Practice Zoroastrianism Name Hafeez Contractor | ||
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Speech by architect hafeez contractor at constro2012
Hafeez Contractor (born 1950) is an Indian architect. He has designed many skyscrapers in India, primarily in the city of Mumbai. Buildings designed by him include The Imperial in Mumbai, whose twin towers were the two tallest residential buildings in India between 2010 and 2017, and The 42 in Kolkata, which is expected to earn that distinction upon completion in 2018. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in January 2016 by the Government of India.
Contents
- Speech by architect hafeez contractor at constro2012
- Smart cities ep 4 architect hafeez contractor questions government s useless laws
- Early life
- Career
- Architectural Style
- References
Smart cities ep 4 architect hafeez contractor questions government s useless laws
Early life
Hafeez Contractor was born in Mumbai in a Parsi family. He earned his graduate diploma in architecture from the Academy of Architecture at the University of Mumbai in 1975 and won a scholarship to Columbia University, where he completed a master's degree.
Career
Hafeez Contractor started working in 1968 as an apprentice with his uncle T. Khareghat while working toward his architecture degree. In 1977, he became an associate partner in the firm.
In 1991, Contractor was enlisted to add buildings to Infosys' Bangalore campus. He went on to design that firm's first software-development park outside Pune, and its corporate educational facility near Mysore. His most famous project is Hiranandani Gardens, a township in Powai, a suburb of Mumbai. In 2005, Contractor designed the twin-tower residential skyscraper, The Imperial, whose 254 metre-tall Tower I became the tallest residential buildings in India (with Tower II slightly behind) upon completion in 2010 - a distinction it held until it was displaced by One Avighna Park (266 metre) in 2017. Contractor is the architect for The 42 in Kolkata, which is expected to be completed in 2018, but has architecturally topped out at 268m. He also designed 23 Marina in Dubai, which was briefly the world's tallest all-residential building, and currently third behind the nearby Princess Tower and 432 Park Avenue in New York City.
Contractor's other projects include the domestic terminal at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport and the DY Patil Stadium, which serves as the home stadium for both the Mumbai Indians cricket team and Mumbai City FC football team.
Architectural Style
Contractor has referred to the standardized ratings used in Western countries for certifying green buildings as a "joke". In his view, conditions in India require a rating system that takes into account the unique problems faced by that country, such as the loss of farmland.
In a New York Times profile he was described as Bollywood's "Starchitect". The article described Contractor's style as having "no signature, save a penchant for glitz." Contractor said of his own work - "[Y]ou definitely like a woman with lipstick, rouge, eyelashes. So if you make your building more beautiful with some appliqués, there’s nothing wrong."