Intent

India’s history and built heritage from the 20th century have often been left unnoticed for being perhaps too modern to be conserved. On the contrary, it is those very contemporary ideologies that have helped shape India’s identity post-independence. India’s built heritage from the 20th century is a physical record of the country’s growth and represents the vision and aspirations of the nation and its citizens, which in the dearth of legal protection, is on the verge of being lost forever.

The C20 program intends to:

• Identify and prepare a comprehensive list of buildings that were significant contributors to the history of the country;
• Sensitize and create awareness among professionals and citizens at large about 20th century architecture in India and encourage dialogues about their legal protection and preservation.

Context

India has a significant ouvre of architecture built in the 20th century. It is home to an array of architecturally rich buildings, right from the Art Deco style buildings of the 1930s-40s to the modernist style architecture that defined post-independent India. It becomes almost imperative to discuss the preservation of India’s 20th century architecture that formed India’s identity and adds to its contemporary history and heritage.

• The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act came into force in 1958 and governs the legal protection of ‘heritage buildings’ across India. 24 out of the 28 states have additional State laws that govern the protection of built heritage in the respective states.
  However, a majority of the laws define ‘heritage buildings’ as eligible for legal protection only if they have been in existence for 100 years or more.
• Except for the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Chattisgarh, and Jharkhand laws defined by the Central and State governments that were enforced during the 1960s-70s have not been updated.

Depriving 20th century architecture of legal protection excludes these buildings from India’s post-independence history and built heritage.

The Roadmap

Outreach

The C20 program aims to stir legal action to protect India’s built heritage from the 20th century by connecting with policy makers, civic authorities, NGOs, private institutions and allied research foundations.

To achieve this the C20 collective intends to sensitise and bring about awareness of this issue to the public. For this purpose the potential audience would include historians, social activists, architects, students (architecture, design, history and social sciences) and the citizens of India at large.

Platforms for outreach activities: C20 Website, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram along with conducting educational events, heritage tours across several cities, hosting discussions, seminars and more.

Listing

Matter, Goa has listed numerous Modern Heritage Buildings across India, categorised by decades.

Read more about the listing here.

Click on the image below to read about the updates on 20th century Modern Heritage Buildings in India.