Ar. PRASHANTH S KHARCHE

On his entry into the family practice, Ar. Prashanth recollects the journey of being enthralled with the new computer device that brought him regularly to the office. While work of his father and associates piqued his curiosity, he started gaining interest in the field, accompanying his father to site visits. The pride in the respect his father gained from seeing his creation come to life struck a chord with him, gaining him a seat in School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University.

Ar. Prashanth took over Kharche Associates in 1999. Along with having about 1200 projects to his credit, he managed to earn a reputation for being ‘one of the best residential design architects’ in Chennai, his portfolio boasting predominantly residential townships along with select boutique homes and corporate offices.

Consequently they were awarded “Gold Certificate” by IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) for a private residence in Lynwood Avenue, Chennai in 2014. Incidentally this residence was the first in India to be awarded gold certification. A corporate office, coming up for a major pharmaceutical company, opposite Taj Club House in Mount Road is also slated for gold- rating.

Ar. Prashanth has a robust outlook on globalization. “Globalization has helped since it gives you more options as a designer. India as a country is at the cusp of changing its design paradigm”. With the advent of internet, he believes, it’s easier to draw inspiration from developed countries, which enables people to understand the working concepts around the world.

However, he concedes, “success is optimizing our design with aspects of our local culture and functionality of western construction science”. In retrospect to the past decade, he believes that a lifestyle change has occurred between the age group of 21-35 (who constitute of almost 60% of current population), who are more interested in “cleverly designed functional spaces” rather than larger spaces.

This further brings challenges of its own states Ar. Prashanth, bringing its own dynamic, based on design, function or aesthetics. Individual homes are ostensibly more challenging than large townships. Large townships being primarily designed in maximum of a 90 day timeline, whereas individual homes require a more personal touch and could take up to 6 months for certain clients. Nevertheless, he concedes the more challenging sites keeps him motivated to continue offering good architecture to the city.

Having grown up around stalwarts of architecture as mentors, Ar. Prashanth learnt to draw inspiration from many visionaries like Le Corbusier, Santiago Calatrava, Renzo Piano, Zaha Hadid and Antonio Gaudi. He believes any architectural theme or design could be appreciated in any era or generation, although it rarely happens that architects are appreciated in their generation.

On a valedictory note to his peers in the architectural fraternity, Ar. Prashanth believes there has to be some sort of understanding, in terms of financial remuneration so that every architect is respected in the same manner. He recommends budding architects to be patient, since 5 years of architecture, school prepares a person for a decade more of experience gained through mistakes made along the journey. He states, “You are an apprentice, until you gain the confidence to execute a project until handover”.

Ar. Prashanth’s passion for urban design resonates in his dream of ‘designing a self-sufficient, energy efficient, robust township in Chennai‘. He further states that townships are something that have to come into the real estate fabric, especially in Chennai but admits that a project of that scale would take about 20 years to complete.