{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1771101"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1771101/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PC7799/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PC7799/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PC7799","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC7805","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC7804","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC7803","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC7802","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC7801","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC7800","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC7798","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1771101/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1771101","accessionNumber":"E.2-2024","objectType":"Architectural model","titles":[{"title":"Model of the Nehru Pavilion","type":"generic title"}],"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\nThe Nehru Pavilion was adjacent to the Hall of Nations and Hall of Industries and built to house an exhibition commemorating India’s first Prime Minister, who died in 1964. This working design model shows a raised mound, inspired by  Buddhist stupas, and geometric plan, reminiscent of  mandalas, illustrative of the renewed interest in India’s architectural heritage by Indian modernists. The exhibition the  pavilion housed was designed by Charles and Ray Eames in collaboration with the National Institute of Design (NID). Nehru had commissioned the Eameses to write their India Report in 1958 and its recommendations led to the establishment of NID in Ahmedabad. Like the Hall of Nations and Hall of Industries, the building was destroyed in 2017 despite a vigorous campaign to save it.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Rewal, Raj","id":"AUTH395256"},"association":{"text":"Made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"model-making","id":"AAT53619"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"},{"text":"Architectural models","id":"THES274433"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2025PC7799","2025PC7805","2025PC7804","2025PC7803","2025PC7802","2025PC7801","2025PC7800","2025PC7798"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"SB8","shelf":"4","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Architectural model","id":"x44244"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"India","id":"THES278726"},"association":{"text":"Made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1971","earliest":"1971-01-01","latest":"1971-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.1-2024","id":"O1771100"},"association":"Ensemble"}],"creditLine":"Raj Rewal","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"40","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"40","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"Displayed as part of the exhibition, <i>Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence</i>\r\n2 March 2024 to 22 September 2024 at V&A South Kensington","briefDescription":"Model of the Nehru Pavilion designed by Raj Rewal, 1971","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":[{"text":"Modernist","id":"AAT21474"}],"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":"<b>Model of the Nehru Pavilion</b>\n1971\nDesigned by Raj Rewal\n\nWood\nDelhi, India\nV&amp;A: E.2-2024\n\n<b>Four views of the nehru Exhibition in the Hall of Nations</b>\r\n1981\nUnknown photographers\n\nRewal also designed the Nehru Pavilion on the Hall of Nations site, which contained a memorial exhibition about Nehru's life and times designed by American designers Charles and Ray Eames in collaboration with the National Institute of Design (NID). Rewal describes his practice as 'modern architecture with Indian roots, with an Indian ethos'. The grass mound was inspired by Buddhist stupas and the geometric plan by mandalas, evidence of Rewal's engeement with India's architectural heritage.\n\nDelhi, India\nReproduction of photographs\nNahru Exhibition at Pragati Maidan, New Dehli","date":{"text":"02/3/2024 -22/09/2024","earliest":"2024-03-02","latest":"2024-09-22"}}],"partNumbers":["E.2-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"2","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-13","recordCreationDate":"2024-01-16","availableToBook":false}}