A multi-year research initiative
Does architecture
matter in a state
of transition?
Exploring architecture, practice, and the public realm across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and the Maldives.
Explore the project →Hello, World!
The State of Architecture in South Asia is a multi-year research initiative asking a single question across eight countries: Does architecture matter in a state of transition? In a region defined by climate uncertainty, political transformation, and deep socio-economic inequality, this project brings together architects, educators, and practitioners to collectively examine what the discipline means today.
The project unfolds across four strands — a lecture series, an annual conference, a traveling exhibition, and a publication — each approaching the same question from a different angle. Together they form a sustained inquiry into architecture's public agency in South Asia.
Grounded in the specificities of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and the Maldives, the project refuses easy answers. It asks how architecture engages with transitions rather than resolving them.
Emergent Practices in South Asia — talks by architects and practitioners working across the region.
View → 02Frameworks & Practices in South Asia — an annual gathering of architects, scholars, and critics.
View → 03A traveling exhibition presenting the project's work to public audiences across the region.
View → 04Architectures of Transition — the project's book, gathering essays and conversations from the research.
View →The State of Architecture in South Asia
Research across
four strands
The SOA South Asia project explores the question of architecture's agency in a region defined by transition — political, climatic, economic, and social. Our research unfolds across lectures, conferences, a traveling exhibition, and a publication, each asking the same question from a different angle.
Ongoing
Lecture Series
Emergent Practices in South Asia — a series of talks by architects, educators, and practitioners working across the region, exploring what it means to build, teach, and think about architecture today.
View lectures →Annual
Conference
Frameworks & Practices in South Asia — bringing together architects, scholars, and critics to collectively examine the discipline's role in a region navigating profound and rapid transformation.
View conference →Traveling
Exhibition
A physical exhibition traveling across cities in South Asia and beyond, presenting the work and ideas emerging from the project to broader public audiences in the region.
View exhibition →Published
Publication
Architectures of Transition: Emergent Practices in South Asia — the project's book, gathering essays, conversations, and visual material produced across the full arc of the research initiative.
View publication →The central question
Does architecture matter in a state of transition? The project asks this collectively, across eight countries, and across multiple formats — refusing a single answer.
Geography
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and the Maldives — each a distinct context, each illuminating something the others cannot.
Institutional partners
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Lakshmi Mittal & Family South Asia Institute, Architecture Foundation India.
The State of Architecture
in South Asia
About the project
The State of Architecture in South Asia is a multi-year research initiative asking a single question across eight countries: Does architecture matter in a state of transition? In a region defined by climate uncertainty, political transformation, and deep socio-economic inequality, this project brings together architects, educators, and practitioners to collectively examine what the discipline means today.
The project unfolds across four strands — a lecture series, an annual conference, a traveling exhibition, and a publication — each approaching the same question from a different angle. Together they form a sustained inquiry into architecture's public agency in South Asia: what it can claim, what it cannot, and where it goes next.
Grounded in the specificities of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and the Maldives, the project refuses easy answers. It asks how architecture engages with transitions rather than resolving them — and what it means to practice in conditions of pervasive uncertainty.
Research strands
01
Lecture Series
Emergent Practices in South Asia — talks by architects and practitioners working across the region.
View →02
Conference
Frameworks & Practices in South Asia — an annual gathering of architects, scholars, and critics.
View →03
Exhibition
A traveling exhibition presenting the project's work to public audiences across the region.
View →04
Publication
Architectures of Transition — the project's book, gathering essays and conversations from across the research.
View →