Overview : Wockhardt, the German Pharmaceutical giant had proposed to construct its commercial premises on a plot in the newly designed Bandra-Kurla Complex Town Plan. Initially this region was essentially a stretch of marshy and unproductive land. This was now taken over for development by the Government which instituted the Bombay Municipal Regulatory and Development Authority or the BMRDA the apex body concerned with the systematic development of this region. This region served a major boom to the construction industry that was suffering a lengthy inactive phase due to the lack of development land in proper Bombay. Designed by the office where I worked, M/S Pheroze Kudianavala Consultants Architects Engineers Pvt. Ltd. and my department in particular, Pheroze Kudianavala Consulting Architects, PKCA, about two years ago, the general planning consisted of two basements and nine levels including the terrace. The service core (toilets, shafts, Air Handling Rooms) and the entrance lobby (lifts and the staircase) were placed at the short ends of a long rectangular office space. This plan was mirrored about a central imaginary axis passing through the covered driveway below. My Scope of work : I was assigned to handle Wockhardt and MTNL simultaneously. This project was already underway. The building design was already approved by the clients and the regulatory authorities. In fact, the two basements and the ground floor slab had already been casted. The stage was now set to begin the super-structure work and issue the next set of drawings to the contractor in accordance with the design. My contribution to the project remained in the working out of the internal details of the service cores, entrance lobbies and core, proportions of the curtain wall systems, box window (storage below and above), driveways, ramps, substation, providing for additional basement space. I also prepared a computer generated 3D-model of the same. Conclusion : An important aspect of this assignment was the opportunity to study the process of the execution. Till now, in college I had only used my imagination in my design skills, but here lay a new challenge, that to use my imagination to the exact execution of the design. In addition, I could study the BMRDA regulations (these were relevant to the Bandra-Kurla Complex only and different to those governed by the BMC in the rest of Bombay) stipulating the general conditions for the design of the buildings in the Bandra-Kurla Complex. Another aspect was the essence of Team Effort. My office has different regular departments of services, electrical, plumbing, air-conditioning, etc. It was an enlightening experience to work closely with each of them and understanding in what capacity each contributes to the success of the design, or alternatively, how the success of the design is dependent upon the unhindered functions of these departments.

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Southeast View Southern/Front Pedder Street View Close-Up South View Telephone Exhange : Ground - 9th Refuge Floor : 10th Residential Apartments : 11th - 14th

Overview : M. T. N. L. or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, a government owned corporation, had proposed to construct their commercial telephone exchange in the heart and prime location at Peddar road, in the city of Bombay. PKCA had designed this complex almost a year ago. I  was asked to take off from the work that was previously done. The basic allotment of the spaces in this Indian skyscraper consisted of floors ground to ninth (built-up area approximately 1000 sq. m. each) being used in the commercial needs. The tenth floor is used as a refuge-cum-service floor, to divert the plumbing and drainage lines that came down from the top (there is a provision for overhead tanks on the terrace and partly underground suction tanks on the ground floor). The above four floors were used for residential and a Guest house (on 14 ’th floor) purposes of accommodating the working staff and officers. My Scope of work : When I was assigned this project, the designing had already produced a workable and approved (by the regulatory municipal board) scheme and there was very little that one could add. Only, according to me the elevations needed a more coherent approach. I suggested to my boss, Mr. Kudianavala that I could further work on them and come up with more meaningful scheme, to which he whole heartedly agreed to. The initial working plan (typical floors) had service balconies projecting off the building face that were used as horizontal bands that defined the earlier elevations. However, I found them to be inconsistent with the general planning with the bands being simply stretched out in the horizontal direction and absolutely having no bearing what-so-ever with the planning. The upper residential floors had balconies that projected out, in line with the outermost building facade. I started out with a concept aimed at segregating the typical commercial floors from the residential ones above. These two magnified masses (stretching across multiple floors) were separated by the intermediate refuge floor that served a dark, hollow band. According to existing municipal building regulations the refuge floor was required to be free of any building work and lined with a low parapet or preferably a removable parapet railing. The vertical continuity was however maintained by stretching the firm’s characteristic, " bookends ", an important feature of the Architectural design, till the topmost floor. The clients further wanted us to install Curtain Wall systems on the main entrance facade. I had proposed to put these between the bookends and sticking to the service balcony parapet. I also supported my scheme with a self prepared 3D-computer generated model of the same. Conclusion : To me, this project was another practical exposure to Architecture. I could have a close study of the municipal regulations in relation to the design elements. I could study the calculation of the FSI or Floor Space Index (a ratio of the site area to the total built-up area) in depth and also study the process of municipal submission of the proposal. More importantly, this project was helpful in my understanding the concessions granted by the municipal regulations in the calculation of the FSI. This project brought to the fore my designing skills in the office which were very much appreciated.

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