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| Brand names all: (From left
to right) Hafeez Contractor, Sanjay Puri and Nitin Killawala |
India's ill-fated tryst with socialism
had several undesirable side effects. One such is the number of
ugly buildings that now dot the country's big cities and smaller
towns. "Beautiful architecture has traditionally been India's
forte. Unfortunately, we have moved away from our tradition of
creating beautiful and imaginative structures," says Dulal
Mukherjee of Dulal Mukherjee Associates, a Kolkata-based architecture
firm. But this trend is changing. Greater exposure to the outside
world, more discerning buyers with deep pockets, easy access to
home loans and big ticket projects are once again changing the
character of our cities.
Today, many architects like Charles Correa, Hafeez Contractor,
Nitin Killawala and Mukherjee have become brand names. Their projects
combine aesthetics with functionality and focus on extensive landscaping,
natural lighting and cross ventilation and community and infrastructural
facilities.
Ace architect Hafeez Contractor, who has projects underway all
over the country, was poor at studies and had decided to join
the Indian Army. Had his aunt not torn up his selection letter,
India would have been denied the fabulous residential complexes
he designed in Powai and Thane in Mumbai and DLF City in Gurgaon.
Contractor's signature: to cater to functionality and market requirements.
Sanjay Puri, who started out as Contractor's understudy, branched
out on his own in the early 1990s and today has completed over
300 projects, accounting for over 30 million square feet. His
firm, Sanjay Puri Architects, focusses on retail malls and is
working on 13 such projects across the country. "People used
to talk of minimalism a few years ago. Eventually, everything
began looking the same," he adds. His prized project: Amby
Valley business and leisure centre.
Nitin Killawalla, with over 300 projects under his belt, is
another architect who is redefining India's urban skyline. "I
don't go by fads. To me, functionality is most important. Any
design should be contemporary and user-friendly. At the end of
the day, the consumer should be happy," he says. His great
regret: in Mumbai, one is expected to "follow the rules"
of the game. "It is easier to produce good architecture in
Hyderabad and Bangalore," he feels.
Several foreign architects, too, have entered the Indian market.
The DLF Group has retained US-based architect Jon Adams Jerde
to design its upcoming malls in Noida and Gurgaon. Jerde won world
renown for his work on conserving the Sphinx at Giza in 1990 and
for his innovative designs for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Using an easily assembled "kit" of banners, tenting,
giant canvas stars and light-weight structures reminiscent of
a medieval jousting tournament, Jerde tied together 75 disparate
Olympic sites scattered throughout Los Angeles. He also designed
the Horton Plaza in Los Angeles that revolutionised the concept
of a shopping mall.
"Foreign architects have expertise in advanced construction
technologies, so there is a lot we can learn from them. And it
will be very welcome if global greats like Sir Norman Foster,
Frank Gehry and Richard Meyer design signature buildings for and
in India. But we need to get out of the notion that foreign architects
by definition are great," says Mukherjee.
True. But as numerous contemporary buildings show, Indian architecture
is once again coming into its own.
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