SHEILA SRI PRAKASH

Sheila Sri Prakash (July 6, 1955, Bhopal, India) is an architect and planner of Indian origin.

She founded Shilpa Architects in Chennai, India in 1979 and has the distinction of being the

first woman in India to have started and operated her own architectural firm.

She studied architecture at the Anna University School of Architecture and Planning and also

attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design's Executive Education Program.

She is a global leader in sustainable design that blends sensitivity for our environment with

socio-economic progress for the underprivileged. She is also known for introducing

vernacular and culturally relevant techniques into contemporary designs. She is regarded as

the founding practitioner-researcher that identified and defined the field of Spaciology - the

impact of space design and planning on society.

Her research findings seed emerging perspectives of study that are globally significant, yet

particularly appropriate in high-density rapidly developing economies. Her work probes the

powerful reciprocal impact linking the built environment to human behavior, through urban

design, architecture and sociology.

Her influence as an architect and designer who combined design thinking to address social

issues, heightens the significance of multi-faceted socio-economic priorities when designing

in the developing world.

Notable projects include:

The Madras Art Museum

KPMG Corporate Office

Jade Wok Restaurant

KENZO TANGE

KENZO TANGE was the best-known modern Japanese architects. His work combined the

bold structural expressiveness of the post war school of Japanese architects strongly

influenced by Le Corbusier, with an invention and a sense of fantasy more characteristic of

Latin America.

He was Born in 1913 in Osaka, Japan. Although becoming an architect was beyond his

wildest dreams as a boy, it was Le Corbusier's work that stirred his imagination .In 1935, he

became a student in the Architecture Department of Tokyo University. Worked for four

years in the office of Kunio Maekawa , an important disciple of Le Corbusier. Became the

assistant professor in the Tokyo graduate school In 1946.Established the Tange Laboratory

where young associates exchange fruitful ideas.

HIS VIEW POINTS

In architecture, the demand was no longer for box-like forms, but for buildings that have

something to say to the human emotions. That new demand had an effect on the designs of

everything, from small window displays to streetscapes to buildings.

Post-Modernism is no more than a mere eclectic mixture of aesthetic elements - modern

and ancient, or Eastern and Western - that have already reached an impasse.

The Tokyo Headquarters of the United Nations University and the new Tokyo Metropolitan

Office Complex, reflect that process. In both instances, there is a powerful need for

symbolism and that means the architecture must have something that appeals to the

human heart. Nevertheless, the basic forms, spaces, and appearances must be logical.

Designs of purely arbitrary nature cannot be expected to last long.

The development of a new architectural style will result from further study and work on the

three elements : human, emotional, and sensual elements; technologically intelligent

elements; and social-communicational structure of the space.

“I am still in search of an answer to what buildings will best serve in what I call the information or communications society.”

Notable projects include:

Olympic stadia in Tokyo

St. Mary’s cathedral

Overseas union bank, Singapore

United Overseas bank plaza

Royal state palace Jeddah, Saudi arabia