Snehal Shah combines his architectural practice with teaching, research and other cultural activities that promote architectural knowledge and thinking. Since 1987, Shah has taught design and history at CEPT University, and has made space within the office premises to host lectures and exhibitions on a regular basis. He has published extensively on architectural history and theory and has been invited for juries and lectures by universities in India and abroad.
Akshara
Akshara is a venture that was first conceptualized in 1980 by a few students at CEPT University, School of Architecture, with the aim to pursue cultural objectives. Once the students graduated, the organization dissolved. In 1998, Shah decided to revive it and adopted the same name to retain the spirit of what they had begun as students, in order to promote architectural and cultural education. Akshara hosts lectures and exhibitions (they are open to all) and publishes books and catalogues.
AKSHARA GRANT
Akshara announces two annual grants of 30,000.00 INR each for the study of Indian Temple Architecture of Ancient and Medieval times. The grant has been established to encourage and promote students and young architects to undertake research / documentation of Indian temple architecture with the aim of furthering an understanding of the context from within which the architecture emerged.
This grant is open to all Indian students of architecture and architects under the age of 30years. For enquires regarding the grant and applications please send us an email at
info@aksharaservices.com and admin@snehalshaharchitect.com
ADVISORS & ASSOCIATES
- (Late) M. A. Dhaky
- (Late) Anant Raje
- B.V. Doshi
- Prof. Abhinandan K. Jain
- Prof. M. N. Vora
- George Michell
- John Fritz
- Richard Blurton
- Haig Beck
- Jackie Cooper
- John Gollings
- Enrico Cano
- Amit Pasricha
- Rajmohan Shetty
- Uttara Chauhan
- Jaimini Mehta
Lectures at SSA
This is a list of lectures that have been held at the office. They are held to encourage a wider awareness in architecture and related fields and are attended by students as well as architects and others. The office is proud to host such activities which are open to all and in the spirit of enquiry.
Selected Publications
BOOKS
Selected Publications
BOOKS
SELECTED ARTICLES
Shah Snehal, 'Neglected monuments: First Jama Masjid of Ahmedabad',
Times of India, Ahmedabad, 10 October 1988
Shah Snehal, 'Neglected Monuments: Haibat Khan's Mosque',
Times of India, Ahmedabad, 17 October 1988
Shah Snehal, 'Neglected Monuments: Magnificent Jami Mosque',
Times of India, Ahmedabad, 24 October 1988
Shah Snehal, 'Neglected Monuments: Glimpses of a Visionary',
Times of India, Ahmedabad, 31 October 1988
Shah Snehal, 'Neglected Monuments: A Peep into 19thcentury Architecture',
Times of India, Ahmedabad, 7 November 1988
Shah Snehal, 'When Architecture Attained its Apogee in Gujarat',
Times of India, Ahmedabad, 21 November 1988
Shah Snehal, 'Neglected Monuments: Shakar Khan's Mosque',
Times of India, Ahmedabad, 28 November 1988
Shah Snehal, 'Neglected Monuments: Remarkable Hydraulic Structures',
Times of India, Ahmedabad, 13 December 1988
Shah Snehal, 'Neglected Monuments: Imposing Islamic Buildings',
Times of India, Ahmedabad, 19 December 1988
Snehal Shah wrote several articles during the 2001 communal riots in Gujarat and especially in Ahmedabad.
Shah Snehal,'Architecture in Conflict', The Hindu, India, 24 March 2002
Shah Snehal,'The Role of Architecture in Conflict', The Tribune, India, 24 March 2002
Shah Snehal,'The Water Structures of Gujarat: An Examination of 19th and 20th century Historiography', Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Centre, Environmental Design AARP, Italy, 25 November 1985
Shah Snehal,'Vijaynagara: City and Empire. New currents of research',
Heidelburg, Germany, July 1985
Shah Snehal,'Water Structures in Western- Indian Vastusastra',
Heidelburg, Germany, 1 July 1989
Shah Snehal, 'Ahmedabad', Volume IV, The Oberoi Magazine,
Mumbai, 1995-96
Shah Snehal,'Vijaynagara History, Art and Architecture',
INTACH Incredible India, UNESCO, New Delhi, 2010
Shah Snehal, ed, Anna Libra Dallapiccola, Introduction to 'A Vijayanagara Portfolio', Vijayanagara: City and Empire New Currents of Research, Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GMBH, London, 1985
Shah Snehal, ed, Anna Libera Dallapiccola, Water Structures in Western Indian Vastushastra, Shastric Traditions In Indian Arts, Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GMBH, Vol 1, London, 1989
Shah Snehal, review of Stones of Empire: the Building of the Raj by Jan Morris with Simon Winchester, New York, Oxford University Press, 1983, published in Journal of Society of Architectural Historians, JSAH, XLVI:1, March 1987
Shah Snehal, 'Hindu History Show', Building Design, photography exhibition, UK, 3 September 1982
Alberti; Art Nouveau; Charles Rennie Mackintosh; Frank Lloyd Wright; Gerrit Thomas Rietveld; Haseki Hurrem Sultan Hamam, Istanbul; Henri Labrouste; Josef Hoffmann; Claude Nicolas Ledoux; Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe; Mannerism; Jules Hardouin Mansart; Masjid al- Haram Mecca; Mausoleum of Sultan Qaitbay, Medinet Habu, Egypt; Module; Ramlingeshwar Temple, Anantpur; Revivalism; Library Sainte-Genevieve; San Vitale, Ravenna; Santa Maria del Fiore; Santa Carlo alle Quattro Fontane; Shah Mosque, Isfahan; Sir Edwin Lutyens; Jacques Germain Soufflot; Suleiman Mosque, Istanbul; The Mosque of Sultan Hassan; Villa Farnese, Caprarola; Villa Hadriana, Tivoli; Villa Rotunda, Vicenza; Villa Savoye, Poissy; CFA Voysey; Waygu Memorial, Ise; William Morris
Snehal Shah wrote entries for architecture and arts related subjects for the Gujarati Encyclopedia, Gujarat Vishwakosh, Ahmedabad, 2000 onwards: