Hafeez Contractor Explained

Hafeez Sorab Contractor
Birth Date:19 June 1950
Birth Place:Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Awards:Padma Bhushan
Practice:H S Contractor Consultancy Pvt Ltd
Children:2
Parents:Sorab Contractor
Roshan Contractor

Hafeez Sorab Contractor (born 1950) is an Indian architect.[1] He has designed many skyscrapers in India, primarily in the city of Mumbai.[2] As of 2019, he is the architect of the three tallest buildings in India – The 42 in Kolkata,[3] [4] and the twin towers of The Imperial in Mumbai.[5] [6] He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in January 2016 by the Government of India.[7]

Early life

Hafeez Contractor was born in Mumbai on 19 June 1950 into a Parsi family.[8] He attended Boys' Town Public School Nasik before moving on to the University of Mumbai's Academy of Architecture in 1975. He then won a scholarship to Columbia University, where he completed his master's degree.[9]

Career

While pursuing his architecture degree, Contractor began working in 1968 as an apprentice under the supervision of his uncle and mentor Tehmasp Khareghat.[10] [11] He joined his uncle's company T. Khareghat in 1977 as an associate partner.

In 1991, Contractor was enlisted to add buildings to Infosys' Bangalore campus.[12] He went on to design that firm's first software-development park outside Pune,[13] and its corporate educational facility near Mysore.[14] 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. That building was, in turn, displaced by The 42 in Kolkata, which was also designed by Contractor and architecturally topped out at 260m. He also designed 23 Marina in Dubai,[15] which was briefly the world's tallest all-residential building, and is 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[16] and the DY Patil Stadium, which serves as the home stadium for both the Mumbai Indians cricket team and Mumbai City FC football team. He also designed the Turbhe railway station in Navi Mumbai and in 2018 offered to 19 railway stations for free.[17] He was the architect for Chief Minister of Telangana's official residence, Pragathi Bhavan completed in November 2016. He has been assigned to design the campus of Indian Institute of Petroleum & Energy, Visakhapatnam. An interview of his was published in the official[18] Class 8 English book.

Architectural style

Contractor has referred to the standardized ratings used in Western countries for certifying green buildings as a "joke".[19] 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."

List of works

!Name!Yearcompleted!Image!City!Notes!Ref
Apollo Hospital, Indraprastha
Sarala Birla Academy
DY Patil Stadium2008Mumbai
The Imperial2010MumbaiTallest building in India between 2010 and 2018
23 Marina2012Dubai
One Horizon Center2014Gurgaon[20]
Mantri Pinnacle2016BangaloreTallest building in Bangalore[21]
The 422019KolkataTallest building in India between 2018 and 2019
Lokhandwala MinervaMumbai[22]
Turbhe railway station

Awards and recognition

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: TNN . Architect for conserving rare heritage monuments . . 2010-12-18 . 2011-03-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121104110854/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-18/vadodara/28226048_1_city-areas-high-rise-buildings-heritage-buildings . 4 November 2012 . dead .
  2. Web site: Hafeez Contractor – The Skyscraper Center. skyscrapercenter.com. 2017-09-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20170922002725/http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/company/173. 22 September 2017. live.
  3. Web site: The 42 – The Skyscraper Center. skyscrapercenter.com. 2017-09-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20170922002244/http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/the-42/14870. 22 September 2017. live.
  4. Web site: 'The 42' in Kolkata becomes India's tallest building. 16 April 2019. The Times of India. 2019-04-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20190429000219/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/the-42-in-kolkata-becomes-indias-tallest-building/articleshow/68900814.cms. 29 April 2019. live.
  5. Web site: The Imperial I – The Skyscraper Center. skyscrapercenter.com. 2017-09-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20171002115210/http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/the-imperial-i/889. 2 October 2017. live.
  6. Web site: The Imperial II – The Skyscraper Center. skyscrapercenter.com. 2017-09-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20170911031137/http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/the-imperial-ii/890/. 11 September 2017. live.
  7. Web site: Padma Awards 2016. pib.nic.in. 2017-09-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20190329211831/http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=135783. 29 March 2019. live.
  8. Book: Veer, Peter van der . Handbook of Religion and the Asian City: Aspiration and Urbanization in the Twenty-First Century . 2015-05-19 . Univ of California Press . 978-0-520-28122-6 . 167.
  9. News: The Slumdog Millionaire Architect. Brook. Daniel. 2014-06-19. The New York Times. 2017-09-21. 0362-4331. https://web.archive.org/web/20170622171203/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/magazine/the-slumdog-millionaire-architect.html. 22 June 2017. live.
  10. Book: Manohar, Prathima . Architect Hafeez Contractor . 2006 . Architecture Publishing . 978-81-901758-0-7 . 61–62.
  11. Web site: Hafeez Contractor AIIAGD ARCH. MS ARCH. & UD (USA): Executive Profile & Biography – Bloomberg. Bloomberg L.P.. 2017-09-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20170922050533/https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=43832635&privcapId=49531279. 22 September 2017. live.
  12. Web site: Infosys Bangalore. 2017-09-21. The Future of Design. 21 September 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170922051054/https://www.tfod.in/photo-space/1792/garden. 22 September 2017. live.
  13. Web site: Infosys office at I T Park at Pune. 2017-09-21. The Future of Design. 21 September 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170922051103/https://www.tfod.in/photo-space/1774/exterior-at-night. 22 September 2017. live.
  14. Web site: Exterior – Infosys Global Education School, Mysore. 2017-09-21. The Future of Design. 21 September 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170922051059/https://www.tfod.in/photo-space/1809/exterior---infosys-global-education-school--mysore. 22 September 2017. live.
  15. Web site: 23 Marina – The Skyscraper Center. skyscrapercenter.com. 2017-09-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20170922002712/http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/dubai/23-marina/247/. 22 September 2017. live.
  16. Web site: Award-winning airport renovation relies on Indian granite. stoneworld.com. 9 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20190702230606/https://www.stoneworld.com/articles/85979-awardwinning-airport-renovation-relies-on-indian-granite. 2 July 2019. live.
  17. News: Architect Hafeez Contractor Offers To Design 19 Railway Stations For Free . 16 December 2020 . NDTV.com . 25 February 2018.
  18. CBSE
  19. News: Green buildings are a joke: Hafeez Contractor . 2011-09-14 . 1 April 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111021052903/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-14/chennai/30153762_1_green-buildings-rating-system-rating-agencies . 21 October 2011 . . dead .
  20. Web site: One Horizon Center – The Skyscraper Center. 2022-12-04. skyscrapercenter.com.
  21. Web site: Mantri Pinnacle – The Skyscraper Center. 2022-12-04. skyscrapercenter.com.
  22. Web site: Lokhandwala Minerva – The Skyscraper Center. 2022-12-04. skyscrapercenter.com.
  23. News: Padma Awards 2016: Complete list India News – Times of India . The Times of India.

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