Joseph Allen Stein

Joseph Stein (10 April 1912 – 6 October 2001) was an American architect and a major figure in the establishment of a regional modern architecture in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1940s and 1950s during the early days of the environmental design movement. In 1952, he moved to India and in 1955 was tasked with the planning of Durgapur in West Bengal, India along with Benjamin Polk. He was commissioned with this task in order to facilitate the establishment of Durgapur Steel Plant later on in 1959 followed by the Durgapur Steel City and Township. He is noted for designing several important buildings in India, most notably in Lodi Estate in Central Delhi, nicknamed "Steinabad" after him, and where today the 'Joseph Stein Lane', is the only road in Delhi named after an architect. He is also famous for being the architect of the scenic Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode's campus. His work in both countries were inflected by socialist principles, modern aesthetics, and environmental consciousness. The most active years of his career are marked by the beginning of World War II and the rise of post-Independence India, a political period characterised by technological development world over and reflected in his modernist architecture. In 1992, the Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri. His works become relevant in a moment of environmental crisis where the need for sustainable and humane architecture is freshly felt.