SGA underwent a stringent selection process for need based expansion to the Centre: a building that has attained the status of a heritage structure for the city of Delhi. Joseph Stein’s architecture of the sixties has a timeless quality that seeks to find a sense of place through built volumes that are more gestures in the landscape than buildings. To add to a structure so etched in the collective consciousness of people without mimicking it was the biggest challenge for the office. Our response was to use the material technology of the existing but deviate from the linear arrangement of the Guest Room block and the Fellows Flats. The 300 person multipurpose hall, along with flexible conference rooms, a basement office space and a second floor gallery space creates a knot at the end of the line in the north east corner of the site. The new Kamala Devi Chattopadhyaya block brings a very useful addition to the growing needs of the Centre.