ABSTRACT
Perin Jamshetji Mistri and Pravina Mehta, the first women
educated as architects in India, came of age during the 1930s
and 1940s. Hema Sankalia and Smita J. Baxi matured during the
following two decades. All four studied at Sir J. J. in Bombay,
the first women to enroll in South Asia’s first school of
architecture. Mehta and Baxi continued their education with
advanced studies abroad. Mistri, Mehta, and Sankalia all
chose to work in Bombay, the city where they had grown up
and then studied architecture. Baxi was on the only one to
leave Bombay for Delhi where she struggled to pursue her
dream of working for the new Indian government. The others
all entered into private practice. While Mistri worked in her
father’s Bombay office, Mehta and Sankalia struck out on their
own. Practicing together for a while, they formed the first
all-woman office in India. Baxi was the only one to leave not to
have a practice.
