Western Railway

Travelling in time

The brief

The Indian Railways has heaps of documentation, archives, and artefacts from its 150+ year history. It also has the privilege of inhabiting and responsibility to maintain some of the most striking architecture from the 19th and 20thcenturies. Western Railway wanted a book that celebrates its heritage architecture by going beyond just documentation, of which they had heaps.

The work

What emerges is a celebration of heritage structures; it is written as a dreamy discovery of these spaces and captures in detail the essence of an elusive style of architectural fusion which is emblematic of the British Raj.

After a brief historical account, the book enters its dream-state, sparing itself the chains of chronology. Composed in the land of Bollywood, the photographs and text comprise a subdued montage of images and anecdotes.

We were conscious that we had to reproduce the brilliance of three dimensional architecture on two dimensional print. The photography always reinforces the angles created by the subject, and the focus is always on the spatial effect the architecture creates.