Teams of architecture students engaged by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) have completed the inspection of 350 heritage buildings and precincts in the city.
The inspection is part of an initiative to carry out documentation of all the heritage structures in the city. Some of the buildings inspected are on the list of Justice E. Padmanabhan Committee on Hoardings. More buildings are likely to be documented by this year.
Around 1,000 students of architecture from 10 colleges are part of the initiative, said an official of CMDA. A team from one of the colleges did not participate in the inspection, they added. Their work has been shared by other volunteers.
The students, in groups of four, visited all localities in their area to assess and evaluate structures and precincts with historic, cultural, architectural and archaeological value. The CMDA would pay each of the students.
The documents are being submitted to the CMDA every week for preparing a comprehensive documentation of the heritage buildings after proper verification.
Initially, the assessment has been done in the Chennai Corporation area.
The city has been divided into 10 divisions, including Triplicane, George Town, Purasawalkam and Mylapore, for the documentation.
After the inspection, the assessment would be made according to the criterion for listing the heritage buildings and precincts.
The students have collected photographs of each of the structures with architectural significance of the building.
They had been asked to look for aspects such as the date and period of construction for determining the historic significance of a building. They would later collect details from records available with owners of the heritage buildings, said an official of CMDA.
Economic, social or political trends exhibited by the heritage building, events or persons associated with the building, artistic merits such as style, design and community context of the building would be recorded by the students later.
