I dream of houses without water supply pipes: Hafeez

Three immensely successful decades in architecture… innumerable iconic buildings to his credit… from a two man firm to a firm of 500 plus employees and three working shifts…the story of Architect Hafeez Contractor inspires many in the profession. The man, who emancipated the Mumbai skyline, is an architect brand to reckon with. Debajyoti Samal meets the ‘King’ with a midas touch, Architect Hafeez Contractor.

What is your concept of affordable housing?

To me, an affordable housing is one that can be easily bought by a person with three years of his/her earnings. An affordable house shouldn’t cost more than Rs. 3,000 per sqft. Ironically, you will hardly find a house anywhere near this price range in India. All you find now is a house ranging between Rs. 8,000-Rs. 10,000 per sqft. Although, there are affordable houses available in the outskirts or in the suburbs, the amount of money and time spent annually by the consumers in travelling to and fro from their homes to their workplaces, equalise things. I am telling you, it is none other than the media who has done this damage to the real estate sector in the last ten years. But, why blame media alone? Builders also have an equal contribution in altering the picture of the real estate industry. In an attempt to make more money, when there is a scarcity of affordable homes, the builders have also done the damage. And who suffers the most in this game? We, the common people!

What are your views on FSI?

When the FSI gets increased, everybody says now the builders are going to get the benefits. But reality is something else. The builders never want the FSI to be increased. It is because we give a huge amount of money to buy a plot and after the FSI is increased, the same plot can be obtained at a cheaper price, leaving the builders alone to suffer the loss. Who doesn’t need money? Of course we need it. How will we afford infrastructure development unless and until we get the money? Why was Delhi so late in launching the Metro service? It is because we could not afford the cost required for running the Metro at that time. The credit goes to the IT movement in our country, because of which it becomes rich and infrastructure development could experience a boom after that.

Did you read about the West side freeway the Government has approved now? I was the one involved in getting it approved. It was as big as Rs. 7,000 crore!!!  At the blink of an eye, they approved it.

Are environment guidelines impeding realty development?

An important thing you need to understand is about the so called environmentalists, who do not want development to take place. If you don’t have effective law in place and keep the FSI increasing, the whole industry will become unorganised. Every second person in Mumbai lives in a slum. It is almost the same in Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi. Why? Because, there is no economic housing package available for them. So, eventually they became unorganised. This shows that unless you have money, you can’t afford to have infrastructure development. In western countries, they had the infrastructure ready even before the city actually came into place. But the case is totally different in the third world countries like India.

Are you working on any affordable housing project?

Today, I am sleeping, eating and breathing affordable housing. Even when I make a high-rise building, I always make sure to cut down a small percentzge from the budget planned for the costly projects. Let’s suppose, if the high-rise costs around Rs. 4,000 per sq ft to me, I try my level best to reduce it to Rs. 2,000 or Rs. 3,000 per sq ft and utilize my resources in the best possible manner. Today, we develop all kinds of buildings. We don’t only want to do plaster work. Gone are the days when affordability was confined to the idea of enjoying only a fewer amenities. Today, on the other side, affordability lets you have more amenities in a better manner, as the cost is reduced.

What are the basic principles of architecture you follow in terms of experimentation, or you go out-of-the-box to break the rules of architecture while designing buildings?

About past twenty years from now, we had never imagined a phone without a wire. And today, we can’t imagine a house without a water supply pipe. I am dreaming of houses without water supply pipes. Tell me! Why water supply can’t be made with antennas? For electricity, why do we need cables? We are talking about renewable energy, wind turbine etc., so dreaming of any random thing is completely open for all. I can dream of anything. But the big question is, will all these be possible? But I can tell you, in the next ten years, you will see them turning into realities, a house without water supply pipes. Yes, there will be antennas catching water and electricity. It is possible! The bottom line today is building high-rises in a way so that we can accommodate more people in a lesser land space and in a cheaper manner. That is the mantra and that is the need of our country. But at the same time, we have to create more land. Because there is a limit to going vertical as beyond a certain point, the increasing cost becomes constraint and owning one becomes impossible. Therefore, we have to create more land.

Do you think architects in India are getting enough creative freedom?

See, nobody gives you freedom …You need to take it (Laughs).

Is there anything else you find important in your view and you would like to share that with us?

Everybody wants to go on a holiday these days. You work, you sleep, you eat…this is what you do throughout the year. So there comes a time, when you decide to take a break from your routine. With the escalation in the need of holidaying, how many holiday resorts we have created till now? Barring some new resorts in Kerala or some new holiday destinations, how many are created. Now a days, construction is at a full pace in holiday destinations also. Take a look at Khandala, Lonavla, or even Matheran… construction projects at these places have eaten up the magnificent beauties of nature so much so that there is hardly any space left, not for a walk also. We need new holiday resorts. We need new holiday destinations. If given me a chance, I would rather endorse it and would say loudly that we need these very badly.

Source : http://www.infrawindow.com, Debajyoti Samal