A crematorium. A 4,000-square-foot, three-house country retreat. A retail space in a Chennai hotel. The interiors of a city apartment. These varied projects, completed by Mancini Enterprises over the past few years showcase the diversity of scale and utility this firm is capable of negotiating. If there is one common thread among all, it is the keen sensitivity to the project’s history and environment. The firm won top honours in the ‘Single Residence’ category at the Asia-Pacific Property Awards in 2013. Its impressive design for the Coimbatore crematorium (pictured here) is marked by austere concrete colonnades that call to mind the rows of pillars that define some of south India’s finest archaeological sights; the building has already garnered attention within and outside India. Projects like these have set a new standard for intelligent contemporary design in south India.

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MATHEW & GHOSH ARCHITECTS
PRINCIPALS SOUMITRO GHOSH, NISHA MATHEW GHOSH LOCATION BENGALURU Mathew & Ghosh Architects (MGA) was founded in 1995 by husband-and-wife team Soumitro Ghosh and Nisha Mathew Ghosh, who were studying together in CEPT, Ahmedabad. MGA’s recent works are still deeply rooted in Bengaluru; as in the case of the stunning National Martyr’s Memorial (below), which honours nearly 22,000 Indians who gave their lives in the fight for Independence. A series of steps, ramps and an amphitheatre leading to a subterranean ‘motivational hall’ cut geometric forms into a surface-level green space, punctured with angular skylights and memorial tablets. The memorial is both sombre and light- filled, drawing inspiration from other great war memorials, while paying homage to the city that houses it.
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PHOTOS: R BURMAN
PHOTO: SOLACHI RAMANATHAN