Social Design Collaborative: Architecture as Political Practice in India

The exhibition 'Samatva: Shaping the Built' at Delhi's Forte di Delhi celebrates the contributions of 80 Indian women architects, including Urmila Eulie Chawdhury, Revathi Kamath, Ramalakshmi Ramachandran, and Surabhi Shingarey. Curated by architect Swati Janu, founder of Social Design Collaborative, the show highlights architecture as a political practice. Janu's studio works with informal settlements in the Delhi region, responding to forced evictions along the Yamuna River by co-designing a demountable school with local farming communities. In Bela Gaon, they built a flexible space serving as a kindergarten, school, and community center. Since 2023, the studio has been developing 10 modular anganwadi (rural childcare centers) that could become prototypes for replication across India. Social Design Collaborative also creates open-source tools, including a board game to help marginalized communities navigate Delhi's Master Plan, an archive documenting eviction policies, a map of over 500 informal markets, and a manual for managing anganwadis. Janu, described as a 'facilitator proving architects belong alongside human rights lawyers, activists, and community leaders,' received the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture. The exhibition underscores the ongoing struggle for gender equality in Indian architecture, with Social Design Collaborative working to bridge the gap.