There seems to be more to the withdrawal of Japanese architectural company Maki and Associates from the project to design the Andhra Pradesh capital complex of Amaravati that what meets the eye.
A recent letter written by Maki and Associates to the Indian government has revealed that there was something fishy in dropping the Japanese firm and entrusting the contract to a London-based company Fosters and Partners, in association with Mumbai-based architect Hafiz Contractor.
In the letter, Maki chairman Fumihiko Maki questioned motive of the Chandrababu Naidu government and alleged that it had resorted to unfair practice, fraud and lack of transparency in removal of his company from the project. He demanded an inquiry into the whole process.
“The manner in which the Government treated us following this competition and subsequently appointed a different architect team should be re-examined. This inquiry is, in our opinion, in the best interests of the Indian Architecture as a profession, both for Indian architects and for the International community. The reputation of the Indian Architectural profession is at stake,” he said.
In March of last year, Maki and Associates was selected by a jury of professionals as the winners of the invited competition that also featured proposals from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Vastu Shilpa Consultants / BV Doshi, and were awarded the project by the government of Andhra Pradesh. But once the designs were made public, the scheme faced harsh criticism over ‘alienating’ buildings and a lack of Indian-inspired architectural influence.
Despite Maki and Associates making extensive design changes to meet the new demands, the government decided to reopen the competition to several new firms, eventually removing the firm from the project.
