Renowned Mumbai-based architect Iftikhar M. Kadri was awarded the Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya Trophy for lifetime achievement at the 12th CIDC Vishwakarma Awards in a ceremony on March 7, 2021 at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The awards are organised every year by the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC), a body set up jointly by the Planning Commission, Government of India, and the Indian construction industry that works as an umbrella organization for the construction industry in India, undertaking a wide range of activities for the welfare of society and the nation at large. This was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the awards program.
I.M. Kadri, 93, received a standing ovation at the ceremony. He was honoured for his exemplary body of work and contribution to the Indian architecture and construction industry. The jury, chaired by Shri Pradip Bhargava (I.A.S. (Retd.), Former Addl. Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh), included Shri. Divakar Garg (Former Director General, Central Public Works Department) and Shri. K. M. Singh (Ex. Chairman & Managing Director, NHPC Ltd.) among others.
Mr. Kadri was born in Ahmedabad in 1929, finished his schooling in New Delhi at Jamia Millia Islamia and completed his civil engineering degree at the Engineering College of the University of Pune in 1953. Driven by the belief that architecture shapes society and human life over time, he set up his architectural practice I.M. Kadri Architects (now IMK Architects) in 1957 at Churchgate, Mumbai, and later expanded it in 1971 to Bengaluru and Muscat. Practicing in a newly-independent India that witnessed mammoth transformations and ideological shifts in a brief span, Mr. Kadri’s work navigated questions of tradition and modernity and business and politics. Today, he is recognised as a pioneering figure in shaping the architectural fabric of Mumbai and several other cities in India, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
He has built over 100 buildings across 4 countries including landmarks such as Shivsagar Estate and Nehru Centre in Mumbai, Kowloon Mosque in Hong Kong, Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur, Kashmir University Projects in Srinagar, The Oberoi Bangalore and National Judicial Academy in Bhopal, among many others.
Mr. Kadri has also been an active citizen, having dedicated over a decade of his career to finding solutions for Mumbai’s housing problems with a focus on rehabilitating slum dwellers and rebuilding dilapidated buildings. Along with his wife, Mrs. Vipula Kadri, he set up a number of charitable and volunteer projects such as Save the Children India and The Pride India (Planning Rural-Urban Integrated Development through Education) with a vision to support and strengthen communities. In recognition of his extensive social work, he was appointed as the Sheriff of Bombay in 1994 by the Government of Maharashtra.
I.M. Kadri, Partner and Principal Architect, IMK Architects said: I am extremely grateful to CIDC for honouring me with this award. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to do so much work in India and abroad. I wanted to be an architect from a very early age. While studying at Jamia Millia Islamia, I was greatly inspired by the institution’s architecture, and was so in awe of the architect Karl Malte von Heinz’s work that I sought an opportunity to work with him. This marked the onset of my career. Right from my early days, I always had a strong affinity towards nature and greenery because I belonged to a family of agriculturists. And while I have built over 100 buildings, each with a unique concept, all have a small garden or some sort of connection with nature. I have also always been tremendously influenced by Mughal Architecture and Urdu poetry and admire the beauty in their structure and proportion. My advice to young architects would be to create their style, bring out the individuality of their work, and give something new to the people and the cities we live in.
