(b India, 1923). Indian architect, teacher and designer. Chowdhury trained at the University of Sydney, receiving her bachelor of architecture degree in 1947. After a brief period in the USA she returned to India in 1951 to work on Le Corbusier’s plans for Chandigarh, the new capital city of the Punjab. She subsequently held various official positions: Senior Architect for Chandigarh (1951–63); Chief Architect for Chandigarh (1971–76); Chief Architect of Punjab State (1976–81); and Chief Architect of Harayana State (1970–71). From 1963 to 1965 she was Principal of the Delhi School of Architecture and Planning. Chowdhury became a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects and was the first Indian woman elected as a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. After retiring from public service in 1981 she worked in private practice in Chandigarh. Chowdhury designed a wide variety of buildings for government, commercial, and private clients; she was responsible for the second phase of planning at Chandigarh as well as the planning of new townships and she also designed interiors and furniture. Her buildings exemplify Le Corbusier’s modernism. The main block of the Polytechnic for Women (c. 1960), Chandigarh, for example, bears a starkly cubical façade, consisting of a grid of recessed windows. More varied textures are seen on the Hostel Block (c. 1970) for the Home Science College, Chandigarh, where rows of balconies consist of outwardly jutting triangles.