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Code: WH_OH_003_AUD_S1(C3)

Insights and learnings as a woman architect

Summary:

Dr. Prabhjot Kaur recalls her architectural practice Prabjoth Kaur & Associates, her biggest clients, and how she landed them,  taking the firm forth with many designs, and projects, and building a greater base of regular clients. She draws on the shortcomings in her education that left her unprepared for practical work matters, which led to her learning these skills on the job. Discussing her many client interactions, she recollects the industrial, institutional, and home designs she worked on during her practicing years. She goes into describing the small-knit team she collaborated with at her firm over 4-5 years, between 1983-1988. She maps a timeline of the most momentous points in her career and recalls difficult negotiations in her practice and with her clients, stakeholders, and others over her years at the firm. Putting her opinions forth strongly, she explains how gender has an important role to play in the day-to-day dialogues within any profession, and describes the hurdles she faced on-site as a woman practitioner. On her fear of practicing in English, she recalls how she used her stronghold on Punjabi on-site in turning her hurdles around and gaining respect from fellow workers. Furthermore, she remarks on managing her roles as a new wife, mother, practitioner, and then later a professor in 1988. 

 

When she began teaching, she focused her research interests on her experience gained in construction rather than design. She explains her teaching methodology, her academic focus and interests, and her transition to the post. After sixteen years, she details the time she went back to becoming a student to pursue her post-graduation and put forth a conference paper on architectural education. She mentions the special collaborative dynamic she shared with Ms. Ranjit Kaur on co-authoring the paper and delves more into being a woman in the field.

Practitioner:

Prabhjot Kaur

Interviewee:

Prabhjot Kaur

Interviewer:

Ishita Shah

Duration:

00.25.41

Mode:

Offline

Date:

13/08/2021

Language:
English, Hindi

Years:
1980-1989
Highlights:
(00:04:08:30) How wide does a door actually need to be, (00:14:10:30) How speaking in Punjabi and a vernacular knowledge of language helped me on-site, (00:21:46:15) Conference paper on Architectural Education in Anna University , (00:22:01:01) Architectural Education: The problems of infant institutions