"Indian cities are facing pressing challenges that need to be addressed urgently."
Dikshu C. Kukreja · Managing Principal, CPKA
CPKA becomes the first and only Indian architecture and design firm invited to exhibit at the London Festival of Architecture. In this Financial Express interview, Dikshu C. Kukreja outlines India's debut on the global architecture stage, the case for climate- sensitive vernacular design, and an integrated urban vision for the next fifty years.
London is celebrating Europe's biggest architecture festival, and India has been invited for the first time to the London Festival of Architecture. Dikshu C. Kukreja — master architect and head of CPKA — represents India at the festival. In this interview, he gives insight into the significance of India's debut at LFA and offers a peek into his firm's future projects. Excerpts:
CPKA is the first and only Indian architecture and design firm to be selected to exhibit at the London Festival of Architecture. How important is this milestone for you — and India?
The London Festival of Architecture (LFA) is one of the world's foremost architecture and design festivals — a month-long celebration of architecture and city-making that takes place every June across London. We are grateful to be the first and only Indian architecture and design practice invited to exhibit at LFA — a truly wonderful occasion to bring Indian design to the global stage. The exhibition will go a long way in showcasing the scale and urban-development opportunities coming up in India, providing a promising vision for the world to consider India as a favourable investment destination.
What is the overarching theme and intent behind CPKA's exhibition?
The theme of our exhibition is Five Decades of India's Built Environment. It takes visitors through five decades of transformation in India's built fabric — from our landmark buildings of the 1970s to present-day work focused on sustainability and cutting-edge innovation. By presenting projects that span timelines and typologies, we deconstruct histories and highlight progressive architecture that impacts India's past, present and future. We also want to break the Western notion of Indian architecture being limited to temples, forts and palaces. At the opening, I'll be in conversation with Rosa Rogina (Director, LFA) and Amish Tripathi (author and Director of Nehru Centre, London) on India's transformation across culture, politics and literature over the last fifty years — and its impact on our built environment.
How have you chosen the projects that will be exhibited at the LFA?
The selected projects demonstrate the transformations that have taken place in India's built environment over the last five decades, with sustainability and innovation as their underlying theme. They range from higher-learning institutions such as Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute in New Delhi, to government offices such as Vallabh Bhawan in Bhopal, to large-scale retail and commercial projects like the ongoing Indian International Convention Centre in New Delhi.
Traditional vernacular architecture was designed keeping in mind the local climatic conditions. How can modern architecture borrow from vernacular practices?
A climate-sensitive built environment is the way forward to decelerate the ongoing climate crisis. Vernacular building systems often present the most efficient strategies to harness sunlight, wind and water to create suitable indoor climates. At Gautam Buddha University in Greater Noida, campus buildings are oriented along the prominent wind direction for ample circulation; academic blocks are designed with central courtyards that act as light-wells and drive passive ventilation, and are screened by chhajjas and stone jaalis that diffuse daylight and act as thermal barriers. We also use locally-sourced materials such as sandstone in façades — reducing transportation emissions.
Many of your upcoming projects are imbibing innovation in design. Tell us more.
We are working on the prestigious India International Convention Centre (IICC) in Dwarka, New Delhi, designed in collaboration with IDOM, Spain. IICC will host the G20 Summit in 2023 and other international events, and will house the world's largest LED video wall at the crown of the multi-facility convention centre, alongside a 20,000-seater grand arena with India's first retractable roof — able to host open-air sports, concerts, food festivals and indoor conferences. We also created the India Pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020, whose kinetic façade of 600 mobile panels rotates with the sun to optimise daylight and reduce dependence on artificial systems — and doubles as a digital canvas for a nightly light-and-sound show.
You are designing the East Delhi Hub, India's first transit-oriented development. Tell us more about the project.
East Delhi Hub in Karkardooma — designed in association with IDOM, Spain — is India's first transit-oriented development. It will redefine modern neighbourhoods by creating pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use communities connected to the rest of the city via high-speed transit. Vertical neighbourhoods free up considerable open, green space horizontally for vibrant public life. The national capital's tallest skyscraper is also coming up within this development.
What do our cities need today to address critical issues such as climate change?
Indian cities are facing several pressing challenges that need to be addressed urgently — from urban migration and sprawl, to increased travel distances and rising GHG emissions, to housing shortages and stressed urban infrastructure. The current model of urban planning resembles firefighting, with everyone working in silos. In reality, transportation, housing and environmental impact cannot be addressed in isolation. We need city-makers — architects, urban planners, environmentalists and development authorities — to work in tandem with citizens to create more liveable cities.
What is your vision and hope for India's built environment over the next 50 years?
India's growth as a nation is truly unprecedented. This is a crucial time to imbibe sustainability into all aspects of city infrastructure. To achieve India's goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, our cities must be created in harmony with nature — not at the cost of it. And for the nation to develop more holistically, infrastructure must move beyond cities and into towns and villages. India must adopt a balanced approach to sustainable development across all three.
This interview appeared in The Financial Express (June 2022) and is republished here as contextual industry reading. Its framing of integrated, climate-sensitive, transit-oriented development echoes the master-planning principles RIRIC has pursued for Royal Garden City since 1999.