Bombay Imagined

Robert Stephens | Architecture

Mumbai-based architect Robert Stephens will share stories from his recent book Bombay Imagined, and insights from the seven-year-long creative journey.

Beginning in 1670, Bombay Imagined: An Illustrated History of the Unbuilt City tells the story of 200 unrealised urban visions — aspirations of an evolved metropolis boasting everything from humane housing and expanded parks to sanitation systems and more. Ideas that never saw the light of the day are richly illustrated with archival drawings, contemporary speculations, and artistic overlays, illuminating long-lost futures from the city’s never-before-seen past.

Bombay Imagined is a testimony to the audacious dreams of city-lovers, a chronicle of untold narratives across centuries and an insight into the tides that have shaped present-day Mumbai.

After completing his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech in 2007, Robert Stephens left his childhood hometown of Summerville, South Carolina, and moved to Mumbai, India. He joined RMA Architects as an apprentice at the age of 22 and is now a principal at the same firm. In 2016, he founded Urbs Indis, a studio that narrates lesser-known civic histories through the juxtaposition of archival material with contemporary aerial photographs of urban India. His work has been exhibited in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai and Edinburgh, and has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, DOMUS India and Scroll. He currently lives in Mumbai with his wife and son.

This event is in collaboration with AESA, Pune. AESA is the Architects, Engineers and Surveyors Association.