About the talk-
The illustrated talk focuses on designing water, as seen in the myriad water monuments that have existed since the very inception of architectural thinking in India. In her lifelong engagement with the structural cultural history of water, Jutta Jain-Neubauer explores the interconnection of the spatial topographies, the aesthetic forms and the ecology of water.

When architecture engages with water, it designs, curates and moulds it into a social, ecological and even, a sacred space. The cultural significance of water architecture in India is visible in their ingeniously conceived forms, such as wells, stepwells, ponds, reservoirs, temple tanks and lakes, rock-cut cisterns, and riverside ghats. These, rooted in the prevailing regional and canonical practices, are markers of hydro-technical knowhow, sustainability, trade and commerce, social conventions, and sacred places of worship, such as stepwells, often conceived as ‘underground temples’.

Jutta Jain-Neubauer, an art-historian, has been engaged in researching India’s water monuments for decades now. Her book The Stepwells of Gujarat (1981) is considered a pioneering work on the subject. Other areas of her specialization include Sultanate monuments of Ahmedabad and Delhi, as well as the iconography and symbolism of the northern Indian temple entrance. Her current research focuses on the typology of water monuments of India and their ecological siting, which resulted in her edited book Water Design. Environment and Histories (Marg Publications, Mumbai, 2016).