces region-specific lifestyles influenced by local craftsmanship and microclimatic conditions. This is reflected in the design of the Terra Pavilion, located on the site of Kensville, a 900-acre golf course and residential development by the Savvy Group. Khushnu and Sönke evolved the design for the house from a desire to have an unrestricted integration with the surrounding landscape, including the greens of the golf course.

STIRred 2024 wraps up the year with curated compilations of our expansive art, architecture and design coverage at STIR this year. Did your favourites make the list? Tell us in the comments!