Initiatives of IIA Chennai Centre during the Term 2015-2020
Future of Cities
6th Oct 2015 @ Smt. Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium, M.CT.M School, Luz, Mylapore
A Presentation on the ‘Future of Cities’ by Ar.PVK Rameshwar followed by a Panel Discussion on ‘Re-imagining our Chennai City – Continuity & Change’. The Panelists were Ar.Sujatha Shankar, Prof. Ranee Vedamuthu, Ar.Priya Sasidharan, Ms.Archana Menon and the Moderator was Ar.Durganand Balsavar.
Talk by Dharmesh Jadeja & Shri.T.M.Krishna
10th Oct 2015 @ CLRI Auditorium, Chennai CLRI Campus, Opposite SAP – Anna University
A Talk by Dharmesh Jadeja – Dustudio, Auroville followed by a talk by Shri T.M.Krishna, a Vocalist, Thinker and Writer.
Restoration of Water Bodies, Lakes & Wetlands
24th Oct 2015 @ Apparao Galleries, Chennai
A talk by Dr.Ritu Singh, Director Natural Heritage Division, INTACH on the Restoration of Water Bodies, Lakes and Wetlands organized jointly with INTACH Chennai Chapter.
Guidance to Thesis students
23rd Nov 2015 to 19th Dec 2015 @ The Indian Institute of Architects, Marshalls Road, Egmore, Chennai
Architects of IIA Chennai Centre, two persons per day, volunteered to help out students in their pre- thesis work, which would include topic selection, discussions on areas of concern and help out in giving advice and direction.
Flood Relief Works
December 2015: Ar.Kurian George, Ar.Sujatha Shankar, Ar.Durganand Balsavar and Ar.Antony S.L.Morais contributed to Flood Relief Works in Chennai and its outskirts.
Legal Aspects in Professional Practice & Special GBM
8th Jan 2016 @ Amethyst (the Folly), Royapettah, Chennai
Mr.Samir Shukla spoke on ‘The Legal Aspects in Professional Practice’. It was followed by a Special GBM on ‘Issues related to Professional Practice’.
IIA Movie Club
A Movie Club has been formed by IIACC. A movie has been scheduled for every week. Two movies, My Architect and This changes everything have already been screened on 30th Jan 2015 and 06th Feb 2016. The next line up of movies are Citizen Architect and Helvetica planned for the 20th and 27th Feb 2016 respectively.
Architectural Practice
16th Feb 2016 @ Amethyst (the Folly), Royapettah, Chennai
A talk by Ar.Ravi Sarangan on Architectural Practice.
An open Meeting with President – CoA
26th Feb 2016 @ The Indian Institute of Architects, Marshalls Road, Egmore, Chennai
Architects of IIA Chennai Centre had an open meeting with Prof.Uday Gadkari (President, CoA).
‘LORE’ – Ar.Bijoy Jain
27th Feb 2016 @ Madras Freemasons Hall Trust, Ethiraj Salai, Chennai
IIA Chennai Centre co-organised this event with C10, in which Ar.Bijoy Jain gave a talk on his body of work and interacted with the audience.
The Practice of Architecture
5th & 6th March 2016 @ Madras Freemasons Hall Trust, Ethiraj Salai, Chennai
IIA Chennai Centre with C10, organized a talk and Panel discussion on ‘The Practice of Architecture’ on TWO consecutive days in which the Guest speakers were Ar. Dean D Cruz, Ar.Biju Kuriakose, Ar.Sriram Ganapathy, Ar.K.Senthil Kumar, Ar.Raja Shymasundar, Ar.Mona Doctor.
IIA Movie Club
The next line up of movies ‘Homes of Frank Lloyd Wright’, ‘Urbanised’, ‘The Human Scale’ were screened on Feb 12th, March 12th and March 26th respectively.
Issues in Professional Practice
3rd march 2016 @ The Indian Institute of Architects, Marshalls Road, Egmore, Chennai
IIA Chennai Centre, organized a brainstorming session among its members on the topic 'Issues in our Professional Practice'. The outcome of this meeting was minuted and later presented at the Workshop conducted by IIA TN on the same topic.
'Rings of Green' - Buffer zones and Biospheres in Tamilnadu
21st April 2016 @ Alliance Francaise of Madras, Chennai
Dr.Sugatto Dutt, IFS Officer, gave a talk followed by a conversation amidst enthusiasts which was organised by IIA Chennai Centre along with INTACH.
Model Building Bye-laws 2016
18th April 2016 @ The Indian Institute of Architects, Marshalls Road, Egmore, Chennai
IIA Chennai Centre, organized a brainstorming session among its members on the recently released 'Model Building Bye-Laws' by the Ministry for Urban Development.
20th Century Heritage
5th August 2016 @ Freemasons Hall, Ethiraj Salai, Egmore, Chennai
IIA Chennai Centre & INTACH, in collaboration with C10, organized a Presentation on 20th Century Heritage by Prof.A.G.K.Menon (Convenor, INTACH Delhi). The Presentation was followed by a briefing session on Rejuvenating Urban Lakes – competition by Goethe Institute & SAP.
Financial & Legal Aspects of the Profession
4th May 2017 @ The Indian Institute of Architects, Marshalls Road, Egmore, Chennai
IIA Chennai Centre, organized a session on the ‘Financial & Legal aspects of the Profession’. This included and interactive session with Mr.Nikhil D’ Souza - Chartered Accountant, exploring models of Business, Proprietorship, LLP etc., This was interlaced with a joint Interactive session with Advocate C.T.Murugappan on the various legal aspects of the Profession.
Planning Permission Process
15th May 2017 @ The Indian Institute of Architects, Marshalls Road, Egmore, Chennai
IIA Chennai Centre & TN Chapter, organized a discussion on ‘Planning Permission Process; A discussion on the Architects’ point of view on simplification of Procedure in processing applications for Planning Permission by the Statutory Authority’. A committee was formed to discuss the suggestions in detail and the recommendations arising out of the discussion were made as a representation to CMDA by the TN Chapter Chairman.
Meeting with CMDA Officials
IIA Chennai Centre and IIA TN Chapter were invited for a meeting with the CMDA on the 21st of September 2017. CMDA placed its proposal to hasten the processing of Planning Permit Applications.
We had contemplated this initiative through a series of meetings facilitated by our Centre and the Chapter, both in terms of the proposals shared and other possibilities that this intent had generated.
We later communicated the result of our contemplation to the Member Secretary, CMDA and also to the Housing Secretary. We had also communicated our openness to discussing this matter and finding a comprehensive, complete and correct solution for hastening the process together with the CMDA.
Meeting with Principal Secretary – Housing and urban Development
As a further development to our earlier representations, IIA Chennai Centre and IIA TN Chapter were invited by the Principal Secretary - Housing and Urban Development Department inviting us along with other stakeholders (Credai, Structural Engineers, DTCP & CMDA) for a meeting on Monday the 6th of Nov 2017, to discuss on the Proposal laid out by CMDA.
We, IIA Chennai Centre along with representatives from TN Chapter participated in this meeting and placed our feedback/suggestions on the Proposal.
ENGAGE Chennai 2018
Engage Chennai 2018 was organised by Ideate India in association with IIA Chennai Centre on 9th February 2018 at Hotel Hilton, Chennai. Ar.Murad Ismail from Sri Lanka presented the keynote address. This was followed by a Panel discussion on the topic Chennai - The Megapolis: Exploring it's new identity. The Panelists were Ar.Kapil Chitale, Ar. K. Senthil Kumar, Ar.Shripal Munshi, Ar.Sriram Ganapathi & Ar.Murad Ismail.
Environment Sensitive Architecture
Commemorating the World Environement Day, on 5th June 2018, the Chenai Centre organised an evening filled with Presentations by Architects on various aspects of Environment sensitive Architecture at the IIA Office Egmore. The Guest Speakers for the evening were Ar.Harini, Ar.Nanda, Ar.Sathish Moses, Ar.Madhumita and Ar.Tahaer Zoyab.
IIA TNPL - Sports Tournament
The 3rd Sports Tournament of IIATNPL was organised by Tamilnadu Chapter and Hosted by Chennai Centre on the 24th, 25h & 26th of August 2018 in Chennai. Around 150 Architects from all over Tamilnadu participated in the Tournament. A total of Six Teams represented, Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem & Trichy in the Cricket, Badminton and Table Tennis Tournaments. The INaugural Ceremony was held at The Accord Metropolitan Hotel, T.Nagar and the Gala Dinner was at Clarion Hotel President. The Tournament was held at Vivekananda Cricket Ground, Marina Cricket Ground and at the Alumni Club Anna University. Ar.Yuvaraj Balaraman was the Convenor of the Tournament.
Workshop on Expansion of Chennai Metropolitan Area
Further to the Workshop that was organised by the Department of Housing at Kancheepuram on 20th April 2018, which was represented by Ar.Kurian George, Ar.Babu Venkatesan and Ar.Antony Morais, a Meeting was organised at our Chennai Centre to discuss on the proposed expansion of CMA.
Based on the outcome of the Meeting, the inputs on the process of expanding the City limits were presented to the Government.
Draft TNCDRBR
On 20th Aug 2018, the Chennai Centre presented a document to the Government with its observations and suggestions on the Draft Tamilnadu Combined Development Regulation and Building Rules 2018, after organising several discussions with its Members.
CoA's Interactive session with Architects
On 29th Aug 2018, the then President of CoA, Ar.B.R.Nayak had an interactive session with Architects at SAP Anna Univesity. Several of our Centre Members participated in the same and shared their inputs to CoA.
Amendment to Architects' Act - An Open Discussion
On 5th Dec 2018, the Centre held an open Discussion to discuss and debate on the proposed Amendment to Architects' Act.
Meeting on TNCBR 2019
On 8th February 2019, the Centre convened a meeting to discuss on the TNCBR 2019. Several Members participated and the inputs and feedback were gathered from the Members.
Representations to CoA, IIA National Council, TN Chapter and Tamilnadu Government
On 16th February 2019, formal representations were made by the Centre to the State Government, CoA and IIA, highlighting the violations of the Architects' Act under the Registration Mechanism of the TNCBR 2019.
Meeting with Deputy CM
In December 2019, the IIA Tamilnadu Chapter and Chennai Centre, jointly met the Deputy CM Thiru O.Panneerselvam and briefed him about the violations of the Architects' Act under the Registration Mechanism of TNCBR 2019. Based on the request to remove such Registration for Architects, the Deputy CM immediately directed the Housing Secretary to do the needful.
Practice & Academics - Open Meet
On 10th Jan 2020 an open meet was organised by the Centre to discuss and gather inputs on Practice and Academics, to be presented at the CoA outreach initiative.
Representation at CoA Outreach Initiative
On 11th Jan 2020, the centre presented its inputs on Practice & Academics at the CoA Outreach Program held at Hotel Hablis, Chennai.
Meeting on Amendment to TNCBR 2019
On 13th Feb 2020, the centre organised a Meeting to discuss and deliberate on the Amendment to the TNCBR 2019 and later the proposed Amendments were presented to IIA Tamilnadu Chapter for pursuing it further with the Government.