Design is certainly an individual skill, a creativity that can be spell-binding in its excellence and portrayal. It is but natural that such ingenuity be recognised and commended. The J.K. Cement Architect of the Year Awards aims to honour and felicitate such outstanding talent in the field of architecture.
The 24 Architect of the Year Awards hosted in the city recently witnessed 11 recipients from a long list of 153 entries. The Architect of the Year under the national category was awarded to Sunil Kulkarni from Pune, for his design of the corporate headquarters of Elantas Beck India.
The design offers a minimalistic appeal sans the cosmetic frills. The character of the structure is strikingly international, yet displays elements that are rooted to the location and culture. The structure emerges between the existing trees, with the design tuned to accommodate them, while the inner spaces invite copious natural ventilation keeping the spaces naturally cool and ventilated.
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Architect of the Year under the international category was presented to Palinda Kannangara from Sri Lanka for his design in the hospitality segment. Here, the structure coming up beside a stunning view of the valley had to cater to the local regulation of not blocking this valley view to the public passing by on the facing road.
The concept addresses this through a clever design of the two-storey structure where the public levels are left totally permeable to the valley view.
The Young Architect award was received by architect Akshat Bhatt for his design of a flexible town hall on the outskirts of Bengaluru which also doubles up as an office. Conceived as an assemblage of parts, the structure is designed to remain only for six years, post which it would be relocated to another site. The 90m long with a 20m large span structure has been raised in a modular manner to facilitate ease of composition and assembly. Displacement ventilation techniques permit cool air from beneath the floor while frit-printed glass dissipates the heat.
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Instituted for the first time this year was the Architecture Student of the Year award that went to Shardul Patil, student of the Academy of Architecture from Mumbai for his practice of environment-sensitive and community-centric designs. Other categories included green architecture, private buildings, public buildings and group housing.
“The objective of these awards is to recognise and felicitate outstanding talent in architecture, with the winners raising the bar every year in the architecture standards”, said Yadupati Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director, J.K. Cements.
M.P. Rawal, Administrator and Advisor, J.K. Cements, added, “The platform not only recognises the outstanding work of the architect community but also brings in an overwhelming widespread participation from the young and budding aspirants from across the globe.”