Ar. Hafeez Contractor, dubbed "The man who dr... New york times

salutes
text : : sylvia khan
images | project notes : : architect hafeez contractor
ar. hafeez contractor, dubbed “the man
who draws india” by the new york
times, has unarguably laid his creative
imprint on the landscape and the skyline
of the great cities of our great country.
he has recently been honored with the
prestigious padma bhushan award, by
the government of india
Ar. Contractor started his journey
MARCH - APRIL
in 1968, as an apprentice at Khareghat and
Associates, Mumbai. He completed a graduate
diploma in architecture from Mumbai andwent
on to do a Masters in Architecture from Columbia
University, New York, on a Tata Scholarship. On
his return he set up his architectural practice with
2 associates, in 1982. This practice has grown into
the largest architectural firm in the country, with
a very large number of professionals (architects,
town planners, engineers designers) and with
millions of square feet of built space to its credit,
serving several thousand satisfied clients, many
of who have grown to becoming partners and
long time associates.
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The body of work of Architect Hafeez
Contractor, the firm he leads, is seen in over
120 cities and has shaped and changed the
urban built landscape spanning the gamut
from residential villas, buildings, complexes
and townships to institutional buildings,
hospitals, schools and corporate offices,
buildings and campuses. In addition, the
practice has built several hundred thousand
square feet of retail and recreational
space while imprinting their insignia
on monumental structures like airport
complexes, stadia and metro and train
stations. His client list reads like a ‘Who’s
who’ of the corporate world and includes
partnerships with several leading developers
of the country, creating built structures for
every major corporate and industrial house
of the country.
Ar. Contractor has been invited to
serve on heritage committees such
as the Bombay Heritage Committee
and the New Delhi Lutyens Bungalow
Zone Review Committee and is
currently empaneled with the
housing boards of several Indian
states including Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Rajasthan.
Ar. Hafeez Contractor is
acknowledged to have reinvented the
skyline of the city of Mumbai, and
inspired change across the country.
He has notably given architects an
aesthetic vocabulary to maximize the
useable square footage of residential
built structures, despite the tough
regime of building bye-laws that
make urban development an obstacle
course. He has set the benchmark in
the profession, working extensively
on lakhs of square footage of low cost
housing, in keeping with his dream of
“a home for every Indian”.
He has created projects ranging from
luxury townships, such as those
of DLF, Gurgaon and Hiranandani
Developers, Mumbai to projects
with the smallest budgets.
Ar. Contractor says a home is a very
personal space and disapproves of
inflicting a style palette on a client,
taking pride in creating a range of
styles, suited to the client’s tastes
and preferences, situation, budget
and time constraints. Ar. Contractor
believes that architecture should be
honest and must respond to the spirit
of time characterized by distinct
ideas and divergent preferences.
“Architecture”, he asserts, “should
be based on current demand and it
should be for the people.”
Ar. Contractor has worked extensively
in slum redevelopment, working
with city municipalities to formulate
laws and create an environment of
housing opportunities for the poor.
He balances his championship of
these initiatives with advocacy of
the vertical growth of cities, higher
FSI, judicious land use and the need
for sustainable compact cities to
maintain the harmony between
increasing population and limited
land resources. These beliefs have
translated into some of the tallest
residential buildings in the world
such as 23 Marina in Dubai and one
of the largest integrated operational
business parks in the country, DLF
Cyber City, Gurgaon.
Ar. Contractor is the recipient of
numerous awards and has been
named one of the 50 Most Powerful
Indians by India Today two years
in a row, Top Architect of the Year
several years running, has achieved
numerous “Best Project” awards
across categories from hospitality
to housing and commercial
developments and won widespread
recognition for his valuable
contribution to architecture.He was
conferred the honorary Doctor of
Architecture, Honoris Causa and the
Doctor of Architecture in Housing
(Honoris Causa) by prestigious
Indian universities.
Ar. Contractor has been honored
this year by the Indian government,
with the conferring of the Padma
Bhushan, one of India’s most
prestigious awards. Speaking at a
recent felicitation ceremony, senior
architect Ar. Prem Nath said it well
saying, “This award is an award
for all architecture.” Ar. Contractor
said he is “thrilled, honored and
humbled by this award” and looks
forward to creating a level playing
field for Indian architects of caliber to
participate in shaping the new urban
cityscape, with public monuments
and structures built by local Indian
architects, and such projects
commissioned by the government on
the basis of excellence rather than
the lowest bid.
“Public monuments write
the history of the future
and are commissioned
by the government, our
biggest buyer, for posterity.
The process should be
competitive rather than
tendered, and the projects
given to the best, not the
lowest bid.”
Architect Hafeez Contractor : Selected projects
Characterised by jagged facades and lopsided
fragments, the software development block,
is situated on a tremendously contoured site
in the existing Infosys campus in Mysore. The
design inspiration came from the rugged profile
of the landscape while drawing from the tenets
of origami.
The design of the building progressed from
an almost rectilinear form with a few jagged
edges in the vertical plane, to its present form,
of protruding jagged planes forming abstract
compositions within a fractured geometry. The
5-storey structure houses 2,500 professionals.
The typical open plan interior layout has
rectilinear profiles while featuring skewed
atrium pockets at several edges. The atrium
creates an array of experiences following the
changing form of the outer skin, becoming
more pronounced when the outer skin moves
in more strongly.
The hostel, situated at the Infosys training
hub, follows a hierarchical inclined, angular
design approach; an informal plan that breaks
the rigid monotony associated with such large
developments. The blocks range from 6 to 7
storeys, often on inclined stilts, which give it a
constant transforming architectural experience.
The development collectively includes 7750
rooms with the staircase units emerging
prominently from the overall mass, to create
exciting highlights. The consistent recurrence
of circular fenestration on the facade holds
together the unconventional three-dimensional
angular compositions.
Featured next to the Qutub Minar on the
Delhi Metro Card, to represent Gurgaon,
Pinnacle has already achieved iconic
status. A high-end apartment building,
Pinnacle’s architectural vocabulary is that of
contemporary lines and form, its towering
profile topped with a spire establishing a
distinct presence on the DLF City skyline.
The 2 clusters of the 19-storey residential
complex are set within magnificently
landscaped grounds, located near office,
retail and entertainment developments
close to the DLF Golf and Country Club. The
grounds are characterized by water bodies,
peaceful gardens with sculptural elements
and broad walkways with a clubhouse
situated between the blocks, offering
extensive views of the park. The recreational
facilities in the club include a pool, gym,
tennis courts, a party room and restaurant.
The Infosys Mangalore campus is
characterised by its hilly, rocky terrain
encircled by a lush green valley and
revitalizing views. In the master plan a
loop road was created around the hill,
which feeds all the buildings, ensuring all
blocks the scenic views.
The majestic entrance to the campus sees
buildings vertically angled on stilts on both
sides of the sloping paved path leading to
a gate at the vertex. The campus has three
Software Development Blocks, a Food
court, two Employee Care Centres and an
Education and Research block. Each SDB
and the food court can accommodate 1600
professionals at a time. The food court is
placed on the peak of the hill and has a
slightly curved structure to enable a better
view. The SDBs also atop the hill are large
rectangular blocks, with large vertical
window panels enabling scenic views, and
give the buildings a clean, organised look
suitable for an office block.
MARCH - APRIL
Aralias, an upscale residential development close to the DLF Golf Course,
consists of 3 enormous linear blocks that flank a landscaped garden, with
dramatic effect. The linear residential blocks create a central recreational area
for the complex while offering panoramic views of the landscaped grounds and
the picturesque golf course to all apartments. The pale exterior articulates the
elegance of fragments of glass and the subtle use of materials expresses sleek a
contemporary outlook .
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The 254 residences in the complex, with areas ranging from 5850 sq ft
apartments to 9500 sq ft penthouses enjoy picturesque views of the surrounds,
with tropical flora, tranquil pools, a serene waterfall and a landscape park with
sand pits, splash pools and gazebos.
The structure of this avant garde
corporate office evolved out
of the rectangular plot shape
and the client requirement to
accommodate a large number
(25,000) of employees and their
operations, efficiently. The
three box-like structures form
three wings of the office and
are connected by 70 elevators
and service lifts, 21 escalators,
staircases, footbridges and refuge
terraces used by all the staff.
The 16-storey office has a
built up area of approximately
40,00,000 sq. ft. built around a
majestic, cable-stayed atrium
which is one of the largest in the
country. It has a parking capacity
of over 4000 two wheelers and
1500 cars, making it a selfsufficient corporate office.
High performance glass,
frameless glazing and granite
form the material palette.
The corporate offices of the ONGC
needed to be a contemporary office
building that did not hamper the views
of the majestic Himalayas, in Dehradun
a well-known tourist destination.
This inspired the concept of an office
camouflaged within a hill, creating
the impression that the surroundings
have been lifted and the office building
placed within. The result developed into
a 1.5 acre living green roof thriving with
native flora which would attract a host
of indigenous birds. This grassy meadow
is IGBC LEEDS Platinum rated modern
building with state-of-the-art amenities
yet completely in sync with the local
surroundings.
This 5 acre heavily contoured site has
a built up area of almost 1,50,000
sq. ft spread over five floors as well
as a parking capacity of 200 cars, a
health club and a food court for its
580 employees. The structure has large
light-wells to enable natural light during
the day and radiates green light at night
giving a sense of an illuminated emerald
mound. A helipad on the living roof
adds an element of dynamism to this
iconic structure in the mountains.
As part of Indian government’s initiative
of modernizing and restructuring airport
infrastructure, the commission was to give
the Delhi and Mumbai airport terminals a
long overdue facelift with additions to the
existing space.
One of the most demanding tasks in architecture
is to give new form to what already exists, in this
case, rundown and overused airports that were
to be renovated and expanded while creating a
new image. The motivation for the projects was
derived from the poetic seduction of aeroplanes
with their aura of speed and dynamism, which
was accomplished by using strong sinuous lines
with modern facades crafted out of aluminium
composite panels and glass.
Mumbai Domestic Airport Terminals 1B, 1C,
G.A. 5 star hotel.
The new look for terminals 1B and 1C of the
Mumbai Domestic Airport were designed by
using aluminium composite panels, glass roofs,
and large skylights. Terminal 1C, which was
entirely new, was placed between terminals
1A and 1B, terminal 1B was modernized and
terminal 1A is currently being modernized. A
five star hotel adjacent to T1C is also under
construction as part of the upgradation.
The renovation included creating column free
check-in areas in 1B and 1C (230 m and 275 m in
length and 21m and 22m in width respectively).
Including 81 check-in counters (1B) and a 4000
sq m security hold area with 6 new boarding
bridges and 2 new baggage handling belts in
1C. An extended mezzanine floor of 591 sq. m
oversees the departure lounge of terminal 1C
housing the food courts.
MARCH - APRIL
A connection from T1A to T1C was created
allowing free passenger movement between the
two terminals. Skylight creation involved cutting
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existing reinforced concrete slabs, beams and
columns but permitted natural light into the
spaces creating an energy efficient design. The
area between the entrance canopy and the main
building has an attractively landscaped garden.
With a total built up area of 5,00,000 sq ft spread
over 30 acres, the challenge was to execute
alterations on a fully functional airport.
The General Aviation (G.A.) terminal for chartered
flights was also redesigned and transformed into
a swanky lounge for VIP passengers. The older
shed like structure is now a plush 650 sq. m
private airport with facilities like an immigration
office, customs department, conference room,
pilot briefing area, a bar and a rest room. It’s first
floor houses offices for these chartered flights.
The construction of new luxury five star hotel of
450,000 sq ft. within the airport complex, with
views of the runways, and modernization of
terminal 1A have begun.
Manipal Jaipur is an educational campus set on a site of
35.63 acres. The central design concept was to create a sense
of community based on the concept of the Medieval maze.
Various city patterns of similar density were analyzed and
incorporated such as Venice, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Istanbul,
Jodhpur and Udaipur.
The site is divided into two by a central axis that forms an
avenue of 2.63 acres with a character similar to that of Las
Ramblas, Barcelona. It also provides for open spaces and
following the maze concept, allows for interlocking streets and
courts, narrow skewed views, compact block size, compressed
movements. The site was further raised five floors and central
masses removed from the halves thus created; these served
as central plazas connecting to the main axis. Further open
internal spaces were created in the existing site shaping
breathing spaces and connecting to the central plaza.
The campus consists of staff housing of 10 acres including
homes from single to 3 bedroom formats, a girls hostel housed
within 8.5 acres consisting of 3000 rooms and a boys hostel
housed within 14.5 acres consisting of 5300 rooms, reinforcing
the strong quality of holistic and integrated community
through the architecture.