Abha Narain Lambah


Abha Narain Lambah is an Indian conservation architect whose eponymous architectural practice has restored several of India's UNESCO World Heritage Sites like the Ajanta Caves, Golconda Fort and Mahabodhi Temple, and Mumbai's Victorian buildings like the Crawford Market, Royal Opera House and Asiatic Society of Mumbai Town Hall.
The firm's work has been recognised by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. In 2017, their restoration work on the Royal Opera House, India's only surviving opera house, was given the Award of Merit under the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
Their ongoing project is the restoration of Le Corbusier's historic Chandigarh Capitol Complex in Punjab.

Early life

Lambah was born in Calcutta and grew up in Ballygunge. She attended the Loreto House school and then graduated from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.

Career

Lambah set up her architectural practice in 1996. Her first project was to finalise urban signage and street furniture guidelines for Dadabhai Naoroji Road, along which many of the city's Gothic Revival and Neoclassical buildings are located. In 2000, she became a conservation consultant to Rahul Mehrotra Associates, who were restoring the Chowmahalla Palace in Hyderabad. Between 2004 and 2006, she worked on the 15th-century Basgo Monastery and restored the Maitreya Buddha. Since 2010, she has restored many of Mumbai's Victorian, Neo-Gothic and Indo-Saracenic buildings, such as the Municipal Corporation Building, Crawford Market, Prince of Wales Museum, Convocation Hall, University of Mumbai. Lambah has acknowledged the influence of Joseph Allen Stein and Charles Correa on her practice.

Honours

*