Mahendra Raj, (born 1924) graduated as a civil engineer from the Punjab College of Engineering

and Technology, Lahore, in 1946 after which he joined the Punjab Public Works Departments
Building and Roads wing. In 1952 he was introduced to structural design as an Assistant and later,
as an Executive Engineer working on the buildings of Le Corbusier in Chandigarh, which inspired
him to pursue further studies from the University of Minnesota, USA, in structures in 1956. He
then moved to New York and worked at Ammann & Whitney Consulting Engineers until 1959
where he was associated with several innovative structures such as the Illinois Field House,
Mohawk Airlines hangar, the Swissair hangar in New York and the US Embassy in Dublin. He also
won the Boese Fellowship at Columbia University New York, where he earned a Civil Engineering
degree in 1959.

Raj returned to India and set up a consultancy in Bombay in 1960. A decade later he shifted his
practice to Delhi. He has to his design credit a number of large span structures when built, were the
largest of their kind in the country and some times one of their kind globally. He also designed the
first high-rise in India (Usha Kiran in Bombay). He has worked with some of the leading architects
of the world and of India such as Le Corbusier, Minoru Yamasaki, Louis Kahn, AP Kanvinde,
Charles Correa, BV Doshi, JA Stein, Shiv Nath Prasad and Raj Rewal.

During the course of his professional career he has won many awards and honours. The Institution
of Engineers (India) presented him with the Architectural Engineering Design Award in 1990; the
Association of Consulting Civil Engineers presented him with the ACCE GOURAV Award in
1991; and in 1996 he was the first engineer to be awarded The Chairmans Award 1995 instituted
by JK Cement Works for the Architect of the Year, Kanpur. Over the last two decades he has
received Lifetime Achievement Awards and Scrolls of Honour by the Indian Concrete Institute
(2001), the Institution of Engineers (India) (2001), the Consulting Engineers Association of India
(2009) and the Institute for Steel Development & Growth (2014). The Structural Engineers World
Congress-India honoured him with the Sundaram Medal in 2013. In service to his profession, Raj
has led the Indian Concrete Institute, the Association of Consulting Engineers India (ACEI) and the
Indian Association of Structural Engineers as their President. As Vice Chairman he has served the
Consultancy Development Centre and is currently serving the Engineering Council of India in
addition to membership and advisory roles at several important government and non-government
committees. Through these positions he has worked for the cause of consultancy and the framing of
a proposed constitutional Engineers Bill in India.

The Structure: Works of Mahendra Raj is a 400 plus page book that unravels the oeuvre of
Mahendra Rajs sixty prolific years of practice as a structural engineer. His unusually inventive and
intuitive work reveals bold and pioneering engineering solutions for buildings in exposed concrete
over the years. Most of his structures are now artefacts that narrate the energetic period of nation
building in post-independent India. Some of Rajs buildings are unique, one of their kind, in India
and the world, for instance, the Hall of Nations and Industries with their large-span space frame in
cast-in-situ concrete, the Hindon River Mills, with bowstring arches in concrete spanning 48m. His
practice also boasts of heroic structures built in the 60s and 70s such as the large folded-plate
cantilevered structure in concrete for the Municipal Stadium, Ahmedabad, the folded-plate frame
for Tagore Hall, the 26-storey high-rise of Usha Kiran, the transfer girders that helped realise the
architects needs for the Great Insurance Building and Akbar Hotelall of them being first their
kind in India. The 80s saw further innovative and pioneering structures to help architects achieve
their intended forms such as the zig-zag columns stabilised by corridors as structural elements
(NCDC Office), and the use of vierendeel trusses (STC Offices) to create cantilevered large-span
cascading forms. The book presents 28 structures, explored through a rich collection of archival
drawings, calculations and photographs. The book is edited by Vandini Mehta, Rohit Raj
Mehndiratta and Ariel Huber with contributions from architects, engineers and academicians from
around the world. Working with Mahendra Raj during 1965-70 gave me an opportunity to take a
close of look at some of the structures designed by him few years earlier. His ability in conceiving
structures that were both slender and elegant was truly remarkable. Meticulous detailing
connections between structural members was indeed a very important and a crucial aspect of his
designs. It was only natural that he continued to stand tall like a colossus working in close
collaboration with the most renowned Indian architects who were endeared by his sensitivity,
creativity and sincerity in creating a beautiful built environment

V V Nori, 2015

We often forget that beautiful graceful ladies cannot exist without finely crafted skeletons. The
transform buildings into great architecture, the architect should not only look at the surface, skin
and form but also its structure which needs sensitive engineering. Luckily for me, Raj is such an
engineer who discovered the right systems and this book show casting his work represents such
various creativity

B V Doshi, 2015

Mahendra Raj has carried the whole modern Indian architecture on his shoulders. My interaction
with him was like a jugalbandi that has helped enhance and execute my visions.

Raj Rewal, 2016

Delightful harmony while sailing through a journey of fruitful collaboration is how I would
describe 50 years of our professional interaction. Mahendra Rajs ability to conceptualize bold
structures with aesthetic sensitivity is truly rare in the world of structural engineering.

His contribution to the evolution of post independence architecture in India is singularly

remarkable

Kuldip Singh, 2016