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HCPDPM - HCP Design and Project Management Pvt. Ltd.

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A Modernism For India: The <strong>HCP</strong> Practice 1960-2010<br />

Madhavi Desai <strong>and</strong> Miki Desai<br />

The year was 1969. We were young, starry-eyed students of architecture, immensely pleased<br />

at being invited to a party, at the newly built house of our teacher, Hasmukh Patel. The party<br />

was in the back garden of this avant-garde modernist building. We were, of course, charmed<br />

by it <strong>and</strong> also by the graciousness of the host ………….this is our lasting memory of Hasmukhbhai<br />

Ch<strong>and</strong>ulal Patel, whose house still remains one of the best examples of Brutalist modern<br />

architecture rooted in the Indian cultural context while adhering to international principles of<br />

modernist design. His practice then bore the name M/s Hasmukh C. Patel Architects (<strong>HCP</strong>).<br />

Today, when <strong>HCP</strong> <strong>Design</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Project</strong> <strong>Management</strong> <strong>Pvt</strong>. <strong>Ltd</strong>. (<strong><strong>HCP</strong>DPM</strong>) of Ahmedabad<br />

celebrates its golden jubilee, it is also celebrating the grit, talent <strong>and</strong> vision of Hasmukh<br />

Patel who began the practice in 1960 with 3 employees! Atmaram Gajjar, whose practice<br />

was taken over by Hasmukh Patel, had a moderate legacy of good buildings mainly<br />

in the revivalist style. Hasmukh Patel’s new practice shifted boldly to join the modern<br />

movement. A purist modern movement took root in Ahmedabad when the Art Deco<br />

<strong>and</strong> inklings of International Style were in vogue in Mumbai <strong>and</strong> Calcutta. Locally, there<br />

existed, works by Gregson, Batley <strong>and</strong> King <strong>and</strong> international style l<strong>and</strong>marks, such as,<br />

the ATIRA building by the late Achyut Kanvinde. The patrons of architecture in Ahmedabad,<br />

however, embraced the modernist idiom unquestioningly. Within this scenario,<br />

Hasmukh Patel, a Cornell graduate, focused on ‘professionalism <strong>and</strong> practice’ as the<br />

core dictum of his architecture.<br />

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