Domus India - March 2016

The February 2016 issue of Domus India, in many ways, is dedicated to the charged environment that The State of Architecture: Practices and Processes in India exhibition currently at show at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai organised by the Urban Design Research Institute and largely supported by the Tata Trusts, as well as foundations such as the Kala Ghoda Association, has instantly generated since it opened in the first week of January. The exhibition was followed by an inaugural conference on The State of the Profession. Domus India is one of the primary partners sharing intellectual expertise and concerns and is happy to report largely on this historic moment through the pages of this issue. We feature the making of the exhibition, immersive media formats on which it communicated and interacted with the audience, as well as custom-designed furniture pieces that punctuated the exhibition – The Breathing Wall by sP+a, and Cube furniture by Rooshad Shroff. We also feature Rubberband’s new furniture collection which makes a strong case for designed, form-based furniture in the face of generic, material-based market preferences. Finally, we examine a non-factory ‘factory building’ that conveys the brand’s intrinsic value and business while giving the employees and users of the building a context- and site-responsive workspace.