Quintessential
Architect
Mr. Murthy carves a niche For
PADGRO
Consultants..
Consultants..
An article
from Our Building & Construction May 2014
Indian architecture and
civil engineering, which can be traced back to urban civilization in
Mohenjodaro and Harappa, continued to develop as manifested by temples, palaces and forts
across the Indian subcontinent and neighboring regions. It has been imbued with
various styles of great empires and dynasties through ages.
Indian styles
incorporate design from Hindu temple architecture, Islamic architecture,
western classical architecture to modern and post-modern architecture. Architecture and
civil engineering in our country was known to exist as sthapatyakala meaning
the art of construction.
The diversity of
Indian culture is represented in its architecture. It is a blend of ancient and
varied native traditions, with building types, forms and technologies from West
and Central Asia, as well as Europe. But the twentieth century saw growth of
modern architecture across the world.
Modern architecture
in India evolved during the late seventies and has since flourished, making
design more prominent. Architects gained ground during this period
and were commercially successful owing to many huge projects constructed in
main cities of the country.
In this era, many
architects were the driving force behind implementing modern architecture in
the country. Quintessential
architect and town planner Mr. BS Murthy, the founder of PADGRO Consultants, is one
of the top building designers
from that time. Having gained exposure through assignments with leading
international architects, Murthy set up his own design office in 1977 after
graduating from the School of Architecture and Planning (SAP), University of
Madras (now Anna University) with an undergraduate degree in Architecture and a
Master’s degree in town planning. Since then, he has taken up many reputed
projects across
South and South East
Asia with a large number of clientele from public & private sectors. He has
not stopped and is still running on a hectic schedule.
Hailing from
Ramachandrapuram, Murthy came to Chennai to pursue graduation in architecture.
Ever since, the man behind
several notable projects settled in the metro and grew to be one of the most
reputed architects
in the country.
And there is no doubt
PADGRO has carved a niche for itself in architecture, planning and engineering
in India.
With a track record
of excellence for over 36 years, the company has cultivated a diverse portfolio
that covers the entire gamut of
architectural projects for various sectors including corporate, commercial,
housing, healthcare, IT, institutional,
hospitality, transport, industrial, interior, residences, urban design and
master planning. We also do
special projects like temples and an International Library, after doing
thorough research before implementing ideas into these projects.
PADGRO is a
well-equipped office in Chennai that boasts of state-of-the-art drawing and
design aids; a team of talented
architects, engineers, draughts persons; supported by a panel of eminent
consultants for all allied specialties.
Committed to maintaining the highest degree of professional ethics in all of
the services that it offers, PADGRO
believes that the key to a better environment is good design.
Mr. Murthy’s son Mr. Nischal joined the firm after
obtaining a Master’s
degree in Urban Design from the University of Sydney. With the addition of Mr. Murthy junior to the organization, there is no doubt that the
leading architecture firm will continue to grow for a long time in future.
That said, Murthy has shared valuable information including
his personal profile. Here are the excerpts from the tête-à -tête. His son,
architect and urban designer Mr. Nischal, also joined the discussion.
I came to Chennai from Andhra Pradesh in 1968-69 to study
architecture. Upon completing the course, I joined as site architect at the IIMAhmedabad
campus for the Indian arm of the world renowned US architect Louis Kahn, under
famous Indian architect BV Doshi.
After a two year stint there, I completed masters in town
planning in the next two years. Initially I had the opportunity to move to the
Middle East – Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. But at the same time I won a campus planning for
Siddhartha Engineering College in Vijayawada.
Interestingly, this college was the first fully privately
funded institution in those times when the colleges were mostly
government-aided. This was my first exposure and the maiden project was won
amidst national competition. So I gave up the offer to work abroad after
consulting with my professors and well-wishers and started PADGRO.
Subsequently, I got a few more engineering and medical
colleges including Banaras Hindu University and REC Warangal. Since then,
PADGRO has diversified coverage
to include town planning, urban design, interior design,
quantity surveys, allied engineering services related to comprehensive services
and project advisory, apart from main line of activity – architecture.
PADGRO has multiple noteworthy projects to its credit including
ISRO in Bangalore, interiors for CPCL, SEBI and SPIC, training school for Ashok
Leyland, Panagal Building , TAC Township, HSBC in Vishakpatnam, Kolkata and
Colombo as well as several residential projects for TNHEB. Their design of the
KRISP IT Park in Chennai won them a national award.
The company is also currently designing the Indian continent
at the Global Village in Kuala Lampur and the Centre For E-Governance for KSITM
in Kerala. On coordinated involvement in projects by the firm and its
professionals in contrast to specialisation in every field including their own
field of architecture, Nischal commented that our system is such that there
will be contribution from everybody in every project and specialisation was
deliberately avoided as “we did not want to tie down the creative potential of
our team. We would instead think of incorporating a design idea of a commercial
complex in a residential building and vice versa.; thus making both better”
“A project may be under one
professional but all of us in our office will be involved in that project to
some extent. That’s why we are able to handle diverse portfolio with
varied and challenging international clientele.”
Moreover, by specialisation we lose more than we gain and
this may lead to our forgetting important principles from other types of
buildings. By being a Multi-Speciality firm; we would be able to
liberally switch ideas from one particular structure, say from auditorium, to
residence.
Our strength is our flexibility as a result of our multiple
contributions. Thus we are able to be more innovative in designing. We would be
sticking to this operational structure.
But to a query about the client’s adaptability or / reaction
to this approach, Nischal suggests humility and patience will play a key role
here, admitting that not all the may not be in tandem with architects’ views.
“Sometimes a good idea may surface from the client also. We need to acknowledge
and accept it and in the meantime, we shall have to explain them patiently the
infirmities of their failed ideas.”
Commenting on the prospects of budding architects and pros
and cons for current set of architecture students, Nischal does not find much
difference between his time and now, but believes the courses are
unable to provide individual attention due to larger numbers of students.
He also advises pursuit of profession as a career with
passion and learning bent of mind. “Job oriented attitude does not help here.
Attitude for time-bound job will not suit architects.”
Relating profession with academics, Nischal compares
architecture with medical profession and believes that teachers need to
practice and practitioners need to teach so that they can both train students
better like doctors traveling on both practice and teaching. Concluding the
interaction with the father and son duo only establishes the fact that the
twosome has been passionately pursuing the art of designing and developing
beautiful cities across the country.
For more details
E- mail: bsm@padgro.com
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Building & Construction May 2014
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* Quintessential Architect Murthy carves a
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