About | shubhra raje_built environments

Context:

It seems we work a lot on the peripheries of things…in one way or another, located in the “tier-3” category of things. Those of us who have travelled in the 3rd classs of the indian Railways, provocatively called the “Unreserved” section, will appreciate such a condition as one which keeps you on your toes; ever vigilant, always looking for that foothold to anchor oneself. There is not much choice, but plenty of opportunities. And that is the spirit in which a lot of our projects unfold.

It is also a condition where the goalposts keep shifting, where you never quite seem to arrive. Building within such situations, our effort has been to find a project’s own reality. To create certain sense of stability of inhabitation within the flux.The historic reality of the present, which includes the projection onto the future. The physical reality of the exact place within which it is placed, and simultaneously what this place shares with the wider landscapes or conventions.

Practice:

The work is the product of several intersections – of cultures, interests, scales and geographies. It involves making places of learning, living, healing and work through renovations, interventions and re-use as well as new construction. Some of these projects follow the contours of traditional practice models, while others are opportunities that fill the gaps within traditional practice of our profession – gaps of scale, program, site, disciplines or media-materiality – through a commitment to a radical pragmatism.

shubhra raje_built environments (sr_be) is inspired by the exciting shift in the longstanding dialogue between architecture and its context, in which the architect’s methods and approaches are being dramatically reevaluated. It also ascribes to an expanded definition of sustainability that moves beyond experimentation with new materials and technologies to include such concepts as social and economic stewardship. Together, these undertakings not only offer practical solutions to known needs, but also aim to have a broader effect on the communities in which I work, using design as a tool.

Community Outreach Partner:

An award-winning non-profit design group that focuses on creating healthy and sustainable communities.

Shubhra Raje is an architect and educator who is the founder-principal of shubhra raje_built environments, an inter-disciplinary design and research practice based in Denver (USA) and Ahmedabad (India). She completed her undergraduate studies in Architecture at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad (India), and earned a Masters in Architecture from the Cornell University (USA) with a double major in Architecture and Theory + Criticism.

Raje has designed projects that range from community networks in Aurora CO, rehabilitating masonry structures in Egypt to the design of art spaces, single and multi-family housing, as well as social and educational institutes – thereby engaging diverse issues, multiple constituencies and varying scales from interior design and architecture to community design and conservation. Some of her more recent projects involve culturally and environmentally contested sites in the peri-urban neighborhoods of Denver (USA), Abydos (Egypt), and Jharsuguda (Odisha).

Apart from the design of buildings, Raje has been actively involved in civic, educational and cultural affairs in both India and the United States, having served on the commissions for neighborhood groups, as well as coordinating design workshops that encourage young designers to become active in issues of social justice and cultural patrimony. She combines this grass roots community engagement with her deep interest in the legacies of modern architecture, having recently published a seminal book on one of the least published architects of post-independent India, Anant Raje.

She is the founding member of the Anant Raje Foundation, created as an archive as well as a platform to support cross-disciplinary initiatives in the fields of art, architecture and the built environment. Her current initiatives includes the “ReFresh Workshop” series with Colorado based theatre-maker Mare Travethan which explores the built environment through the culture of play.

Raje is a visiting professor of Architecture at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad (India) and the Denver and Boulder campuses of the University of Colorado. In addition, she has taught at her graduate alma-mater Cornell University. She has lectured extensively, and been a visiting critic at universities in the United States, continental Europe, India and China.

shubhra raje_built environments

PRACTICE

SHUBHRA RAJE

sCRAPBOOK

Notes from Kochi

Echoes from Spiritlands

on the edges of the South

Between gods and men