Architecture is among the most valuable and respected careers in India. We’ve all heard stories about the great architectural designs, but behind these huge and artistic designs is the workmanship and crafted skills of amazing architects who are not appreciated enough. Architectural studies in India, typically takes 5 years for a bachelor degree and then a year of practicing as an intern in an architectural firm before starting to work as a full-time professional architect. All these years of hard work and dedication must be praised and recognized.
Indian architects have a rich legacy in various historical monuments, palaces, mosques, temples, building and even the simplest of mud houses. Many modern architects have developed their historical and cultural architectural influences by bringing forth a contemporary-styled India, The Lotus Temple in Delhi and The Light Box Restroom in Mumbai are two of the contemporary architecture examples among so many others.
Moreover, Indian architectures are slowly making way for a more modern, creative and eco-friendly structures with their modernized architectural plans designed for sustainability. The creation of contemporary India through architecture is one of the main reasons which has sparked interest in many young students to pursue studies in architecture and building designs.
Architects are important because they envision our dream houses through their artistic minds and make it come true in the most perfect form. Which fulfils our desire for living in our dream houses and gives the architect’s creative satisfaction. There are several architectural firms which will fulfil our needs and construction-related demands by providing carefully drafted plans and ideas. One such firm in Bangalore is the A4D firm, which simplifies the client’s demands by providing them with smart solutions.
A lot of devotion goes into becoming an architect and we must give our Indian architects the honour and glorification they truly deserve. And that’s why below is a list mentioning the most notable Indian architects of all time.
1. Achyut Puroshottam Kanvind
The recipient of Padma Shri in 1974 for his contribution in the Science and Engineering field, Kanvind specialised in the Brutalist or Brutalism architecture style. He completed his architecture studies from Sir J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai in 1942, he later went to the U.S. for further studies.
He has carried out several major construction design projects such as the ISKCON Temple in New Delhi and the Dudhsagar Dairy Complex which is the largest milk processing unit in Gujarat.
2. B. V. Doshi
He is considered as the most important and the most influential architects of India and is responsible for the progression of Indian architecture. Doshi has won several awards for his professional contributions such as the Padma Shri in 1976 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2018.
Doshi is recognised for his unique architectural designs for several buildings such as the campuses of NIFT in Delhi and IIM Bangalore and Udaipur.
3. Nariman Gandhi
Studied from the same school of architecture as Achyut Kavind, Gandhi is considered a legend for his unconventional architectural creations which specialised in organic architecture. His ideologies and philosophies deviated from the mainstream architectural thought.
Nariman is notable for making exceptional use of rock, brick, wood, glass and leather in his works, for instance, the famous Dawood Shoe House in Mumbai.
4. Hafeez Contractor
The man responsible for the three tallest buildings in India, The 42 in Kolkata and The Imperial twin-towers of Mumbai, Hafeez Contractor is also a recipient of the 2016 Padma Bhushan. He completed his master’s degree in Columbia after winning a scholarship for Columbia University and later designed several skyscrapers in India.
5. Bijoy Jain
After working in Los Angeles and London, Bijoy Jain came to Mumbai and opened his architectural firm, Studio Mumbai. He also received the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2009 and is a Professor of architecture at Yale University.
6. Urmila Eulie Chowdhury
A pioneer women architect who worked during the mid-to-late 20th century, Urmila is also an exceptional academist. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Sydney and a degree in Ceramics from the city Englewood in New Jersey among many other certificates.
Urmila joined the team supervised by the famous Swiss-French architecture and designer, Le Corbusier, for designing the construction of Chandigarh, after her return to India in 1951. She has worked along with Pierre Jeanneret, another renowned Swiss architect, on several projects concerning the designing of certain educational institutions in Chandigarh.
In addition to her contribution towards architecture and designing, she has also written a book, titled Those Were The Days.
7. Brinda Somaya
An architect and a conservationist, Brinda has won several awards and is considered a legend in the architecture field. Among the many awards, she won the Wienerberger Golden Architect Award for lifetime achievement in 2007 and was the first woman to be awarded that and also the 2004 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage award for the restoring the St. Thomas’ Cathedral in Mumbai.
She completed her Master of Arts degree from Smith College in the USA and her notable projects include, Rajabai Clock Tower and Library Building in Mumbai and the Goa Institute of Management.
8. Sheila Sri Prakash
This amazing woman is considered as the first-ever Indian lady to start her own architectural firm in India. Sheila is the founder of Shilpa Architects and completed her architecture studies in 1973 from the Anna University School of Architecture and Planning in Chennai.
During her time, women entering the architecture field was looked down upon but she broke all the barriers and won several honours such as the Sustainability Champion of the Year award in 2019 which is UN’s highest environmental honour.
9. Anupama Kundoo
Anupama is an environmentalist, and she projects that into her architecture works. She received her doctorate degree in 2008 from the Technical University of Berlin.
Anupama believes and works towards designing buildings by making use of local communities and utilising waste materials to minimise adverse environmental effects. In 1990 she established herself as an architect in the Tamil Nadu Township, Auroville where she designed several buildings with energy and water-efficient infrastructure and her own residence the famous L-Shaped house, the Wall House.
10. Chitra Vishwanath
The Principal Architect and MD of Biome Environment Solutions, this Bangalore based architecture is a conservationist whose works are based on ecology. Chitra is recognised for over 500 projects, she also built her own mud house in Bangalore which includes unique features such as rain-water harvesting well and is ventilated naturally with the help of trees.
These were the 10 most successful and famous Indian architects among so many others who are still establishing themselves in this profitable field.
