The Hindu Business Line : With real estate booming, foreign architects in demand

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With real estate booming, foreign architects in demand

Going global
‘The practise of engaging foreign architecture firms started first in the hotel industry.’
Companies engage foreign architects mostly for the concept design.
When it comes to the design development, construction documentation, companies go in for local architects.

R. Balaji
N. Ramakrishnan

Chennai, Oct. 28 It is a bumpy road as you turn off the Old Mahabalipuram Road at Siruseri to the information technology park promoted by a Tamil Nadu Government agency. There is heavy movement of trucks inside the park, raising a lot of dust.

A short drive, and you reach a campus where hectic construction activity is on — it is an IT park being built by Tata Consultancy Services. The buildings under construction, one of which is nearing completion, look different. The gigantic steel roof gives it the appearance of a bird all set to soar into the skies!

A board at the entrance gives you the name of the architect — Carlos Ott in association with Carlos Ponce de Leon, of Uruguay. The local architect is C.R. Narayana Rao, an architecture firm in Chennai.

Foreign firms

A short distance from TCS’ IT special economic zone, construction is on at another SEZ, this one for Hexaware Technologies. The master planner and concept designer is Architects Team 3 Pte Singapore, interior designer is Steven Leach + Associates Pvt Ltd, also of Singapore, and landscape consultant PDAA Design Pte Ltd, again from Singapore. TCS has engaged a Swiss architect for its Hyderabad centre and an American for its Mumbai centre.

The practise of engaging foreign architecture firms started first in the hotel industry, says Mr C.N. Raghavendran, Partner, C.R. Narayana Rao, a Chennai-based architecture firm with over six decades in the business. When leading global hotel brands wanted to establish properties in India, they preferred to work with the three or four architects they had worked with before. For them, they needed the global branding and signature to be carried over to the Indian property. For good measure, they added some local flavour.

Mr Raghavendran’s firm has been working with some leading global architects, including Nikken Sekkei, a Japanese firm, and a handful from Singapore and Malaysia. C.R. Narayana Rao is working with Nikken Sekkei for Infosys Technologies’ development centre at the Mahindra World City, an SEZ at Maraimalai Nagar, on the southern outskirts of Chennai.

Large scale projects

According to him, Indian architects have the capability to come up with unique designs, but it all depends on how well the client communicates its wishes.

Companies engage foreign architects mostly for the concept design. But, when it comes to the design development and construction documentation, the companies go in for local architects, mainly because of costs. Mr J. Subrahmanian, Executive Director, DLF Commercial Developers Ltd, says international architects may do the initial design but their Indian counterparts have to implement it.

Apart from a unique design, foreign architects also bring with them the experience of working in large projects, something Indian architects do not have much experience in. Take for example TCS’s development centre in Siruseri. The first phase will be spread over 2.5 million sq ft and when fully built, the facility will cover close to 5 million sq ft.

The basement alone will be spread over 1.3 million sq ft. In comparison, the Tidel Park in Chennai, an IT park promoted by the State that was inaugurated in 2000, has a built up area of about 1.1 million sq ft.

Apart from the 12 buildings built around a spine, the TCS campus will have a 130-m tall tower that will house the corporate office and will be used for meetings with important clients.

Learning experience

There are a number of aspects that Indian architects could learn from their foreign counterparts, says Mr Raghavendran. For instance, foreign architects are focussed, systematic and plan their work thoroughly. They are also clear about how the design effort is organised and the imponderables are all removed and the project researched thoroughly.

Foreign architects are able to bring in the latest in design, traffic flow planning and landscaping for large township size projects. Besides, says Mr Kamal Lunawath, Managing Director, Arihant Foundations, architects from Singapore or Hong Kong, where space is at a premium, are able to design homes that use space efficiently to offer comfort in small apartments. This gives the product an edge in marketing.

Developers say more Indians are travelling abroad and are aware of new concepts and designs. When these are introduced in the domestic market the product will stand out.

In a commercial building, says Mr Ashish Puravankara, Director, Puravankara Projects Ltd, the façade and elevation aesthetics are important while the interiors need to be flexible for the clients to finish it to their own needs. In a residential project, apart from the exterior, interiors also need to be looked into.

The customer may not recognise a foreign architect but the utility in design will be the selling feature. Puravankara works with Singapore architects and is in discussions with those in the US and UK.

Indian architects though are not complaining, nor do they feel threatened. With the construction boom, they feel that there is enough room for everyone. They can also learn the best global practices and it is only a matter of time before Indian architects are in demand all over, say some.

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