Leena Kumar

Leena Kumar traces the journey of her entry into architecture by sharing poignant details of her childhood, her grandmother’s influence on her decisions and values, and the relationship they both shared. Her grandmother was an influential force who had advocated for girls’ education from the Harijan community and had opened schools for them in Kolhapur, and it was she who encouraged Leena to follow her passions. She then recalls her journey of getting into an architecture programme, her life as a student and everything she came to learn along the way, soon after which she started her practice in the mid 1980s. She shares details of her first job as a representative of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants, and recalls how she dealt with the duties of that job. She also talks about the advantages of being a part of the Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) and explains how she gained immense exposure and got to travel and meet people through the organisation. She then goes on to talk about her personal approach towards architecture design and how she chooses to focus on light, ventilation and volumes while making use of a lot of craft in her work, especially woodwork. She notes how she loves her work and never intends to retire. She mentions how when her children were younger she subconsciously put a cap on how much work she would take, and goes on to talk about managing work and the responsibilities of being a mother simultaneously. Talking about sourcing materials for their projects, she notes how her focus has shifted from sourcing internationally to nationally at the present time, and goes into detail about projects, her engagements, and her evolving approach. She also briefly recounts her childhood, family, her hobbies of painting and sketching, and her independent approach to life.    

The discussion begins with Leena Kumar’s journey of getting into architecture, applying to schools, her life as a student of architecture, engagements with peers and faculty, etc., which she goes into detail about while sharing many anecdotes from the times. She also notes how she was not the best of students and shares her comments on her studies and way of life. She recalls learning art and perspective from Pushpa Dravid, and then goes on to list and describe her work experiences from the time while sharing brief details of the work involved. She notes how people did not take her seriously at the site at that time, and shares further learning insights she has gained over the years. Talking about significant projects she took on, she mentions the Le Meridien project and shares details of that experience and interactions she had with people abroad. She also mentions details of the Housing Board project and talks about government policies that she observed but did not like. On the topic of staying and working in Bangalore, she talks about her long association with the city, goes on to talk about the clients she has worked with, and reminisces about the old culture and space of Bangalore and its people. She talks about the kind of clients she works with in detail and how it’s been a friendship-based relationship that inspires her work as well. There is also a discussion on client demands and how the dynamics of the work has evolved and changed.   

The session begins with reflection on the project’s aim and research, the architect’s own past engagements and associations with male clients and the insights gained from it. She makes an interesting argument about women’s DNA playing a significant role in how they evolve in the world and what purpose they are able to achieve, while noting how women have been homemakers for centuries and it takes time to break the cycle. She shares further insights on this concept and the situation of women managing both professional and domestic responsibilities. She also notes how men and women do think differently and how women bring something new and different to existing design structures and that this should continue. She goes on to talk about these concepts in great detail, responding to prompts about whether these gender distinctions make it easier or harder to manage clients and people on site, and more. She also talks about generic gender disparities, issues of safety and more such concerns that seep into the profession as well, and how she chooses to manage them. She also remarks how she does see change in societal ways and conventions, more rapidly among women than in men, and that this is the great divide that is concerning. On the topic of gaining recognition for her work and publishing it, she shares her thoughts on it and how she has started feeling the need to publish, and goes on to talk about specific details from projects and engagements which influenced her continuing practice and approach. 

Delving a bit deeper into the milestone projects undertaken by the architect, she mentions how her first project was the Holiday Inn project, but that she also worked on a senior citizens’ home which was memorable to her. This was with Somaya & Kalappa Consultants for which she was their representative on-site, and she goes on to talk about the finer details of the job, how she kept a life-long association with them and had done their renovations several times, etc. She recalls several innocent anecdotes from the time she first started engaging with contractors and engineers on site, and describes how she once told a client that she will pay for the reworking of an incorrect construction, recalling how it was a great learning period. She remarks though how perhaps a male practitioner would never feel the need to make a similar compensation for a work done wrong, and then details her experience working on a middle-income housing project with a government body. Speaking of projects where there has been more space for experimentation, she notes how she particularly enjoyed projects where clients allowed them to respond to climate, explore different materials, and more. She goes into detail about a few of such projects she worked on, how it made clients happy, but notes that these design processes take more time than usual and that is not always desirable. After sharing many such detailed experiences of working with different types of designers, construction workers, and enthusiastic engineers, she concludes the session by noting how wonderful it is to work with passionate practitioners in the field.

Discussing how the practice has evolved and changed over time, specifically in terms of projects within Bangalore city, Leena Kumar notes how the biggest factor influencing this change has been time. Speaking of how no one has the patience for slow building processes in the present time, she talks about the importance of inculcating elements like less labour-intensive designs, and ready-made detailing into her practice. She also mentions how she has never worked with builders, how the direct involvement of architects with their projects in changing due to changing natures of construction and building, as well as how she envisions her future practice towards reaching out to the public. She then talks about her associations with different forums and institutes like Indian Institute of Architects (IIA), Council of Architecture (COA), and other education institutes like Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID), where she served as the Chairman in 2010-12. She details the experiences of being associated with each, attending juries, taking classes and workshops, mostly focusing in the southern region. She notes how architecture is a very difficult subject to teach because there is no one way for its pedagogy to develop, and concludes the session by mentioning how she has never worked with another woman architect in her career and how she would like to engage with different women architecture forums in the near future.