Professor Adam Hardy is an architect and

architectural historian An architectural historian is a person who studies and writes about the history of architecture, and is regarded as an authority on it. Professional requirements As many architectural historians are employed at universities and other facilities ...

, and Professor of Asian Architecture at the Welsh School of Architecture,

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

. He is Director of PRASADA, a centre bringing together research and practice in South Asian art and architecture. His research is largely in the

history of architecture The history of architecture traces the changes in architecture through various traditions, regions, overarching stylistic trends, and dates. The beginnings of all these traditions is thought to be humans satisfying the very basic need of shelt ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, particularly

Hindu temple architecture Hindu temple architecture as the main form of Hindu architecture has many different styles, though the basic nature of the Hindu temple remains the same, with the essential feature an inner sanctum, the ''Garbhagriha, garbha griha'' or womb-ch ...

, as well as that of Indian

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and Jain temples. Going against a prevailing tendency to focus narrowly, his work has embraced most of the

subcontinent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of A ...

, and a very long time span, while at the same time involving detailed formal analysis. He has tried to bring to light a meaningful way of looking at what at first sight seem bewilderingly complex structures. The work has revealed striking structural homologies between

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and other branches of culture, and shown how, within a number of regional traditions, forms evolve in a characteristic way, notwithstanding conspicuous artistic inventiveness. Drawings have played an important role in his research, not only for explanation but also as a means of analysis. He was educated at the

Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, is a selective boys' grammar school situated in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. As a state school, it does not charge fees for pupils to attend, but they must pass the 11 plus, an exam that some pr ...

(1965–71)Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe: School List for 1970 and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

Roles

* Editor of ''South Asian Studies'' * Director, PRASADA * Principal Investigator, The Indian Temple: Production, Place, Patronage (AHRC project) * Editorial Board member for Context, Abacus, Pakistan Heritage * Advisory Editor to OUP Online Bibliographies, Hinduism module * Council member, British Association for South Asian Studies * Executive Committee member, European Association of South Asian Art and Archaeology * Member of AHRC Peer Review Academy

Books

* ''Theory and Practice of Temple Architecture in Medieval India: Bhoja's Samaranganasutradhara and The Bhojpur Line Drawings'' (New Delhi: Dev Publishers & Distributors and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 2015) * ''The Temple Architecture of India'' (Chichester: Wiley, 2007) * ''The Temple in South Asia'' (ed.)(London: British Academy, 2007) * ''Architectural History and the Studio'', edited with Necdet Teymur (London: Question Press, 1997) * ''Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation: the Karṇāṭa Drāviḍa Tradition, 7th to 13th Centuries'', 1995, Abhinav Publications, New Delhi, , 9788170173120
google books

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Adam Living people British architectural historians British Indologists Academics of Cardiff University People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe 1953 births Historians of Indian art