Over the past two decades, architect Abha Narain Lambah’s name has routinely cropped up in discussions around nearly every conservation project in the country — from the Mandu royal complex in Madhya Pradesh to Mumbai’s Opera House to Lalbagh Palace in Indore. Most recently, she prepared the dossier for Santiniketan’s inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Lambah’s work has brought new life to old buildings, sad and neglected in their isolation, now refreshed and ready, to have another lease of engagement with newer generations.
Her practice, based in Mumbai, has won several UNESCO Asia Pacific Awards for heritage conservation and is the largest architectural conservation practice in the subcontinent. And yet, Lambah’s lightness of being is at complete odds with her staggering body of work and the rigour and expertise required in the field. Ahead of her illustrated lecture in Chennai this weekend, Lambah discusses her new projects and her role in shaping government policy over the years. Edited excerpts:
