Asha Baste was born in 1947 in Pune. She began her architectural education at Sir J.J. College of Architecture in Mumbai in 1963. Having shifted to New York the same year, she joined the Pratt Institute and completed her training with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Pratt Institute in 1969. Her early professional years were shaped by a diverse set of experiences in New York, where she worked with Albin Associates, Armand Bartos, and the renowned firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Upon returning to India, she worked with CIDCO on developing house types for the New Bombay project. In 1973, she joined Chapman Taylor Partners in London before returning to Mumbai.
Prabhakar Baste was born in 1941 in Ratnagiri and enrolled at Sir J.J. College of Architecture in 1959. In 1960, he moved to London, where he worked with TP Bennett and Sons and completed his RIBA Intermediate submissions externally in 1963. He continued his professional journey in London until 1969, primarily with Llewellyn Davies Weeks on hospital planning projects. Upon returning to India, he briefly collaborated with Pheroz Kundainawala & Associates and CIDCO on the Bombay Housing project. He settled in Mumbai in 1973.
In 1976, Asha and Prabhakar Baste founded their joint practice, A. & P. Baste, Architects. Over the years, their work spanned a wide spectrum of projects ranging from furniture and residential design to hotels, office buildings, and township master plans. Many of the projects they carried out were on the Design and Build method. Despite this variety, housing remained a central issue throughout their career. Their involvement in the reconstruction of Morvi village in Gujarat after it was devastated by floods in 1979 exemplifies their commitment to socially responsive design.
Alongside their practice, both Asha and Prabhakar were involved in architectural education. They served in teaching roles at Sir J.J. College of Architecture. After relocating to Pune from Mumbai in 2002, Asha continued her academic involvement through associations with MMCA, Pune.
Their work and writings have been recognised and published in The Times of India as well as leading architecture and design journals, including Inside Outside and Indian Architect and Builder.
Prabhakar and Asha Baste made significant contributions to housing design through a thoughtful and contextually responsive architectural practice. Following Prabhakar Baste’s passing in 2014, Asha Baste has continued to reinterpret the principles that underpinned their joint work through pottery and writing. She has published a book on pottery and adhyatm, Between Mud and Moksha, in English and Marathi. Their influence in housing design was further documented in the book Sheltering Angle: Grammar for House Planning with Hand-Drawn Architectural Drawings, published by the Council of Architecture in 2022. Both copies of the book can be obtained by writing to email hidden; JavaScript is required
