Comments on: The Enigma of Hafeez Contractor

By: Sunnok Mehta

Sunnok Mehta — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:36:08 +0000

It is people like this who have ruined Mumbai and India. Architecture in India is terribly insensitive because these architects are only on the same side as greedy developers who want to build horrible stuff to make their money, while it is the common citizen who has to deal with the long term consequences of such poor design. The way Hafeez has designed hiranandani township in Powai, the builder is able to take advantage of loopholes in the rules to claim more saleable floor space (unfortunately my grandparents own a flat there). Clearly, unscrupulous Indian developers are driven by capitalistic greed and people like Hafeez are enabling them to break the rules. If Arthur Andersen was shut down because of unscrupulous accounting advice to Enrorn, maybe the Indian Architects association (or whatever it happens to be in India) should shut Hafeez Contactor down for such blatant disregard for the principles and spirit of architectural design. Maybe its because all architects in India are like this only and no wonder Indian cities are deteriorating. Even the new construction looks so unoriginal. Makes sense considering there are almost no Indian architects who I know who are internationally renowned for their design capabilities or who are able to win marquee projects internationally. Its an embarrassment for India’s architects and designers, as the general media claims that India is some emerging global power.

By: Rahul Bhatia

Rahul Bhatia — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:45:37 +0000

Nandakishore, could you tell me more about these sadistic rules?

By: sushrut

sushrut — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:24:43 +0000

Yes i agree with NK ….what you ask is what you get…. One more remarkable thing is that he has proved that Architectural Firms in India can be scaled up to a factory size.
Hats off to Hafeez!

By: nandakishore

nandakishore — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:07:32 +0000

with all the imaginative skills most of us would get stuck there waiting for big things to happen to till reality bites,but Hafeez was smart enough to showcase attract and retain the clients and established as a freemarket architect at a time when master architects were not affordable and were very insensitive to timelines and the other lot of bland ,dull architects who did a simple layout for approvals.Hafeez is an inspiration to many of us if not for the critical architectural quality,definitely for leading a whole bunch of young indian architects to believe in themselves and aspire for work and be successful.Not all of Hafeez’s works are dissappointing.some have been much better and primarily because of the sensible and knowledgable clients.Its like what you ask is what you get…
One other thing ,I think the planners and policy makers must have a clear agenda and guidelines for city so that architects can follow those and make good architecture..but most of the city’s regulations are outdated ,impractical and believe me some of the rules are saddistic to an extent.