TARQ

The institutional projects by RMA Architects currently on view at TARQ attest to RMA's close and sustained engagement with public institutions, and the studio’s long-term participation in processes of public reason, education, and cultural production. From the early 1990s onward, Rahul Mehrotra has expanded and redefined the role of the architect in India — extending beyond built form into criticism, pedagogy, advocacy, conservation, curatorial intervention, and civic activism.

Listen in as Rahul speaks to Ranjit Hoskote about this practice of architecture, and the background against which it was formed.

'Contextures: RMA and The Practice of Embedded Architecture' continues at TARQ until this Friday, 21 August 2026.

[RMA Architects, Thackersey Foundation, Architecture Exhibition Mumbai, Institutional Architecture, Contemporary Indian Architecture]

Our ongoing exhibition, 'Contextures: RMA and The Practice of Embedded Architecture' presents ways in which architecture can serve to dialogue with a site and its histories, in a discreet and reversible manner as seen through the work of RMA Architects. Their interventions carry a humility towards nature and the universe, and provide solutions to improve a situation while also preparing for the future. They do so, as Ranjit Hoskote puts it, "through a return to the most fundamental elements of architecture: a play of scale that offers surprise and joy, an attentiveness to inventive processes, a gift for choosing appropriate rather than flamboyant materials, and a stoic ability to orchestrate materials with varying life cycles into a provisional yet memorable symphony."

The show is intended as a platform to discuss the historical contexts of RMA’s practice, and as a means of reading the conceptual framework that this studio has evolved, the formal and material vocabulary it has crafted.

Visit TARQ to see the work behind six institutional projects by RMA Architects, on display till 21 August 2026.

[RMA Architects, Thackersey Foundation, Architecture Exhibition Mumbai, Institutional Architecture, Contemporary Indian Architecture]

The theme of democracy is at the core of RMA Architects' work at the JSW School of Public Policy at IIM Ahmedabad. This manifests as an amphithetre-like space called the 'Forum' at the entry to the building, a ramp overlooking the playgrounds, and various routes of circulation that connect multipurpose spaces across the building.

Ranjit Hoskote describes the Forum as embodying "a continuum of activity, rather than a segregation of effort." The interplay of free expression and organic harmony foundational to the design, which is formed from a set of adaptable, adjustable elements such as louves and mezzanines, rendering the building into a living and breathing organism.

Visit TARQ to see how this project took shape, through photographs, drawings, models, and more. 'Contextures: RMA and The Practice of Embedded Architecture' continues at the gallery through 21 August 2026.

Images:
1, 3, 6, 7, 8. Design interventions by RMA at the JSW School of Public Policy at IIM Ahmedabad. Photo credits: Dinesh Mehta | Rajesh Vohra | Ritesh Uttamchandani | Tina Nandi | Vinay Panjwani | Vivek Eadara
2, 4. Installation view at TARQ
5. Sketch of RMA's project at IIM Ahmedabad

[RMA Architects, Thackersey Foundation, Architecture Exhibition Mumbai, Institutional Architecture, JSW, IIM Ahmedabad, Contemporary Indian Architecture]

The Lilavati Lalbhai Library, designed by RMA Architects, is situated in the CEPT University campus and pays homage to two architects who shaped Ahmedabad's cityscape—CEPT's founding director BV Doshi, and Le Corbusier.

For their intervention at CEPT, of which Rahul Mehrotra is an alumnus, RMA Architects ensured that the library did not rise beyond any of the existing buildings designed by BV Doshi. Yet they also fit the 30,000-square-foot library building into these constraints by encasing half of it underground.

"Like a stepwell, invoking the historic Adalaj Vav and Rani ki Vav, this library invites its users to descend into subterranean plenitude," writes Ranjit Hoskote in a text accompanying the ongoing show 'Contextures: RMA and The Practice of Embedded Architecture' at TARQ.

Models, drawings, plans, photographs and more from six institutional projects by RMA Architects are on view at TARQ till 21 August 2026.

Images:
1, 5, 6, 7. Design interventions by RMA at the Lilavati Lalbhai Library, CEPT University. Photo credits: Dinesh Mehta | Rajesh Vohra | Ritesh Uttamchandani | Tina Nandi | Vinay Panjwani | Vivek Eadara
2. Installation view at TARQ
3 & 8. Rahul Mehrotra in conversation with Ranjit Hoskote
4. Animation of CEPT library design

[RMA Architects, Thackersey Foundation, Architecture Exhibition Mumbai, Institutional Architecture, CEPT, Library, Le Corbusier, BV Doshi, Contemporary Indian Architecture]

Drawings by Vishwa Shroff are on view at ‘Global Positioning System’, a major two-chapter group exhibition taking place at Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai until 4 October, 2026, and Hayy Jameel in Jeddah until 17 October, 2026. The exibition explores the navigation systems that shape how we move through the world, and brings together more than 40 artists from over 20 countries.

Vishwa's drawings from Southlands (Bombay Stairwell Series) investigate the act of moving through a familiar stairwell, in this case that of the building Vishwa lives in. The drawings from her Three Wall Project series move away from spaces to familiar and recurring objects, exploring ‘drawing movement’.

Images courtesy of Art Jameel. Photography by Sian Richardson, Danko Stjepanovic, and Azzam Khalid.

[Contemporary Drawing, Contemporary Art, Jameel Arts Centre, Group Exhibition, Vishwa Shroff]

In planning the School of Arts & Sciences at Ahmedabad University, RMA Architects takes an interdisciplinary approach to formulating ideas for a building that was introduced into a pre-existing plan for the campus.

"Instead of dividing the building along a zoned hierarchy of functions – offices, lecture theatres, research labs, classrooms, libraries – the design mixes these functions, amplifying the possibility of interaction and generating occasions of encounter," writes Ranjit Hoskote. "This design prizes the weave of sociality, in which formal pedagogy is only one among multiple modes of learning, inquiry, debate and the expansion of both academic and civic horizons."

An exhibit of plans, photographs, and more from this project is part of our ongoing show, 'Contextures: RMA and The Practice of Embedded Architecture', on view at TARQ until 21 August 2026.

Images:
1. Installation view at TARQ
2, 3, 6, 8. Design interventions by RMA at SAS, Ahmedabad University. Photo credits: Dinesh Mehta | Rajesh Vohra | Ritesh Uttamchandani | Tina Nandi | Vinay Panjwani | Vivek Eadara
4 & 5. Detailed sketch of SAS
7. Sketch of Open Plan

[RMA Architects, Thackersey Foundation, Architecture Exhibition Mumbai, Institutional Architecture, Ahmedabad University, SAS, Contemporary Indian Architecture]

Next Wednesday at TARQ, join Ranjit Hoskote and Rahul Mehrotra in conversation with architect, critic and theorist Kaiwan Mehta, as they discuss the interplay between architectural criticism and practice. RSVP via the link in bio!

Ranjit, Rahul, and Kaiwan are collaborators on the ongoing State of Architecture research project. The discussion revisits Rahul's decades-long expansion of the architect's role beyond built form into pedagogy, advocacy, and civic activism, and considers how critique and design continually inform one another within what the three have termed a "radical contextuality."

We look forward to having you at the gallery for the final event of our ongoing show, 'Contextures: RMA and The Practice of Embedded Architecture'.

[RMA Architects, Thackersey Foundation, Architecture, Architectural Criticism, Conversation, Contemporary Indian Architecture]

What does it mean to "future-proof" a building? RMA Architects responds to this question through their work for the Zirad Art & Heritage Foundation/Vismaya. Their architectural intervention in Alibaug's Zirad village accounts for the rapid, unplanned urbanisation that followed the influx of people and capital from Mumbai since the pandemic years.

"[RMA] emphasizes protocols of natural light, natural ventilation and rainwater conservation. From the outside, it is difficult to guess at the building’s purpose as a museum or imagine the vibrancy of the South Asian art objects and antiquities housed within," writes Ranjit Hoskote in a text accompanying the ongoing show 'Contextures' at TARQ, where models, plans, photographs and more from RMA's institutional projects are on display.

'Contextures: RMA and The Practice of Embedded Architecture' continues at TARQ through 21 August 2026.

Images:
1, 3, 7, 8, 9. Design interventions by RMA at ZAHF. Photo credits: Dinesh Mehta | Rajesh Vohra | Ritesh Uttamchandani | Tina Nandi | Vinay Panjwani | Vivek Eadara
2. Model for the project at ZAHF
3 & 11. Installation view at TARQ
5 & 6. Rahul Mehrotra in conversation with Ranjit Hoskote
10. Vismaya animation

[RMA Architects, Thackersey Foundation, Architecture Exhibition Mumbai, Institutional Architecture, Alibaug, Museum, Contemporary Indian Architecture]

We are pleased to share that Soghra Khurasani is a recipient of Artica Svalbard’s residency programme in 2026, presented by Artica Svalbard and the Queen Sonja Print Award (QSPA). As part of the residency, Soghra developed new print-based work in Longyearbyen, Norway, engaging with Svalbard’s cultural and environmental context and working in Artica’s print studio.

The Queen Sonja Print Award has become the world’s leading award for graphic art and is presented every other year to an ambitious and promising artist who has excelled in the field of printmaking. A big congratulations to Soghra!

[Printmaking, Artist Residency, Contemporary Art, Queen Sonja Print Award, Svalbard, TARQ]

Ahmedabad has a high density of buildings designed by renowned architects, including Le Corbusier, B V Doshi, Gira & Gautam Sarabhai, and many more. Of these is the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum, designed and built by RMA.

"[The museum] is situated in Ahmedabad's historic Shahibaug, a Mughal garden-paradise that became associated with the city’s influential mercantile-industrial elite from the early 20th century onward," writes Ranjit Hoskote. "The brief for this museum was fourfold. First: to restore the Kasturbhai Lalbhai House and convert it into a museum to house the family’s collection of antiquities. Second: to repurpose the original staff quarters and kitchen into galleries to house the family’s contemporary art collection. This involved restoring an annexe designed by Claude Batley and inserting a glass-and-steel pavilion to host travelling shows. Third: to create a 3000-square-foot gallery, partly underground, so as not to obtrude upon the original structures. And fourth: to harmonize these elements through landscape solutions."

See the display of photographs, plans, and drawings from the project at TARQ, as part of the ongoing show 'Contextures: RMA and The Practice of Embedded Architecture'. The show is on view until 21 August 2026.

Images:
1 & 8. Installation view at TARQ
2, 4, 7, 9. Design interventions by RMA at the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum. Photo credits: Dinesh Mehta | Rajesh Vohra | Ritesh Uttamchandani | Tina Nandi | Vinay Panjwani | Vivek Eadara
3. Ranjit Hoskote in conversation with Rahul Mehrotra
5. Before and after of RMA's intervention
6. Lalbhai Gallery Floor Plan

[RMA Architects, Thackersey Foundation, Architecture Exhibition Mumbai, Institutional Architecture, Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum, Museum, Contemporary Indian Architecture]