India, Dec. 4 -- On a usual weeknight at IF.BE in Ballard Estate, the gallery space felt more like a charged courtroom than a cultural venue. Architects, students, lawyers and curious citizens packed themselves between drawings and renderings, which formed the exhibition of competition entries for the new High Court complex planned in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). The winning scheme by architect Hafeez Contractor shared space with proposals by Abha Narain Lambah Associates, Somaya Sampat, PKDA Architects and Sanjay Puri Architects-an unusually transparent display for a public building in India.

Mustansir Dalvi, architect and professor of architecture at Sir JJ College of Architecture, opened the evening by reminding the room just how rare ...