Abstract

This paper analyzes the introduction of European prefabrication building systems in India in the years immediately after independence from Britain in 1947, through the lens of two episodes. In each case, the analysis challenges the often-perceived notion of the local, in this case Indian, actors in the Global South as mere recipients of superior foreign technologies, positing them instead as critical assessors, evaluators and decision makers. In the first example of UK’s Alcrete House, well known as the reason for German architect Otto Koenigsberger’s infamous departure from India, the paper examines archival materials, discussed here for the first time, to shed light on the role of Indian players who demanded accountability from foreign experts. In the second lesser-known example of the Swiss lightweight concrete building product, Durisol, the analysis highlights the role of local architects like Shaukat Rai, who deployed his own transnational and intranational networks in the product’s bid to enter the Indian construction market in the early 1950s.

摘要

本文通过两个事件的镜头，分析了 1947 年从英国独立后的几年中，欧洲预制建筑系统在印度的引入。在每种情况下，分析都挑战了人们通常认为的全球南方的当地人（在本例中是印度人）仅是先进外国技术的接受者的观念，将他们定位为关键的评估者、评价者和决策者。在英国的阿尔克雷特大厦的第一个例子中，众所周知，德国建筑师奥托·科尼格斯伯格臭名昭著地离开印度的原因，本文检查了档案材料，这是第一次在这里讨论，以阐明要求印度问责的印度参与者的作用。外国专家。在瑞士轻质混凝土建筑产品 Durisol 的第二个鲜为人知的例子中，