Context
The National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) was envisioned by the late Dr. Jamshed Bhabha as a bastion to uphold arts and culture in Mumbai and India. The first theater, the TATA Theater, although stated to have conceptual influences from Welton Becket and Phillip Johnson, was essentially designed, detailed, and executed by Rustom Patell of Patell Batliwala & Associates. Patell, a Taliesin fellow and TATA scholar, was at that point in time working on numerous projects for the Bhabha family. The facility thereafter grew to include numerous other theaters, including the Jamshed Bhabha Theater, and a residential tower on a prime sea front property at lands-end in Nariman Point in Mumbai.
Concept
The TATA theater had close coordination with Cyril Harris for acoustic design, which was coordinated and implemented through Patell Batliwala & Associates. The theater essentially utilizes a fan-shaped approach to the volume, and the wall panels and ceiling reveal clear Wrightian influences visible in the work of numerous of his pupils, including RBJ Patell and Nari Gandhi among others. The main stage is somewhat shallow with a particularly lapped and raked ceiling volume.
Team
Rustom Patell – Principal Interior Design + AOR
Patell Batliwala & Associates (Merged with CSA Partners Ltd.)
Conceptual Design – Phillip Johnson
Acoustic Design – Cyril Harris
Project Data
Building type: Cultural-Auditorium
Location: Mumbai, India
Site Area: N/A
Project Area: Part of NCPA Complex
Client: National Center for Performing Arts
Completion Year: 1972
Construction Cost: Withheld at client request