{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1770519"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1770519/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU4731/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU4731/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NU4731","copyright":"© Victoria & Albert Museum","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1770519/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1770519","accessionNumber":"E.188-2024","objectType":"Print","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Architect, Raj Rewal (1934-)  trained in Delhi and at the Brixton School of Building, London and is one of the most distinguished of the second generation of Indian modernists. He won the competition to design the Hall of Nations and Hall of Industries complex at Pragati Maidan in Delhi, India for the Asia '72 global fair. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, to mark the 25th anniversary of India’s independence, symbolizing the optimism of post-Independence India.\n\nRewal designed the building for a hot climate and worked with engineer Mahendra Raj, who had worked on Le Corbusier's Chandigarh's Capital complex, to propose an ingenius structure that functioned as a three dimensional sunbreaker. It had the world’s first and largest-span spaceframe (78m) built in concrete, as steel was too expensive in India at the time. The concrete was hand-poured by the 300 workers who lived with their families on site. The pboject was completed in ust over a year and a half.\n\r\nThe Hall of Nations is the largest of the four truncated pyramids shown in this model and was made for the legal battle to save the complex which was demolished in 2017 to make way for a campus to  host the 2023 G20 summit. Rewal also designed the adjacent Nehru  Pavilion, an underground exhibition space built to celebrate the life and  times of Jawaharlal Nehru, which was also destroyed in 2017.\r\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"Hall of Nations and Hall of Industries for the India  International trade fair, New Delhi, India, Presentation  screenprint, Raj Rewal, 1970","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Rewal, Raj","id":"AUTH395256"},"association":{"text":"Made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Screenprint","id":"x36290"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"}],"styles":[{"text":"Modernism","id":"AAT21474"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2024NU4731"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"MD","shelf":"52A","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Presentation drawing","id":"AAT34451"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"India","id":"THES278726"},"association":{"text":"Made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1970","earliest":"1970-01-01","latest":"1970-12-31"},"association":{"text":"Designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Raj Rewal","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"280","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"430","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Hall of Nations and Hall of Industries for the India International trade fair, New Delhi, India, Presentation screenprint, Raj Rewal, 1970","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Turner, Christopher, et al. <i>Tropical Modernism : Architecture and Independence</i>. V&A Publishing, 2024."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<b>Modernist Legacy</b>\r\n\r\nNehru died in 1964 having served as prime minister for 16 years but Modernism lived on in increasingly large-scale and expressive structures. In 1972, architect Raj Rewal completed a vast complex of exhibition pavilions in New Delhi which marked the 25th anniversary of Indian Independence. Opened by Nehru's daughter, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, it was an optimistic symbol of the India he had shaped.\r\n\r\nNehru's vision of a secular, modern and progressive India is at odds with the trend of much contemporary Indian politics, with its more assertive ethos of Hindu nationalism. Much of his architectural legacy is currently at risk. In 2017, Raj Rewal's complex, including a memorial pavilion celebrating Nehru, was demolished overnight despite a vigorous campaign to save it. It was replaced by a corporate campus for the 2023 G20 summit.","date":{"text":"02/3/2024 - 22/09/2024","earliest":"2024-03-02","latest":"2024-09-22"}},{"text":"Raj Rewal's monument to Indian Independence\r\n\r\nRaj Rewal's (born 1934) exhibition complex in New Delhi includes the Hall of Nations as well as three smaller Halls of Industry. The truncated pyramid was the world's first and largest-span spaceframe to be built in concrete rather than steel, which was too expensive at the time.\r\n\r\nThe concrete was hand-poured on site by 300 workers and built in under two years. The structure was a three-dimensional <i>brise soleil </i>made possible by engineer Mahendra Raj who had worked on Le Corbusier's Chandigarh Capital complex. His structural ingenuity enabled the striking forms of some of India's post-independence Modernist architecture.","date":{"text":"02/3/2024 -22/09/2024","earliest":"2024-03-02","latest":"2024-09-22"}}],"partNumbers":["E.188-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"188","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-07","recordCreationDate":"2023-12-18","availableToBook":false}}