>Ira Leviton at 19:04, 25 January 2021

2021-01-25T19:04:12Z

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[[File:Joseph Allen Stein 1986.JPG|thumb|250px|right|Joseph Allen Stein in 1986]]
'''Joseph Stein''', (10 April 1912 – 6 October 2001) was an American architect and a major figure in the establishment of a regional modern architecture in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1940s and 1950s during the early days of the environmental design movement. In 1952, he moved to India and in 1955 was tasked with the planning of [[Durgapur]] in [[West Bengal]], [[India]] along with [[Benjamin Polk]]. He was commissioned with this task in order to facilitate the establishment of [[Durgapur Steel Plant]] later on in 1959 followed by the Durgapur Steel City and Township. He is noted for designing several important buildings in India, most notably in Lodhi Estate in [[Central Delhi]], nicknamed "Steinabad<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-12-09|title=In Delhi's 'Steinabad', buildings bridge tradition and modernity|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/building-blocks-a-walk-in-the-park-5483453/|access-date=2020-07-11|website=The Indian Express|language=en}}</ref>" after him, and where today the 'Joseph Stein Lane', is the only road in Delhi named after an architect.<ref name="mint">{{cite news|date=2 September 2011|title=An American in Delhi|publisher=[[Mint (newspaper)|livemint]]|url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/FFwRc1wrI8XUQCnDhpJM8O/An-American-in-Delhi.html}}</ref><ref>{{Citation
| last = Lewis
| first = Paul
| title = Joseph Stein, 89, Architect Noted for Work in India, Is Dead
| newspaper = [[New York Times]].
| date = 14 October 2001
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/nyregion/joseph-stein-89-architect-noted-for-work-in-india-is-dead.html
}}</ref> He is also famous for being the architect of the scenic [[Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode]]'s campus. The [[Government of India]] awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of [[Padma Shri]] in 1992.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6U68ulwpb?url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 November 2014 }}</ref> His works remain even more relevant in the modern context as need for sustainable and humane architecture is felt.

==Biography==
Joseph Allen Stein was born on 10 April 1912, in [[Omaha]], Nebraska. He studied architecture at the [[University of Illinois]], the [[École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts]] in Paris and the [[Cranbrook Academy of Art]].<ref>{{Citation
| last = Weinstein
| first = Dave
| title = Architectural idealist: Modernist Joseph Allen Stein preferred to design public housing and finished his career in India
| newspaper = [[San Francisco Chronicle]].
| date = 7 April 2007
| url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/07/HOGHVP2AAP1.DTL}}</ref> He worked for Ely Jacques Kahn in New York and with [[Richard Neutra]] in Los Angeles, before establishing his own practice in San Francisco. In San Francisco, he designed modest homes in the California style, but also became increasingly interested in the issues of low cost housing. He was also an active member of the group known as [[Telesis]], which sought to bring better design to the needs of the middle and working classes.

With the outbreak of the Korean war and the rise of McCarthyism in 1950, he felt the need to find a location where his talent as an architect could be more freely expressed, and so left the US, first to Mexico and then to Europe, and finally to teach at Bengal Engineering College (now [[Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur]]) outside Calcutta.

[[File:Shridharani Art Gallery, New Delhi.jpg|thumb|[[Triveni Kala Sangam]] and Shridharani Art Gallery facade on the left, New Delhi, 1963.]]In 1952 he moved to India, and became head of the department of architecture at the [[Bengal Engineering College]] in [[Calcutta]]. He worked in New Delhi from 1955 onwards, starting with another American architect, Benjamin Polk<ref>''A Concise History of Modern Architecture in India'', by Jon T. Lang, Orient Blackswan, 2002. {{ISBN|81-7824-017-3}}. ''Page 45''.</ref> and even after retirement in 1995, continued to design for the architecture firm he founded. Over the year, he brought in 'California modernism' to several buildings he designed in Delhi, including, the Ford Foundation headquarters and the [[India International Centre]] (IIC) (1962), United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), the World Wide Fund for Nature, a conservatory within [[Lodhi Gardens]], Gandhi-King Plaza, an open-air memorial in IIC, Triveni Kala Sangam at Mandi House, the American Embassy School and the Australian high commission in [[Chanakyapuri]]. Among his notable buildings outside Delhi was the [[Express Towers]], the first high rise built in India, and at the time it was completed, the tallest building in South East Asia.

Several of his disciples went on to establish leading architectural firms and real estate development businesses; J. K. Jain (architect & real estate developer), Chairman at Dasnac Designarch; and Anuraag Chowfla and Meena Mani (architects), Principals at Mani & Chowfla, to name a few.<ref name=mint/>

In 1993, ''Building in the Garden'', a study of his work, by Stephen White, dean of the School of Architecture at [[Roger Williams University]] in Rhode Island was published. He was awarded the [[Padma Shri]], India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 1992. He married Margaret Suydam in 1938. He died on 6 October 2001, at age 89 in [[Raleigh, North Carolina]].<ref>[http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1823/18230810.htm OBITUARY – A built legacy – Joseph Allen Stein, 1912–2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050818044450/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1823/18230810.htm |date=18 August 2005 }} ''[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]], [[The Hindu]]'', Volume 18 – Issue 23, 10–23 Nov 2001.</ref> He is survived by their sons David and Ethan.

==Selected projects==
[[File:IIM Kozhikode Aerial View s.jpg|alt=|thumb|210x210px|[[Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode]], the fifth IIM to be established in the prestigious IIM family, started construction of hill top campus in 2001 and was completed by 2003. ]]

* 1940: "One Family Defense House" (with [[Gregory Ain]]), unbuilt<ref>{{Citation
| title = One Family Defense House Project, Designed by Gregory Ain
| journal = Architectural Forum
| volume = 73
| date = November 1940}}</ref>
* 1940: "Low-Cost House", unbuilt<ref>{{Citation
| title = Low-Cost House
| journal = Architectural Forum
| volume = 73
| date = October 1940}}</ref>
* 1947: Ladera Cooperative (with John Funk; landscape architect: [[Garrett Eckbo]]), Palo Alto, California
* 1955: Planning of [[Durgapur]], West Bengal, India along with [[Benjamin Polk]].
* 1968: Indian [[Express Towers]], [[Nariman Point]], [[Mumbai]],<ref>[http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060519/asp/propertt/story_6242627.asp among the first skyscrapers to be constructed in India..] ''[[The Telegraph (Kolkata)|The Telegraph]]'', 19 May 2006.</ref> relandscaping of [[Lodhi Gardens]], along with [[Garrett Eckbo]].<ref>''Eicher: City Guide – Delhi'', Eicher [[Goodearth Publications]]. 1998. {{ISBN|81-900601-2-0}}. ''Page 117''.</ref>
* Several buildings in Lodi Estate, New Delhi, including the headquarters of the [[Ford Foundation]], [[Unicef]] and the [[World Wide Fund for Nature]], a conference centre called the [[India International Center]] (1959–62), and the [[India Habitat Center]] for housing and environmental studies.
* [[Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode]] campus, [[Kerala]], India.
* [[Triveni Kala Sangam]] Arts centre, New Delhi, India.
* Several factories with roofs inspired by the domes used in traditional Indian architecture
* Kashmir Conference Center, India.
* 1962 – General Education Centre, now Cultural Education Centre for Performing Arts [[Kennedy House Complex]] of [[Aligarh Muslim University]], India. www.cecamu.in
* Four factories for Escorts Ltd., Faridabad, India
* American Embassy School, New Delhi, India.
* Delhi Public School, Gurgaon (now Gurugram)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Notes==
*{{Citation
| last = White
| first = Stephen
| title = Building in the Garden: The Architecture of Joseph Allen Stein in India and California
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| year = 1993
| isbn = 0-19-562924-8}}
* ''The architecture of Joseph Allen Stein in India and California'', by Stephen White, Oxford University Press, 1993.
* '' The responsibility for environment: First address, 9 October 1962'', by Joseph Allen Stein. University of California, College of Environmental Design, 1962.

==External links==
* [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/185451132.cms Stein’s gone but his works live on] at ''[[Times of India]]''.

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Science & Engineering}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Joseph Allen}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:University of Illinois alumni]]
[[Category:Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering]]
[[Category:20th-century American architects]]
[[Category:American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts]]
[[Category:American emigrants to India]]
[[Category:Modernist architects]]
[[Category:Architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:People from the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:American architecture writers]]
[[Category:American male artists of Indian descent]]
[[Category:American male artists]]
[[Category:Architects from Nebraska]]

Joseph Allen Stein - Revision history

>Ira Leviton at 19:04, 25 January 2021