Architecture
Architectural education is a wonderful journey to undertake. It is so because the learning curve never ends and a good architect never retires! The foundation of my architectural education was laid in 1982, when I got admission in the School of Planning and Architecture, in New Delhi, India. At that time there were only five colleges of Architecture in India. The criteria for admission was to have a Science major at high school level with minimum of 75% aggregate, combined with an entrance exam. This was held at a national level for only 33 seats! Now 25 years later there are more than 150 colleges of Architecture in India. They accept students majoring in Science or Humanities with a minimum of 60% aggregate. How much times have changed!
In 1982, S.P.A. was considered to be a very prestigious college. The students who graduated from it formed a very polished clique of professionals. I consider myself very fortunate to have studied in such an environment. The five years that I spent there instilled in me the ability to grasp tons of knowledge and use it to synthesise good design, compete with fiercely competitive peers and taught me how to excell with hard work and sharp focus on the goal. Some of the teachers who had a great influence on me were Prof. Ram Sharma, Prof. Satish Grover and my thesis advisor Prof. V.K.Gupta. During this time the major role models for my professional work were the architects Charles Correa, Raj Rewal, A.P.Kanvinde and B.V.Doshi.
After graduating, I entered a national level architectural competition in India and won the first prize in it. It partially funded my post-graduate studies in U.S.A. From S.P.A. to Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago was like going from an ultra-liberal college to a super high-tech college. I chose the latter college because it laid great emphasis on structure, specialized in high-rise and long-span structures and produced world class architects. Also Chicago is the birthplace of American architecture with great companies. Hence it offered a great study and work package for me. During this time the major influence on my work was that of Mies van der Rohe, Frei Otto, Felix Candela and Sir Norman Foster.
Now at 42, I have worked on architectural projects based in New Delhi, Jaipur, Chicago and New York. This has been in great world-class companies, which offered a good environment for me to grow professionally. These have been in the field of high-end residential, healthcare, commercial and hospitality architecture. My work experience was further enriched with my travels to Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Canada, India and America.
Since I have always worked in the private sector, due to reasons of privacy I cannot share my professional work on this blog. However for the sake of this blog I shall post my two thesis, research and published articles. It has been a fabulous journey!
Ratna
B.Arch, M.Arch
October.2.2007
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