NEW DELHI: Travelling around the world, it often occurred to architect Dikshu C. Kukreja that the transformations taking place in India were unmatched in their scale and diversity. On the flip side, however, while good architecture was being produced in India, the end result presented a different picture and this needed to be corrected.

“It often crossed my mind when I would travel around the world comparing the kind of transformations that are taking place in India and particularly its cities to that in international cities, that this process really needs a sense of documentation because the scale and diversity of the transformation here is unmatched to anywhere in the world,” Kukreja told IANS in an interview.

When he looked back at his firm’s design works and its association with the country’s landscape through the last fifty years, he felt it would be worthwhile to look at the panorama of Indian architecture through the lens of CPKA’s works. We have tried to bring the story of these developments and the pioneering manifestation with the changing dynamics on the built environment to the fore through this compendium,” Kukreja said of Five Decades of India’s Built Environment (Roli Books) co-authored by his wife, Arunima Kukreja.

“Over the years,” he said, “it was felt that while there was good architecture being produced in India, the end result at handover time lent a different picture. Our firm felt that architects, unlike the West, did not have a commanding position of leading an entire design team. Buildings are not only the result of an architect’s creation but also an amalgamation of many engineering disciplines that come together to form a fully functioning and livable edifice.”