Architect and urban designer Ranjit Sabikhi, known for his writings on India’s urban condition and his building designs for over six decades, passed away in Delhi on Sunday morning. He was 89.
In 1961, he co-founded the Design Group with the late architect Ajoy Choudhury. The group gained recognition for its innovative designs, with one of its most notable projects being the Yamuna Apartments, commissioned by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Sabikhi focused on balancing urban design and architecture, always placing people at the centre of his design plans.
The Design Group was known for its well-planned open spaces and geometric minimalism across their many buildings, which included the now-demolished Shakuntalam Theatre; YMCA Staff Quarters; The Syrian Christian Church at Hauz Khas; August Kranti Bhavan at Bhikaji Cama Place; Janakpuri District Centre and DLF Centre at Sansad Marg. It was also known for then Mughal Sheraton (now ITC Mughal), Agra; Oberoi Wildflower Hall, Shimla; Taj Bengal at Kolkata; ITDC Hotel at Varanasi; NDDB – Regional Training Centre at Jalandhar; NDDB staff housing at Noida, and the Indian embassy in Kuwait.
From 1959 to 1975, Sabikhi taught at the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, where he became head of the Department of Urban Design. He has also been a visiting critic at the Urban Design programme at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and the School of Architecture at Washington University in St Louis.
Though Sabikhi grew up in Mumbai, he made Delhi his home when he moved in there in the 1950s. In an interview with the Indian Express in May 2020, Sabikhi said, “Urban designers have a very important role to play, provided our politicians and civil servants decide to really take note of the issues that have been raised by the Covid crisis and allow significant changes to be made both in the planning process and the process of implementation. Change is required not only in the planning of public spaces but also in the conditions in which the urban poor, who constitute more than 55 per cent of our urban population, currently live.”
One who always championed the need for public spaces that were accessible to people across income groups, Sabikhi wrote extensively on the need for different imaginations for our cities.
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