LIBRARY . EXPLORE THE COLLECTION
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The Urbs Indis Library is a personal rare-book collection that has been lovingly transformed into a publicly-accessible archive in Krishnappa Garden, Bengaluru. Home to more than 1,000 titles about urban India, each publication has been hand-picked by Robert and Tina over the last 18 years. The collection has grown organically from a wide variety of sources, ranging from the footpath stalls of Mumbai’s Flora Fountain to Bengaluru’s Blossom Book House, and from independent booksellers around the world to university libraries & archives.
The Bombay Reading Room, the largest “genre” in the library (which is predominantly organized by city), features more than 380 titles dating back to the early 1800s. Much of the material was acquired during the seven-year-long research phase of Bombay Imagined, and includes an eclectic mix of government reports, guidebooks, pamphlets, photo-books, self-published works and more. The Maximum City seems to inspire the maximum writing. The Bombay Reading Room is located in the ground floor of the Urbs Indis Library, specifically Robert’s workspace, so he is always near his first urban love.
The Bangalore Reading Room is the fastest growing genre within the space, thanks to various used-book sellers on Bengaluru’s Church Street (arguably South India’s secondhand book epicenter). In addition to city-guides and history books, a special facet of the Bangalore archive is its emphasis on geology and water-related publications. The Garden City has always been, and will continue to be, intimately intertwined with the earth.
The Ahmedabad Reading Room was born out of a search for the history of the Walled City, in particular, her walls (yes, her medieval fortifications). Highlights of the collection include rare English translations of the Mirati Sikandari (1899) and Mirat-i-Ahmadi (1965), as well as an exhibition catalogue documenting the work of India’s first street photographer Pranlal Patel (1910-2014).
The Patna, Rajgir and Ranchi Reading Room is an immersion into India’s deep urban past. Multiple pamphlets in the collection focus on the ancient city of Rajgir, which some scholars claim features the oldest surviving man-made dwelling in India, the Pippala House. Robert visited Rajgir in 2019, and the intrigue of the now abandoned city that is yet surrounded by 2,600-year-old cyclopean walls, never left him.
The Chennai Reading Room is a humble and quiet collection that harks back to when the city was known as Madras. Robert’s favourite titles in this archive are “The Official Handbook of the Corporation of Madras” (1932) and “The Madras Tercentenary Commemoration Volume” (1939).
The Mohammed Fayazuddin Reading Room is one of the smallest and yet most fascinating genres in the library. In 2018 Robert was introduced to the person of Mohammed Fayazuddin (1903-1977), while doing research for the exhibition “Hyderabad Biophilia.” The same year he began corresponding with Mr. Riaz Ahmed, the eldest son of the Hyderabad-based town planner. In addition to biographical data and personal insights shared by Riaz, the collection features Fayazuddin’s writings on housing (for all) and visionary town planning ideas at the time of India’s independence.
The Patrick Geddes Reading Room is the most dense archive in India related to the Scottish polymath and Father of Modern Town Planning. The collection includes rare pamphlets and books written and published by Geddes (1854-1932) on botany and life sciences, economics and statistics, and more, followed by more than two dozen of his approximately 50 town-planning reports on various cities in India (written between 1914 and 1924). A number of biographies published after Geddes’ death complete this unique repository.
The Visvesvaraya Reading Room is a compact but exceptionally rare repository of works by and about India’s most well known engineer, Sir MV Visvesvaraya (1861-1962). The collection ranges from “Sayings- Wise or Witty” (1957) to “Nation Building, A Five-Year Plan for the Provinces” (1937), as well as posthumous biographies written in Kannada.
The Census of India Reading Room features mid-century Government of India publications that exemplify what it means to study a place and its people in depth. Each village monograph features written descriptions, statistical charts and exquisite hand-made drawings, collectively capturing a moment in time.
The Essential Reading Room is just that, essential reading. These are works that Robert feels should be required reading for architects or aspiring architects, because the written word can change our lives.