Hyderabad : Mapping the infrastructure initiatives to achieve the transformation of India’s evolving skyline, ET Edge, an Economic Times initiative organised the South leg of the 3rd edition of The Economic Times Architecture & Design Summit 2015 on Friday late night at ITC Kakatiya.

This initiative began in 2013. It has significantly created a platform for stakeholders to share concerns, discuss solutions, leverage trends and create the blueprint of a futuristic India.  Hyderabad was the third city where this Summit was held on Friday and will soon travel to Coimbatore, Vishakhapatnam and will conclude in Bangalore, informed  Sunita Quadros, Business Head, TCL-BCCL in her opening remarks.

Most of the iconic structures in India were constructed by Britishers. Except temples, mandirs and gurudwaras, the modern India has not creative any inconic structures in India said Abhishek Somany, MD of Somany Ceramics.  Speaking further he added that what we need is responsible cities, interactive cities and not concrete jungles, he informed.

Adding further he stated that India is the 3rd largest tiles producing country after China and Brazil. We have climbed up from 10th position, he said.  India’s real estate industry consumes 1.5 lakh sq meters of tile every day.  Somany Ceramics Ltd has become the first Indian tile company to receive a patent under the Indian Patent Act for its ‘high abrasion resistant glaze composition’, known as VeilCraft (VC) Shield.

90 per cent of the tile industry in India has become more competitive and withstood to the dumping of the Chinese products, said Abhishek Somany.

In his opening remarks, on Vision 2020 for Architects: Gearing up for the future, Milind Pai said “Architects is the happy profession”.  Unlike doctors and lawyers who are consulted when in distress or in problems, Architects are consulted when one is happy. So “Architecture used to be a happy profession” But, not any more.  Gone are the days of clients walking to you,  Today you need to do active marketing. Without sales and marketing there is no growth.  Today young generation thinks it is a glamorous profession, which is partly true. But, one need to work hard to come up in the profession.  Technology, Speed is changing Architecture profession. Own customers or else they will go elsewhere.   You need to think ahead of the clients.  They too have accessto the same technology that you have.  They show their presentation before they see yours .  Architects needs to prepare to face competition from foreign architects, he said. Whatever you do must be client centric.  Don’t do things in isolation but, integration with envrironment, he said.

The Summit was marked by the presence of leaders from the sector, who discussed around the theme – ‘TRANSFORMATION 2020’. The platform brought together influencers of the architecture and design community who discussed on various topics viz. ‘Role of the states in aligning Architecture with India’s transformation agenda’; Trends in Architect Design: Residential & Commercial and so on.

Pursuing yet another defining focus that influences the rapid economic development in India, the summit enabled break-through discussions & seamless interactions to understand how architecture is a very collaborative process and should be dealt with, in that spirit. It touched upon the fact that architects should engage in India’s Transformation agenda through policy, advocacy, smart city development projects and green field cities.

In the first panel on role of states in aligning Architecture with India’s transformation agenda,  Sayed Muzaffer Hussain, Retd. Director of Town & Country Planning, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh touched upon how the government’s role is important in this transformation, but the problem is the ownership of development schemes capacity building and how the government is not taking this seriously. The government he said has less resources and development agenda needs to be prioritized.

With the support of architects to create newer living spaces, smart cities and infrastructure development, the summit was committed towards celebrating and developing architecture from leading architectural practitioners, contractors, developers, policy makers and engineers. Bringing together industry stakeholders from across the region, this summit provided an excellent opportunity to learn from and get inspired by leaders from the architectural community and explore the potential that the region has to offer.

On this occasion, Haresh Lakhani, Principal Architect, H. P. Lakhani & Associates said, “Architecture is a physical representation of values and aspirations of society and Architecture today is more a collaborative process than it used to be , so in that spirit I think it will play a very big role in the transformation of the nation.”

Talking on the theme Transformation 2020, Srinivas Murthy G., Architect & Founder, Architect & Design Foundation said, “Architecture has the capacity to impact human behaviour by virtue of its finely integrated design philosophy manifested in the external form. Thus has a direct role in a creative build form and cities, which provide for dignified living in a very creative and aesthetic environment”.