Brinda Somaya

Brinda Somaya, India’s 2000 Designer of the Year, is a conservationist, post-modernist, abstract minimalist, and urban activist based in Mumbai, India. She received her architectural degree from Sir J.J. College of Architecture in Mumbai in 1971, and a Master of Arts degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1973. Somaya started her private practice soon after, and in 1976, co-founded the firm Somaya and Kalappa Consultants with her sister, Ranjini. In 2019, the firm won the competition for the restoration and enhancement of the historic Louis Kahn buildings of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, as well as for the new academic buildings of the Indian Institute of Technology.

Somaya is also the founding trustee of The Hecar Foundation, established to educate the public about architecture. She chaired the conference and curated the accompanying exhibition Women in Architecture 2000 Plus, which focused on the works of South Asian women architects. Her collection in the IAWA archive consists of materials from the exhibit, including 29 exhibit panels and a published catalog. It also includes an article about Somaya’s recognition as India’s Designer of the Year in 2000.