Tag Archives: Architecture
MATERIAL AS METHOD-New Histories of the Built Environment
I had the opportunity to participate in the Symposium titled “Material as Method: New Histories of the Built Environment” at the Annual Conference on South Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in October 2023. Many thanks to Ateya Khorakiwala (Columbia University) & Curt Gambetta (Dartmouth College) for organizing and facilitating the same. Please find the […]
SAND ECOLOGIES
Below are images from dissertation fieldwork in Kerala, India where I followed the trail of sand for concrete construction along its production chain from building construction sites in Kochi city, Kerala’s commercial capital, to its sources in rivers and stone quarries in the Western Ghat mountain ranges in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
M-Sand, Metal, and the “More-than-Urban” Political Ecology of Urban Development in Kerala
I was invited to present my latest research paper, titled M-Sand, Metal, and the “More-than-Urban” Political Ecology of Urban Development in Kerala, at the Center for Development Studies (CDS) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on 28 April 2023. Many thanks to Prof. J. Devika for her support and guidance through the research project. Please find details of […]
ON THE LAURIE BAKER TRAIL
The below images are from a recent visit to the Mitraniketan Social Service Society and Clinic in Vagamon in the Western Ghats mountains of central Kerala. The Clinic was established in 1963 by Architect Laurie Baker, his wife Dr. Elizabeth Baker, Alina Cattani, and Dr. Hildagard Sina to address the needs of the local population […]
CLASS, CASTE, GENDER, AND THE MATERIALITY OF CEMENT HOUSES IN INDIA
Out now in Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. My peer-reviewed article on the intersectional class, caste, and gender dynamics of new cement houses in India. It’s open access here. A PDF version can be downloaded below. Menon, S. (2023). Class, Caste, Gender, and the Materiality of Cement Houses in India. Antipode, 55 (2) pp. 574-598 […]
CONCRETE CLIMATES
This is a short essay that I wrote for the South Asian Urban Climates blog which is a “platform for discussion, collaboration, and emerging scholarship on the histories, power structures, and material assemblages that make up the climate in and across South Asian cities.” Many thanks to Nida Rehman and Aparna Parikh for bringing this […]
US National Science Foundation
I’m happy to announce that I’ve been awarded the U. S. National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award to conduct my doctoral dissertation research in India. Details can be found here. ABSTRACT This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This doctoral […]
READINGS ON DIDI CONTRACTOR
91-year-old environmental designer and builder – Delia (Didi) Narayan Contractor – passed away peacefully at her home on July 5, 2021. I had the privilege of working closely with her as a junior architect for three years from 2011 to 2014 in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. She instilled in me an ethos of critical thinking and […]
Siddharth Menon 