How did you bag this prestigious assignment?
The previous Telangana State Secretariat was spread across thirty acres in Hyderabad with forty-odd buildings that were old and with insufficient facilities. The Technical Committee recommended a new secretariat and floated a competition in 2019 and invited twenty leading architects from across the country to participate. It was a very tough yet fair competition, one that went on for a year, and the Technical Committee as well as the then Honourable Chief Minister of Telangana, K Chandrashekar Rao, selected Oscar, Ponni & Rahul Architects to be the principal architects for the new Telangana Secretariat in Hyderabad.

In July 2020, amidst the COVID lockdown, he personally called and let us know that our design had been selected. We had a two-week-long hectic design workshop with the Honourable Chief Minister, the Government of Telangana and the PWD Department. It was a great privilege to work with a highly knowledgeable, technically savvy and visionary Chief Minister who understood the nuances of design, supported women’s empowerment and efficient governance.

Our scope of work was urban design, architecture, interior design, engineering services and landscape design. We used architecture as a medium of democracy and created a monumental edifice that reflected the history and culture of Telangana, a beautiful administrative complex that the public would emotionally connect with, and be proud of.

What was the design brief?
The government of Telangana as well as the Honourable Chief Minister wanted a building that even a farmer from the remote corner of Telangana would emotionally connect with awe and pride. As a visionary, he wanted a building that would last one hundred and fifty years, which today, is one of the best secretariats in Asia. The building and ancillary buildings added up to twelve lakh square feet and had to be built in two years. We used the best of the latest construction technology and completed it in a record twenty-six months at a cost of 1200 crores.

Did you have enough freedom?
Working with government is a different ballgame as one needs to be patient and work around the clock and take on challenges. However, Honourable Chief Minister supported our design and instructed the PWD department and contractor to adhere to the architect’s design with no deviations.

What was your team like?
COVID posed a great challenge as we had close to a hundred design staff members working remotely in different parts of Tamil Nadu and another hundred comprising supervising engineers and architects working on-site in Hyderabad. Architect Oscar and I stayed in Hyderabad during the entire construction timeframe. My son, architect Rahul front-ended our firm from Chennai. This was a monumental effort to pull off a once-in-a-lifetime project that is today an award-winning architectural marvel.

What kind of designs and styles did you pick?
The design philosophy is one of contextual architecture and a fusion of different styles of architecture. You must note that India has a treasure trove of ancient Hindu architecture, architecture of the invaders from the Middle East, Europe and the current modern architecture.

The plan was in the form of a Hindu Temple inspired by the Seetha Ramachandra Swamy and the Ramappa temples. The architectural detailing is from Indian temples, the Wanarpathy and the Chowmahalla Palace in Telangana.

The design elements include the three orders of column styles. We have built the largest portico which is three storeys high, one hundred twenty feet long, sixty feet wide and seven different types of window design featuring sandstone, jallis, arch windows, four storey tall windows and punched windows. The entrance door was twenty-four feet long and twenty-four feet high and it’s the largest entrance door in a secretariat, anywhere in the world with a local design called bidri art.

The magnificence of the architecture is matched with the elegance of the interior design of the spaces inside the building, The beauty of this building is that at every corner, the vista changes as it is rich with architectural detailing.

What makes it unique?
I am a great believer in excellence, and I wanted the secretariat to be the biggest and the best. This is the tallest and largest secretariat in India and the first to be designed by a woman. It is the only IGBC Gold Rated Secretariat in India. It is the first secretariat that has social and gender equity. It features thirty-four domes and two dome tower complexes which is a global first. Using cutting-edge technology, it was completed in twenty-six months. It is a photographer’s delight as the building is not only a treasure house of heritage architecture with an eight-acre lawn but also faces the beautiful Hussain Sagar Lake.

Can you tell us about how eco-friendly the building is?
The Telangana State Secretariat is the first Indian secretariat to be a Gold Rated IGBC Building. All of the building materials including the furniture with the exception of the red sandstone were sourced from Telangana which makes this building a truly green building.

The design is also along energy efficiency lines complete with a two-and-a-half-acre courtyard, twelve feet wide corridors and fourteen feet high ceilings that brought in natural light and ventilation thereby reducing the carbon footprint to a large extent.

The challenge of building this complex during COVID added to the complexities of supply of labour and material. I am now a firm believer in using local materials and local labour as it not only supports the local economy but is also a symbol of local pride.

Can you tell us a bit about the layout?
The plan of the secretariat is rectangular like Hindu temple with four main entrances, with thirty-four hemispherical domes, each complete with a ring of lotus petals at the base and a lotus finial with inspirations from the Vaitheeswaran Temple in Tamil Nadu. Six floors of the secretariat comprise of the offices of the state and the seventh to the eleventh floors comprise of hospitality spaces that include a grand banquet hall, ceremonial hall, a dining hall, collectors’ conference hall, a multi-purpose hall and a very grand circular sky lounge under the main dome where one can view the entire city of Hyderabad at a height of two hundred sixty-five feet. This building has two major dome tower complexes and thirty-four domes, a church, temple and mosque for interfaith worship, creche for working mothers and a helipad – all of which is a global first for a secretariat in the world.

What do you think is the difference a woman can bring in?
In my firm, I am the lead architect for my projects where I am not just an architectural designer but also am able think like a structural engineer. Being a great supporter of women’s empowerment I feel that women today can take on challenges better, have a sense of grandeur and are able to meet deadlines faster with dedication and discipline.

You must remember that I was the first undergraduate woman student, one girl among more than thousand male students at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli. My international experience of studying at Cornell and Harvard Universities, USA and working in New York City, USA was a great supportive element in handling a large project like the secretariat in Hyderabad.

Given opportunities and security, women can yield remarkable results compared to men. Women’s empowerment especially in a country like India, can yield rich dividends to the GDP and catapult India to being a great superpower.

What are your current projects?
Our latest project is the Thanthai Periyar Grand Library and Science Centre at Coimbatore. The foundation stone for this project was recently laid by the Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Thiru. M.K. Stalin. Other projects include a ten-thousand-seater state-of-the-art Convention Centre and many other dynamic projects.