Architect Sheila Sri Prakash: Redefining Urban Design with Indian Heritage
Sheila Sri Prakash is an architect and urban designer of Indian origin. She is the founder of Shilpa Architects and is the first woman in India to have started and operated her own architectural practice.
Early life
Sheila Sri Prakash was born on 6th July 1955 in Bhopal, India to Lt. Col. G. K. S. Pathy. He is an officer in the Indian Army, and S. Thangamma.
Personal life
She married Sri Prakash in in 1974. At the time of marriage Sri Prakash was 22 years old & Sheila was 18 years old. She lost her life partner of 40 years due to cancer. The couple have a son named Bhargav.
Child prodigy artist and artistic career
As a child, she trained in classical Indian dance, music and the arts. She started learning Bharatanatyam at the age of four years old and gave her first on-stage Arangetram performance in 1961.
Padma Bhushan Dhanvanthi Rama Rau called her a child prodigy. Sheila demonstrated a talent as a Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancer and also played the Veenai musical instrument. Over a period of nearly two decades as a performing artist, she performed as a dancer of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi.
Her family moved to Chennai to give her greater opportunities in the classical arts and to be trained in Bharatanatyam by Sri Dandayudha Pani Pillai.
She was a student of Vempati Chinna Satyam and was the protagonist in several of his dance dramas. She practised Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Veenai, Classical Indian music, painting and sculpting.
As a Veenai artist, she played, composed and recorded Radha Madhavam and Sivaleela Vilasam with the Veenai musician Chitti Babu.
She is the first woman in India to own and operate her own architectural firm, the Chennai-based Shilpa Architects. Her designs comprised more than 1000 completed projects.
Education in architecture and design
She attended the Rosary Matriculation School in Chennai. Later, she attained a pre-university degree from Stella Maris College, Chennai. She enrolled in the Bachelors in Architecture from the Anna University School of Architecture and Planning in 1973.
She enrolled at a time when there was a strong bias against women entering the field, and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Designโs Executive Education Program.
Architecture
She is considered as one of Indiaโs leading architects. She is known as one of the most influential female architects in the world today. She designed and completed over 1200 architectural projects. ย Many of which are known for use of local arts, culture and heritage as inspiration for her designs.
She is known for architectural theories surrounding Reciprocity in Design. Her work ranges from the low-cost Reciprocal House for the socio-economically underprivileged that she designed on invitation from the World Bank in 1987.
That was the first of its kind energy efficient commercial buildings, custom bungalows, residential communities, integrated townships, industrial facilities, art museums, sports stadiums, centers of education, public infrastructure and luxury hotels. Her research findings are particularly relevant in high-density rapidly developing economies.
Her work in spaciology, particularly as it applies to healthcare and the leisure, wellness, and hospitality industry, examines the impact of the built environment upon human behaviour, through urban design, architecture and sociology.
She was a founding member in establishment of the Indian Green Building Council.
Several of her architectural designs can be seen at Mahindra World City, New Chennai, the Madras Art House at the Cholamandal Artistsโ Village, Kuchipudi Art Academy in Chennai, the Paranur railway station, and the World Bank funded urban housing development program in the year of shelter for the shelterless.
She has combined the principles of Bharatanatyam, classical Indian music, sculpture and architecture in award-winning projects. ย In 1993, she designed a home in Chennai with recycled materials and pioneered a system for rainwater harvesting. In 2003, this system was made compulsory by the state of Tamil Nadu.
It set a blueprint across India, as the most effective and low cost solution for addressing the crisis of depletion of freshwater sources in India.
She also introduced vernacular and culturally relevant techniques in contemporary designs. She is known for using Indian art and culture as an integral parts to her designs, to achieve reciprocity and sustainability.
Preservation and Restoration Projects
Brihadisvara Temple
In 2012, Sheila Sri Prakash was selected to restore and preserve the Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Sheilaโs firm Shilpa Architects was commissioned by the panel from the Archaeological Survey of India, out of more than a 100 short listed global and local architectural preservation considered for the project by the authorities.
This restoration effort involved research and study of the original archives, dating back to 950 CE, to unravel the techniques of ancient Indian engineering.
World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council
In 2011, she became the first Indian architect to serve on the World Economic Forumโs Global Agenda Council on Design Innovation. There was a 16-member team of international experts in design and innovation.
She served on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the role of arts in society, in recognition of her signature works of architecture that feature art, culture and heritage.
As part of her role at the Forum, she developed the โReciprocal Design Indexโ that details parameters and metrics surrounding sustainable design.
Reciprocity Wave & Festival
She is the founder of the Reciprocity Wave Movement, which is an art and design competition to raise awareness about holistic sustainability. The second Reciprocity Wave Event in Chennai was conducted in partnership with the Indian Premier Leagueโs Chennai Super Kings.
Involvement with Zonta
She is known for her contributions as an active member of Zonta International. That is an organisation that aims to enhance the status of women around the world.
Academia
Sheila Sri Prakash routinely participates as a juror or expert critique at student charrettes at Universities around the world.
She was a visiting scholar at Ball State University in 2002. She currently serves on the visiting faculty of Leibniz University Hannover in Germany.
Recent projects โ Key Projects and Contributions
Shilpa Architects, Planners and Designers have been working recently on several projects, including
- LEED Platinum rated office building as their own design headquarters
- Other projects include the HITEX exhibition center in Hyderabad and the South City Township by Larsen & Toubro that is an approximately 4000 apartment residential township.
- Another large scale housing project is within Mahindra World City
- The upcoming Taj 5-star beach resort near Pondicherry, the state of Tamil Naduโs first platinum rated office complex for Cethar Vessels, an office building for HDFC Bank
- The regional headquarters for the State Bank of India. Her portfolio of current projects includes Industrial architecture.
- Currently she is designing a factory for the industry leading technology hardware manufacturer Flextronics.
Honors and awards
- She is featured among the top โ9 Female Architects Designing the Futureโ by Travel+Leisure magazine of Time Inc.
- Sustainability Champion of the Year for 2019
- Lifetime Achievement Award from Builders, Architects and Building Materials (BAM) in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry
- Bene Merenti Award from the university of Ion Mincu in 2017
- Honourable Architect Award from the Indian Institute of Architects in October 2015
Read more Life Story & Biography of famous architects at Middle Height. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
