Home / PEOPLE / Business / 'We don't build to show-off'

Architect Hafeez Contractor

In this roller coaster ride of an interview, Architect Hafeez Contractor tells Niranjan Mudholkar that high-rises are not about showing off, they are a necessity for rapidly growing Indian cities.

There are architects and designers and then there is Hafeez Contractor. Famed for his vehement advocacy of concentrated vertical development, the man is surprisingly easy to describe. ‘A simple man who will do what is appropriate for the situation’ - to use his own words. The man for high-rises is known in the industry to rise high to situations with his honesty, practical approach and passion for work.

The present interview is no exception. This is one architect who appreciates projects for their detailing and also for being great works of art. But very importantly, he is someone who also praises projects for their social impact. That is where you see his urban vision; that is where you see why he wants Indian cities to build more tall structures.

You have been working on tall structures in India (and away) for many years now. In fact, you are a strong advocate of concentrated vertical development in Indian cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and even Ahmedabad. Given the state of urban infrastructure in our country today, how do you explain the feasibility of tall structures?

This is a very important question and what one has to realise is that we have a huge population that has to be housed and fed. You also need to realise that we have limited agricultural land in this country. Land is one component that you cannot produce. So concentrated development is much more advisable than a spread out development. When we have a spread out development with less FSI, the infrastructure cost is not recovered.

That is why all the new areas developed in our cities do not have proper roads or other infrastructure and utilities like drainage, electricity, etc. The reason is that this development is marked out on the periphery of our towns and is given lesser FSI. Infrastructure comes out from the initial cost of land and from the taxes that will be paid. It becomes very difficult to bring out the infrastructure cost from such development unless you have a rich society with bungalow schemes. However, that is not the case with our peripheral development where 90% of the people belong to the lower strata of the economy. So the infrastructure cost will come out only if you make this peripheral development dense.

Story continues below

Advertisement

COMMENT   While utilizing the maximum space possible in limited land resources, we can still construct Green Buildings that are ba   2 Comments Read more comments »

You need to think about the environment. You cannot just keep gobbling up land and make cities larger and larger and larger. Take the example of Ahmedabad. It has been adding several square kilometres to its area and has been growing horizontally like never before. Every few years, you have another ring road appearing around it. All the farmland that once surrounded Ahmedabad has been eaten up. That is true in most of our cities.

The reason is that you are giving just 1 or 1.5 FSI in all the cities without realising that 70% of our population is now going to live in the cities. Our government has not risen to that number. I have devised a new theory for urban development called the ‘Meru Aadhar’ theory. As per this theory - leave the inner core of your city intact and have intense development in the rings around the core. Unfortunately, the government is doing the exact opposite of this.

Take the example of the city of Pune. By giving less FSI on the periphery, the government has not solved any problem related to urban growth. It has actually replicated the problems on a larger scale. There are several reasons. First of all, you do not have the foresight; ninety percent of the government people do not have the data; and our political system is financed mostly by real estate. Or you could say that it is basically financed by real estate.

Create scarcity and everyone is going to come to you with folded hands for permissions and approvals. We cannot keep on gobbling up our precious farmland. We are not like Dubai. I am not saying you make high-rises to show that I am bigger than you. In India, it is a necessity.