THE OSCARS OF ARCHITECTURE

DESPITE HAVING WON OVER 125 AWARDS, OSCAR & PONNI ARCHITECTS REMAINS A DESIGN FIRM GROUNDED IN RESEARCH, HUNGRY FOR INNOVATION AND DRIVEN BY HUMANISM

- MITALEE KURDEKAR

It was in the late 80s that two young Indian architects, armed with graduate degrees in architecture, left for the US. While Oscar Concessao went on a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma to pursue his Master’s degree in Architecture in Urban Design in 1987, Ponni Concessao secured a Tata scholarship and went on to complete her Master’s in Design from Cornell University in 1989. This was followed by a fruitful stint with leading design firms in New York, before each decided it was time to return to their roots. And that is where this story really begins.

Post studying abroad and gaining international architectural experience, both Oscar and Ponni felt an inclination to head back to India and contribute to nation-building. Their wish was soon granted. It was while they were in Manhattan, New York, that they were introduced to their first-ever individual client, an NRI businessman, who was at the time shortlisting designers for his 200-acre engineering college campus project in Tamil Nadu. Seizing an opportunity to submit master plans including designs for the administration, department buildings, library, hostels and other campus-related structures, the duo was able to impress the client enough to bag the project, and with it the chance to move base to India and set up their own firm there.

“We both used to work at other companies for several years. Those days, we were focused on our individual projects and would be in the office all day long, working with other architects, designers and engineers, spending very little time with clients, on a job site or together. When we started our own firm – Oscar & Ponni Architects – things changed drastically,” states Oscar about the genesis of the practice that the pair founded in Chennai back in 1996.