As a part of our interview series, The Breakaway Architect, we had the pleasure of speaking with Nipun Prabhakar.

Nipun Prabhakar divides his time between architecture photography and Community Architecture. He has a nomadic life but is broadly based in Delhi, Bhuj (kutch) and Bhopal. Mr. Prabhakar has completed the bachelor programme in architecture from SPA, Bhopal. He has since worked on various grassroots architecture projects, exhibition designs and long term documentary photography projects with various  development organizations, magazines, publications and universities etc. He was awarded the Berkeley Essay Prize 2014 and was the Cornell South Asian Fellow 2019 for his documentary work on the doors of Kathmandu. 

In this interview, Mr. Prabhakar shares about his practice as a community architect and documentary photographer. He advocates interdisciplinarity in architecture and shares his thoughts on the state of architectural practice in India and the role of academia. He also talks about the quintessentials of following a passion.

This is an edited and condensed excerpt from the conversation between Nipun Prabhakar (N), Gunjan Sharma (G) and Priyamvada (P). All images are courtesy of Mr. Prabhakar.

Journey so far

P: Would you like to describe your entire scope of work? Involving architecture, documentary, and everything else.

N: I am working on many things in various spectrums. Photography is one of them. Some projects are pure long term documentary photography projects. Like photographing the nomadic pastoralists of Deccan and western India for the “Living Lightly Exhibition”. I have also been working with various development organisations and universities to train communities to use their phone camera as a way to document their lives. It’s a process called photovoice.

Along with this, at the intersection of architecture and photography, I have been photographing various buildings. My latest project, “Charles Correa Now”, is about the idea of ‘what happens after architects leave?’. We never go back to the buildings after we build them. We don’t see what is happening now and how they have evolved, especially in post-colonial India. In the same regard, I wanted to understand how Charles Correa’s buildings have transformed over the years. The Aga Khan Documentation Center (AKDC) at MIT, Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and Aga Khan Trust for Culture have supported this project and Charles Correa Foundation helped me in getting access to the buildings and I traveled across the country to photograph his buildings.

At the research front, I am working on a book project with Professor Emeritus of Cornell, Mary Norman Woods, who is writing a book “Imagining and Reclaiming Post Industrial Landscapes of India and the United States” where I am helping her with research and visual documentation of Bhopal’s industries. 

Lastly, I’m involved in community architecture for which I collaborate with other organisations including my alma mater – Hunnarshala. Currently, I am working in and around the villages of Madhya Pradesh, with the communities and developing homestays with them – It’s a project by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board in collaboration with Hunnarshala Foundation. It is a very community-oriented process where we are working with locals to develop designs for their region according to the traditional building practices, and using local materials found in their region.

I have decided that in my practice of architecture, I will only focus on working at the grassroots. Photography, design and research support this practice financially. It’s a fine balance. Briefly, this is the cloud of my Ideas in which I work and which accommodates many intersections and collaborations.

P: So how did you reach this place where you have a fixed cloud. What has been the journey and how did it evolve into this very specific workflow that you have now?

N: I was always interested in photography. When I was studying architecture, I had decided that in each vacation that I will have, I will do something apart from architecture. So in 2012, I interned with Hindustan Times to get an understanding of Photojournalism. Gurinder Osan, the National Photo editor at that time, was a great mentor and helped me imbibe the basic principles and ethics of photojournalism. 

I knew that I didn’t want to work with a commercial firm, even when I was studying architecture. In 2015 I did my internship with Hunnarshala which is an organisation based in Bhuj. This is a group of people who came together after the earthquake of 2001 in Gujarat and decided to work together on community and artisan empowerment. While interning with them, I went to Muzaffarnagar for 4-5 months to rebuild the houses of people affected and displaced by the riots of 2013.

In architecture school, we are always made to believe that an architect is equivalent to God and can design whatever he/she wants. We are so full of ourselves that we screw the furniture to the floor and walls of buildings that we design for others to inhabit. But here at Hunnarshala, I learnt that there can be a process where people are the main decision-makers and you support them in designing their own houses and provide help in technical aspects. But ultimately they have the power to build and grow the buildings the way they want.

I was also photographing the Muzaffarnagar rehabilitation centre during its construction. I went back to it again and again after people started living in it to see how people adjusted to the building and how it has evolved over time.

These are the things that helped me in combining both architecture and photography. Eventually all of it uses the same fundamentals of design. The ideas and principles that you’ve developed for yourself over the years for designing a book can be applied to designing the buildings and to photography as well.

G: You’ve always had that sensitivity and an urge and inclination towards social welfare. So when did you identify that this is the core that I want to align myself with?

N: One significant incident was the transfer of my parents to UP in a small town called Hardoi, near Lucknow. I spent my formative years in Hardoi. Nine years; which gave me a basic idea of how a small town is, unlike all my friends who grew up in Delhi and other big cities. 

I was also a very shy kid and was scared to talk to people. Therefore working with the community is one of my processes of development. I wanted to be out there on the field and be talking to people rather than sitting in an office and making drawings. Also, the fact that I find it difficult to ‘other’ someone, helps me listen and learn from everyone. I’ve also always been very curious about people. Being a good listener, fond of walking around and being extremely curious about subjects helped me to work with the communities.

P: If you were to start again, would you do anything differently?

N: I don’t think so. I should have probably done an internship in some extremely commercial firm so that I would be sure that this is something I don’t want to do. I also suggest all the recent graduates to do things that they won’t be doing later in life. But I’m happy with how things turned out for me. There are no regrets.

Industry practice and academia

G: What are your observations about the norms of the industry and especially in India, what changes would you like to see in it?

N: I would say, the industry is very harsh. Starting from the education itself, I think we need to include the social factors. We are never taught how to work with people. The architect is always stuck in the AutoCAD drawings or isolated design studios. The approach towards architectural education even now, in general, is something that was decades ago. We are still studying from the McKay’s building construction books and drafting the outdated doors and windows details. The world has moved forward. At the same time, we don’t know how the practice runs or how you work on the ground. This is what internships are for but not all internships are great.

I also feel we should lend our focus to the construction materials. In our design, we never emphasise on materials. We are used to applying materials through the SketchUp bucket on the white walls. But this is not how walls are built in reality and which is why there’s a large disconnect between architecture students graduating out of college, and people who are practising it. 

G: What about the practice? There’s a new firm that is coming up almost every day! So, what do you have to say about that?

N: Architecture practice is a very difficult one. After you come out in the field, you realize that the idea of working on just one project with all your might is a very romantic one – mostly for financial reasons. However, I still believe in taking up fewer projects with absolute focus. But I have other fields to support me. If somebody wants to practice just architecture in isolation they’ll have to get at least 13-14 projects running to make a good living for themselves. The industry also runs on interns. For commercial firms, design is a very little part of the practice and self promotion, client management, etc take up a large chunk of time. Internships support all of these things and in return, interns get to understand how a firm functions, if they are in good architectural practice.

I also feel that an architectural practice should be interdisciplinary. People from different fields should collaborate – that is what makes your work unique.

P: How do you think studios and architecture firms can be more interdisciplinary? What should they incorporate?

N: I can understand, for a lot of studios, their work depends on the economics of it. But the kind of freedom I got in my internship in Hunnarshala, especially from mentors like Sandeep Virmani, was very helpful and I want to give the same liberty to people who work with me. If you let your employees or colleagues work on the things that they love, the overall productivity increases. 

Unfortunately, in lots of practices, the interns are just labourers working on labour hours and wages. I have never met any architecture student who just wants to do architecture. All of us, we either sketch or we write or we like to meet new people, and a variety of other things. So all the creative fields need support, and an environment that accommodates other interests.

Personal practice

P: If someone is interested in community architecture, what should one expect from it in terms of the kind of life one is expected to lead and the scope of making an income out of it?

N: If somebody wants to enter into community architecture, the first step is to just look around and see where they can intervene, and how they can help or collaborate with people at the grassroots. A lot of them start from their neighbourhood or informal settlements. In terms of earning a living, a lot of the community architecture projects can be supported by grants which you can apply for. Many community architecture firms are emerging where you can work, learn and get a salary. Like Hunnarshala, Community Design Agency in Mumbai, SEEDS and many more.

I believe if you want to do something then don’t wait for an opportunity to come your way. Start doing it and things will follow. Passion is very infectious. People get attracted to passion. If you’re doing something, people will come forward and want to give money or want to contribute in some way. Also, it is untrue that you can’t earn money from this. People can have a comfortable living out of community architecture as well.

G: That is where your networking skills come into play right? You pitch that this is what I’m doing and I would like for you to get on board with us.

N: Yes, networking. Like I said you can’t do these things in isolation. I think your agenda should be secondary. The first thing is to build a friendship. It has to go beyond work. Some people segregate personal and professional. It’s not possible for me and especially because I work with the communities.

P: You’ve had a long term engagement with Hunnarshala. What is it like working with them?

N: I interned with Hunnarshala in 2015. It opened a completely different world for me. This was the first time I experienced working at the grassroots.  

In 2016 I went to Nepal as a consultant architect for a project that Hunnarshala was doing. I was involved in 2-3 projects. The first one was a nunnery where most people were Tibetan refugee nuns, whose houses were destroyed after the earthquake. I was there for four months, living in the kitchen of the monastery. Along with this, I had to design another settlement of 25 monks, which was also destroyed in the earthquake. The design process was also a very collaborative one where the monks gave their suggestions and I gave mine.

Then there was another project which was Hunnarshala’s collaboration with Lumanti, a local organization in Nepal. Lumanti was working in different villages across Kathmandu. My job was to design the houses, which had to be rebuilt because they were beyond repair. 

I made so many friends for life which is something that I learned from Hunnarshala. To be genuinely involved and concerned about people and things. Hunnarshala as an institution teaches you a lot. They have their heart in the right place.

P: How do you find yourself collaborating with these international platforms? I think, after Hunnarshala, the Doors of Kathmandu was an extension of this entire journey for which you were the South Asian Studies fellow. How do you plan for these grants or fellowships and what is the process?

N: I never plan these things. They just happen. For example, Doors of Kathmandu. I had no intention to photograph the Doors of Kathmandu. The monk’s project was getting delayed for over a year and I had a lot of time in Nepal. So every day I used to walk in the city, running around exploring, meeting new people and talking to them. One day I was going through my phone gallery and realized that I had clicked a lot of Doors. The doors were unique and got me curious. So, I started photographing them properly and also started talking to people to know the stories behind them.

I got to know about Cornell Fellowship, through my friend Sukruti Gupta who was also my co-author for Berkeley Essay Prize. I realized that I can use this opportunity to focus particularly on the doors project and learn more about the importance of these thresholds. I got into Cornell, which had an amazing South Asia library which facilitated my research. All of these things are never planned as such. I don’t have a trajectory for myself. If you are doing something with a lot of passion, things, people and opportunities get attracted to you. I don’t make long term plans in my life. For example the Goethe Institute in Delhi, they were organizing the urban spaces workshop. I got a call from a mentor from Mumbai, who asked me to share my work and connected me to them and it eventually led to a very nice photography workshop titled “Storytelling In Your Neighbourhood”. This was after I had done a series of virtual photoshoots for the prominent architects of India, to be published with the article, “Women architects in India: Dreaming through design”.

All I am trying to tell you is how one thing leads to another, provided you do it well.

G: I wanted to bring back attention to breaking away from the norm. What you are doing is rather unconventional. So how did you get your parents on board? Did you face any hardships or were they supportive of your decisions?

N: I have very supportive parents, which is a privilege. But even they got me enrolled in FIITJEE in class 11th and 12th for the weekend classes. These classes turned out to be helpful because they allowed me to explore Delhi. For the entire day, every weekend, I would go out, skip the classes and explore different nooks and corners of Delhi and photograph them. My parents, by now, understood that I was not interested in doing this. We sat together and we tried to find a midway, which was architecture. Initially, it was a struggle for them to understand what I do, which they made peace with, eventually.

This concludes our interview with Nipun Prabhakar. It was an enriching experience speaking with him and we at Arcohes thank him for his time.