Architect Murthy carves a niche For PADGRO Consultants..

Quintessential Architect 
Mr. Murthy carves a niche For

PADGRO 
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. Murthys son Mr. Nischal joined the firm after obtaining a Masters 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


More articles on  Our Building & Construction May 2014

* Disaster relief architect’ wins prestigious award

* JCB India takes pride in fulfilling dreams of young Indians

* Quintessential Architect Murthy carves a niche For PADGRO Consultants

* ROLE OF PORT IN INDIAN ECONOMY DREDGING CORPORATION OF INDIA

* Wish Lists Of Home Buyers From the New Government

Our Building & Construction
Block No. 2, Door No. 431, Behind MMM Hospital,
Mogappair East, Chennai, Tamilnadu - 600 037. India.
Ph : +91- 44 - 6454 3377/ 4354 0330

Share:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Blog Archive

Recent Posts

Featured Post

Join us for a FREE Cash Flow Game!

🎲 Join us for a FREE Cash Flow Game! 💰 Ready to level up your financial skills? The Cash Flow Game, created by Robert Kiyosaki (author of ...