Exhibition Pavilions

AAJ was pre-eminent in exhibition pavilion design.  Its pavilions were structural innovations and famous for their interiors and lighting.  Each year they designed an exhibition pavilion at Pragati Maidan for the Trade Fair and inevitably won the first prize. 

There was often a sculptural quality to individual elements in the pavilions. Professor Jhabvala and Mr. Anand were keen to promote the works of local artists as can be seen in the murals and sculptures.

Their pavilions attracted the largest crowds and won awards and laurels, year after year.  A large figure of Vishnu reclining amidst a splendid display of mine and mineral products was an example of a whole new world of visual wonders conjured up in a matter of weeks. Mihir Bhatt, an architect at AAJ, remembered that Professor Jhabvala designed with his audience in mind. Professor Jhabvala would say, “Don’t see it as an architect or designer, see how somebody who walks in would like to see the exhibition.”

Another year the theme was spacecraft and robots.  Visitors thronged again and again, drawn by the familiar, but discovering something new with each visit. 

They built pavilions for industries such as Godrej and Hindustan Steel, for Handloom House, and the state-owned Mines and Minerals Trading Corporation (MMTC) and State Trading Corporation (STC). For thirty years, their pavilions were part of international exhibitions from Moscow and Prague to Japan and Singapore.