India today is a country of 1.4 billion people requiring every type of building imaginable—hospitals, colleges, housing, and more. Championing sensibility and practicality in design is Brinda Somaya, an internationally acclaimed architect, urban conservationist, and academician, recently named an honorary member of the 2025 class of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. Her work demonstrates a careful response to cultural contexts enriched with a grounded understanding of functionality, transforming them into modern relics. A four-decade career has built her portfolio that spans architecture, master-planning, and historic preservation - a constantly unfolding legacy.
Somaya's journey with architecture has spanned the eras of post-colonialism to globalization in India, connecting generations of praxis. Through these periods, she has upheld a set of core values. "I've always been clear about my design sensibility, which isn't about style or impressing people. My approach is focused on the geography of the site, the ethnicity, and the culture of the people who will use the building" she shares in conversation with ArchDaily. Her projects are marked by a spirit of celebration - of craftsmanship, history, culture, climate and the landscape.
Although steadfast in her principles, Somaya's design philosophies remain flexible and allow her work to respond to India's evolving cultural landscape. "Every situation involves different land, people, and project requirements. We must build appropriately to suit the purpose at hand", she believes. She designs with integrity for a country that is growing rapidly, with individuals at different economic levels pulling the industry in multiple directions.
To Somaya, different projects can have different types of impact. After an earthquake in Gujarat destroyed an entire village, Somaya worked with a headstrong village leader to rebuild it as per the users' needs. Through participatory design, the effort enabled the village to rebuild their own homes and empowered the community.
She worked on other intimate projects with a similar approach. While redoing a temple plaza, the local flower sellers had to be rehabilitated. After a casual meeting with the flower sellers, her team realized their concerns and designed shops with new elevations along with necessary provisions for their businesses to flourish. Somaya's work is ultimately about understanding what people want.
At a contrasting scale, her firm's expertise is seen in their designs for high-tech facilities for IIT Mumbai and corporate headquarters for Tata and Bharat Petroleum. Their large-scale corporate and educational campuses are characterized by injecting public facilities like parks and plazas.
Notably, the studio has led major conservation projects, especially in Mumbai, such as the clock towers, churches, and corporate buildings. Somaya's senseful approach breathes a new life into structures of historical significance like the Rajabai Tower in Mumbai and the Louis Kahn Campus at IIM-Ahmedabad. The variety of work, in terms of function and location throughout the country, has determined the outcome of her architecture.
Somaya attributes her success during her early years to support from her family, and the opportunities her hometown Mumbai brought her. Starting her practice in her mid-twenties with an industrial shed project, her clients were typically progressive and broad-minded, allowing her to understand their functional needs while considering other aspects of design. "I don't think any other city in India would have given these opportunities to a young woman in the 1970s, which speaks to the cosmopolitan nature of Mumbai", reflects Somaya
With a practice that began at a time when the industry was male-dominated, Somaya advocates for the promotion of women architects in India. Along with her lawyer-turned-architect daughter, she organized an international conference that included women architects from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Singapore and Australia. The presentations were documented in a book titled An emancipated place: The proceedings of the conference and exhibition held in Mumbai, February 2000 which is now in its fourth printing.
After a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Mumbai University and a Master of Arts from Smith College in Northampton, MA, U.S.A, she founded the Somaya and Kalappa Consultants in 1978 in Mumbai, India. Her work has earned several accolades such as the Aga Khan Award, the Indian Institute of Architects – Baburao Mhatre Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and the UNESCO Asia Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation Award.
In a globalized world where international design concepts are easy to replicate, Somaya believes it is all the more necessary to be guardian for the local built and natural environment. She reinstates that one must tread lightly on the land where they build and understand the context. "As architects, we need that freedom—the work itself will ultimately be the judge."
This article is part of an ArchDaily series titled India: Building for Billions, where we discuss the effects of population rise, urbanization, and economic growth on India's built environment. Through the series, we explore local and international innovations responding to India's urban growth. We also talk to the architects, builders, and community, seeking to underline their personal experiences. As always, at ArchDaily, we highly appreciate the input of our readers. If you think we should feature a certain project, please submit your suggestions.
