Mahendra Raj

Raj was born in Gujranwala in the Punjab state of the then undivided British India in 1924. He was born in a lower middle class family and was one of eight children. His father was an engineer with the Punjab Public Works Department. Later, Raj would say that his intent was never to become a civil engineer but his father wanted all of his five sons to become civil engineers.{{Cite book |title=Engineering a New Nation: Mahendra Raj and His Collaborations Across Disciplines |url=https://www.acsa-arch.org/chapter/engineering-a-new-nation-mahendra-raj-and-hiscollaborations-across-disciplines/ |access-date=8 May 2022 |website=Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture |year=2019 |language=en |doi=10.35483/acsa.am.107.111 |archive-date=8 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508222239/https://www.acsa-arch.org/chapter/engineering-a-new-nation-mahendra-raj-and-hiscollaborations-across-disciplines/ |url-status=live |last1=Ismail |first1=Mohamed A. |last2=Mueller |first2=Caitlin T. |pages=562–566 |isbn=9781944214210 |s2cid=216736495 }}

Raj completed his degree in civil engineering with honours from Punjab Engineering College in Lahore in 1946.

After obtaining his degree, Raj joined the Punjab Public Works Department in their Buildings and Roads department. He moved to the Indian side after the partition of India in 1947 on one of the last trains to reach India safely.{{Cite news |last=Balasubramaniam |first=Chitra |date=21 November 2019 |title=A structural engineer who redefined design |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/society/a-structural-engineer-who-redefined-design/article30036488.ece |access-date=9 May 2022 |issn=0971-751X}} He moved to Shimla and was assigned to the rehabilitation cell at the PWD which was tasked to build housing for displaced middle-class families. It was here that he was made an assistant design engineer and collaborated with Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, who was then tasked with the design of Chandigarh, the new capital of Punjab. Raj collaborated with Corbusier on buildings including the Chandigarh High Court and the secretariat. He was noted to have proposed changes to the structure which resulted in a balanced cantilever resting on two columns.{{Cite web |date=8 May 2022 |title=Mahendra Raj, the man behind Pragati Maidan, Salarjung Museum, passes away |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/mahendra-raj-pragati-maidan-salarjung-museum-97-death-7906280/ |access-date=8 May 2022 |website=The Indian Express |language=en |archive-date=8 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508222239/https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/mahendra-raj-pragati-maidan-salarjung-museum-97-death-7906280/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Matter |date=15 December 2020 |title=Structural narrative of Indian Modernity as an oeuvre of Mahendra Raj |url=https://thinkmatter.in/2020/12/15/structural-narrative-of-indian-modernity-as-an-oeuvre-of-mahendra-raj/ |access-date=8 May 2022 |website=MATTER |language=en |archive-date=16 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211116080427/https://thinkmatter.in/2020/12/15/structural-narrative-of-indian-modernity-as-an-oeuvre-of-mahendra-raj/ |url-status=live }} After his initial collaborations with Corbusier, Raj went to the United States for a masters in structural design from the University of Minnesota. After his masters he moved to New York and worked at Ammann & Whitney until 1959. He returned to India in 1960 and started Mahendra Raj Consultants in Bombay in 1960. He later collaborated with Indian architect and urban planner, Charles Correa, to build the Hindustan Lever pavilion at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi in 1961. The structure was designed to resemble a crumpled sheet of paper with a maze of ramps and platforms. The structure followed the idea of progression through a maze with space being enclosed by reinforced concrete cement sprayed under pressure to create random folds resembling a crumpled card. The work was noted to have foreshadowed deconstructivist architecture works by at least two decades.{{Cite journal |last1=Correa |first1=Charles |last2=Raj |first2=Mahendra |date=1961 |title=Hindustan Lever Pavilion, Pragati Maidan |url=https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-166171 |journal=Architecture: Challenges and Opportunities - A Panel Discussion Held at the Annual Conference of the National Association of Students of Architecture at Kochi |language=en |volume=1 |issue=3 |access-date=8 May 2022 |archive-date=14 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514231919/https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-166171 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=1 September 2017 |title=A look at Charles Correa's iconic architecture on his 87th birth anniversary |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/charles-correa-best-loved-courtyard-amongst-elements-architecture/ |access-date=8 May 2022 |website=Architectural Digest India |language=en-IN |archive-date=19 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119185401/https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/charles-correa-best-loved-courtyard-amongst-elements-architecture/ |url-status=live }}

Raj worked with Pritzker prize winning architect B. V. Doshi in designing the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and the Tagore Hall in Ahmedabad. Many years later, in 1971, he collaborated with Indian architect Raj Rewal to design the Hall of Nations at the Pragati Maidan.{{Cite web |date=14 December 2019 |title=Delhi: View defining projects by structural engineer Mahendra Raj at KNMA |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/delhi-structural-engineer-mahendra-raj-knma/ |access-date=8 May 2022 |website=Architectural Digest India |language=en-IN |archive-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512142550/https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/delhi-structural-engineer-mahendra-raj-knma/ |url-status=live }} The structure was one of the largest space frame structures in the world and was described by The New York Times as a "brutalist masterpiece".{{Cite web |author=Katy Wong |title=Why these buildings were reduced to rubble in 2017 |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/destroyed-monuments-in-2017/index.html |access-date=8 May 2022 |website=CNN |language=en |archive-date=8 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508222238/https://www.cnn.com/style/article/destroyed-monuments-in-2017/index.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Snyder |first=Michael |date=15 August 2019 |title=The Unexpectedly Tropical History of Brutalism |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/t-magazine/tropical-brutalism.html |access-date=8 May 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=6 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220406192733/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/t-magazine/tropical-brutalism.html |url-status=live }} He also worked with architect Shiv Nath Prasad on Akbar Hotel in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi,{{Cite web |title=The man who believed in taming the forces of nature to create iconic structures of modern India |url=https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/the-man-who-believed-in-taming-the-forces-of-nature-to-create-iconic-structures-of-modern-india/526007 |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=www.timesnownews.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=world |first=STIR |title=Mahendra Raj, and his oeuvre of structural expressionism in Indian architecture |url=https://www.stirworld.com/inspire-people-mahendra-raj-and-his-oeuvre-of-structural-expressionism-in-indian-architecture |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=www.stirworld.com |language=English}} as well as the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts.

Raj's work is considered pioneering for its engineering solutions for exposed concrete buildings and much of his work is seen as telling the history of post-independence India.{{Cite web |title=MIT Architecture: The Structure: The Works of Mahendra Raj |url=https://history.fas.harvard.edu/event/mit-architecture-structure-works-mahendra-raj |access-date=8 May 2022 |website=history.fas.harvard.edu |language=en |archive-date=11 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111043427/https://history.fas.harvard.edu/event/mit-architecture-structure-works-mahendra-raj |url-status=live }} In a career spanning six decades, he contributed to the structural design for more than 250 projects.{{Cite web |last1=Ismail |first1=Mohammed A. |last2=Mueller |first2=Caitlin T. |title=Engineering a New Nation: Mahendra Raj and His Collaborations Across Disciplines |url=https://www.acsa-arch.org/proceedings/Annual%20Meeting%20Proceedings/ACSA.AM.107/ACSA.AM.107.111.pdf |access-date=8 May 2022 |website=ACSA - Arch.org |archive-date=7 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507074455/https://www.acsa-arch.org/proceedings/Annual%20Meeting%20Proceedings/ACSA.AM.107/ACSA.AM.107.111.pdf |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Honouring the star of structural engineering 'Mahendra Raj' |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/2020/jan/05/honouring-the-star-of-structural-engineering-mahendra-raj-2084208.html |access-date=9 May 2022 |website=The New Indian Express}} Raj also worked with the Government of India, in drafting legislations regulating the profession of engineers resulting in the creation of the Engineering Council of India in 2002.{{Cite web |last=Facilitator |first=Constro |date=8 May 2022 |title=Er. Mahendra Raj breathed his last and left for heavenly abode |url=https://www.constrofacilitator.com/er-mahendra-raj-breathed-his-last-and-left-for-heavenly-abode/ |access-date=8 May 2022 |website=Constro Facilitator |language=en-US |archive-date=8 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508222244/https://www.constrofacilitator.com/er-mahendra-raj-breathed-his-last-and-left-for-heavenly-abode/ |url-status=live }}

Raj was married and had three children. His youngest son, Rohit Raj Mehendiratta is also an architect. Rohit Raj Mehendiratta and his wife Vandini Mehta wrote a book on Raj's works titled The Structure: Works of Mahendra Raj.{{Cite web |date=2 December 2009 |title=Making space |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/dRi0LGEoanejWEDGRv9g4M/Making-space.html |access-date=9 May 2022 |website=mint |language=en}}

Raj died on 8 May 2022 at his home in Delhi. He was aged 97.

File:High court Chandigarh.jpg|Chandigarh High Court, Chandigarh

File:Pragati Maidan 2012 11.jpg|Hall of Nations, Pragati Maidan, Delhi

File:Akbar Hotel New Delhi (cropped) Ummu 06 00680 full 3669 2416 0 default.jpg|Akbar Hotel in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi constructed 1965-1969

File:Tagore Hall Ahmedabad 3.jpg|Tagore Memorial Hall, Ahmedabad

File:Main Campus - Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.jpg|Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Bangalore

File:Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, India.jpg|Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad

• {{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/944087142 |title=The Structure: Works of Mahendra Raj |date=2016 |publisher=Park Books |others=Mahendra Raj, Vandini Mehta, Rohit Raj Mehrdiratta, Ariel Huber |isbn=978-3-03860-025-1 |location=Zurich |oclc=944087142}}

• Jugal Kishore Choudhury
• Kuldip Singh (architect)

{{Reflist}}

{{commonscat-inline}}

• {{YouTube|id=9BRRWkZ_lu8|title=A Father - Son Conversation: Mahendra Raj & Rohit Raj Mehndiratta, Part I}}
• {{YouTube|id=o7SJekgOIs8|title=A Father - Son Conversation: Mahendra Raj & Rohit Raj Mehndiratta, Part II}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raj, Mahendra}}

Category:1920s births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:Indian architects

Category:Indian engineers