The 2,000-unit social housing development T.V. Krishnamurthy designed for Chennai is still cited internationally as a model for culturally appropriate, climatically responsive mass housing — the project that earned him the HUDCO National Architecture Award in 2008 and the clearest example of a career-long argument he has made in built form: that architecture which fights its climate will always lose.
"Architecture that fights its climate will always lose. Architecture that understands it will outlast everyone who worked on it."
His training began at the Madras School of Architecture and continued at the Architectural Association in London, an education reflected in a body of work — 130 projects over thirty-eight years — that is unmistakably contemporary in structure and materials while remaining rooted in its climate and culture. He established TVK Architecture in 1990; its first major commission was the Regional Engineering College, Trichy.
He served as Past President of the Council of Architecture, India, and sat on the jury of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in Geneva in 2005 — recognition of an influence that extends well beyond his own firm's portfolio into the standards by which Indian institutional architecture is judged.
The Padma Shri he received in 2017 acknowledged a career of contribution to Indian architecture extending well past any single project — a body of public work that has shaped the built environment of Chennai for nearly four decades.
Founder & Principal, TVK Architecture; Visiting Professor, Madras School of Architecture; and Advisor, HUDCO Design Panel.
Urban Design & Housing; Institutional Architecture; and Tropical Climate Architecture.
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