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Code: WH_OH_002_AUD_S2(C2)

Life as a Woman Chief Architect and a Teacher

Summary:

Renu Saigal recalls her experiences and interactions including her public participation during her tenure as Chief Architect (CA). She further expands on her involvement with Foundation Le Corbusier in the appointment of the heritage status. She talks about the various seminars, workshops, and reports that captured and envisaged the architecture of Chandigarh.  Discussing the key projects she and her team worked on when she was appointed as the CA, she names a few, such as the interstate bus terminus, multiple hospitals, many schools, and specifically, a college auditorium in Sector 42. For this project, she recalls the use of an acoustics design that was created using her favorite material, using external brick for the auditorium. She describes the challenges she faced in designing hospitals and her attempts at evolving the standard perception for design for the patient’s and doctor’s convenience in conjunction with advancing technology.  There was a lot she learned on the job by collaborating with various specialists to design intricate spaces for independent needs within an elaborate design of a hospital. She further describes the minute design elements that went into projects like schools and notes how at one point the Chandigarh office was reported by a newspaper to be headed by women architects. She further speaks of how her gender played out in her office and about workplace safety and functionality for women architects, in Chandigarh as well as Haryana. She also recalls her experiences of teaching at Chandigarh College of Architecture and two other private colleges for a period of time. She mentions how she mostly enjoyed and taught design, Chandigarh by-laws, and architectural legislation, among other subjects. She concludes by remarking that she loves designing houses, although she only designed a few throughout her expansive career.

Practitioner:

Renu Saigal

Interviewee:

Renu Saigal

Interviewer:

Ishita Shah

Duration:

00.28.41

Mode:

Online

Date:

01/10/2021

Language:
English

Highlights:
(00:02:16:27) Challenges in working with government hierarchy, (00:07:01:18) Polycarbonate sheet for the dome , (00:10:08:12) Patient's mental health and doctor's interaction as a concept for hospital design , (00:17:57:22) Struggle as a woman architect , (00:26:10:24) Taught architectural legislation and design