A brief history of masonry shells in India, 1786 to present

This essay presents a history of vaulting in India - from both a methodological and socio-political perspective. Owing to its long history and varied geography, India is home to a great variety of vaulting techniques and modules which have been developed indigenously as well as imported. This study observes that dome and vault building in India, arguably reinforced by the earliest Buddhist mounds, has been practiced across the country for many centuries, achieving its zenith under the Mughals and later the British in their monumental structures. Post-independence period, the use of masonry shells has been adapted at more modest scales in projects ranging from residences to institutions and continues to thrive today through a variety of techniques. Examples highlighted in the essay are the sophisticated double-domed structures constructed by the Mughals in brick and stone, the British architect Herbert Baker's initial reluctance and half-hearted use of tile vaulting for the Parliament buildings had undeniable repercussions, Laurie Baker's prototype with undulating brick vaults for low-cost housing, and Auroville-based Ray Meeker and Anupama Kundoo's bold experiments in firing an entire clay mortar-rich house to create monolithic vaulted structures.