ABHA NARAIN LAMBAH
Conservation Architect
Abha Narain Lambah’s journey in architectural conservation began three decades ago, when she graduated from the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi. As someone who has been instrumental in giving a new lease of life to multiple historic buildings, including the Bikaner House (Delhi) and David Sassoon Library and Reading Room (Mumbai), she gained confidence to have a seat at the table during her days at the institute.
While the gender ratio in her classroom was heavily skewed, the environment was rather liberal—which is what broadened her mind at a young age.
“The girls to boys ratio was miserable; it was probably 1:10. But we also had a co-ed hostel with no warden; there were no questions asked. It opened up my mind that there can be an equal world,” she recalls.
Like every architecture course, her reading list included Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead. Here, the central protagonist is a tall, strapping and masculine architect—Howard Roark—who defies conventional norms of the trade.
Abha remembers asking herself why couldn’t Roark be a woman?
“I think
