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Telangana's Iconic Secretariat: Visionary Design by a Woman Architect
PROVOKE Lifestyle|December 2024
MEET ARCHITECT PONNI CONCESSAO, ASIA'S FIRST WOMAN ARCHITECT TO DESIGN A STATE SECRETARIAT AND ONE THAT STANDS THE TALLEST AND LARGEST IN INDIA. SHE SHARES WHAT IT TOOK TO CRAFT THE ENORMOUS TELANGANA SECRETARIAT THAT IS A LANDMARK FEATURING MULTI-CULTURAL ARCHITECTURAL STYLES REFLECTING THE DIVERSITY OF INDIA. SHE HEADS THE AWARD-WINNING OSCAR, PONNI & RAHUL ARCHITECTS, CHENNAI, ONE OF INDIA'S LEADING ARCHITECTURAL FIRMS WITH MANY PRESTIGIOUS INDIAN AND INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS UNDER THEIR BELT INCLUDING INSTITUTIONAL, EDUCATIONAL, HOTELS, TOWNSHIPS, HEALTH CARE, STADIUMS, HOUSING AND GOVERNMENT PROJECTS IN INDIA AND ABROAD.
- DAYA KINGSTON
Telangana's Iconic Secretariat: Visionary Design by a Woman Architect

How did you bag this prestigious assignment?

The previous Telangana State Secretariat was spread across thirty acres in Hyderabad with forty-odd buildings that were old and with insufficient facilities. The Technical Committee recommended a new secretariat and floated a competition in 2019 and invited twenty leading architects from across the country to participate. It was a very tough yet fair competition, one that went on for a year, and the Technical Committee as well as the then Honourable Chief Minister of Telangana, K Chandrashekar Rao, selected Oscar, Ponni & Rahul Architects to be the principal architects for the new Telangana Secretariat in Hyderabad.

In July 2020, amidst the COVID lockdown, he personally called and let us know that our design had been selected. We had a two-week-long hectic design workshop with the Honourable Chief Minister, the Government of Telangana and the PWD Department. It was a great privilege to work with a highly knowledgeable, technically savvy and visionary Chief Minister who understood the nuances of design, supported women's empowerment and efficient governance.

Our scope of work was urban design, architecture, interior design, engineering services and landscape design. We used architecture as a medium of democracy and created a monumental edifice that reflected the history and culture of Telangana, a beautiful administrative complex that the public would emotionally connect with, and be proud of.

What was the design brief?

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