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MANAGEMENT TEAM
R.Sundaram - Chairman & Managing Director
Professional experience: 55 years
Sundaram, a novel and a pioneering engineer-architect in the country, has adopted construction methods and practices ahead of its times while adeptly balancing the triumvirate of aesthetics, function and economy in the buildings he has designed. Incorporating pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete in structures and doing away with expensive form work has been his forte. The country is just catching up with this concept with most infrastructure projects such as bridges and flyovers being built using precast segmental construction adopted by him since 1980.
Sundaram’s contributions include large concrete hypar shells, large span RCC and steel folded plate roofs, inverted umbrella, cylindrical shells, pre-cast pre-stressed folded plates, segmental bridges etc. He has been responsible for the design of several major projects including Industrial projects, IT campuses, Bio-Tech facilities, Shopping malls, Sports stadia, Educational campuses, Chemical plants, Road transportation net works like Flyovers, Subways, Multi-storeyed car parking, Auditoriums, Convention centres, Hospitals, Housing, Townships etc.
Also, his contribution to shell structures in India cannot go unnoticed. From his first shell structure in 1961 to the latest shell structure in the 2018, Sundaram has demonstrated the sleekness of the form while eliminating all visible surface stiffening and enhancing the visual appeal of the buildings. Labour costs have always been relatively cheaper in India but it is Sundaram’s skillful use of repetitive form work and intelligent prefabrication that has enabled him to design economical, efficient and elegant shell structures of long spans.
Sundaram has been quite active in many International Forums/Associations like International Association for Shell & Spatial Structures [IASS], Madrid and SEWC etc. He has been attending their annual international conferences since 1982 in different parts of the world as a Keynote Speaker and Invited Speaker. He has been successfully conducting a number of International Conferences in India and abroad as well.
Some of his prestigious awards and accolades:
Winner of the prestigious “EDUARDO TORROJA MEDAL“ by the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures [IASS] based in Madrid, in recognition of his outstanding and distinguished contributions to design, construction, or research of shell and/or spatial structures”. IASS conferred the medal on him in Seoul, South Korea on 24th May 2012 during the annual IASS International Symposium. The first Indian to receive this prestigious International award.
Honoured by the Board of Directors of the Structural Engineers World Congress Inc., USA by conferring on him the International Award “SEWC Roland Sharpe Medal”.
Prestigious Award - conferred on him by the Construction Industry Development Council, New Delhi – the 5th CIDC Vishwakarma Award namely the “ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR INDUSTRY DOYEN” for the year 2013.
Honoured by the Prestressed & Precast Concrete Society, Singapore by conferring him a “Life-Time Honorary Membership” in Singapore on 27th August 2010.
Elected as President, Structural Engineers World Congress [ SEWC ] Inc. Worldwide for 2007 to 2011, again re-elected in 2011 for the period till 2015 and once again re-elected for the 3rd term from 2015 to 2019. SEWC is head quartered in San Francisco, USA. First time an Indian to become the President of SEWC and extended for the 3rd term.
Princeton University, USA published a Thesis by Meggie June Betancourt on “R. Sundaram & Modern Thin Shell Concrete Structures”
Recipient of a number of other National & International awards/accolades
Former President [ for two consecutive terms ] of Association of Consulting Civil Engineers [India] [ACCE(I) - 1993 to 1997.
Former Vice President of Indian Concrete Institute [ICI]
Former President of Rotary Club of Bangalore, 1995-1996.
Member of Council of Architecture, India
Member of American Concrete Institute
Member of American Society of Civil Engineers
Member of International Association for Shell & Spatial Structures, Madrid
Member of ACI Jt. Committee on Shells
He is a fellow of Association of Consulting Civil Engineers (India), Institution of Engineers, India and Indian Institution of Bridge Engineers.
He is a permanent member of the prestigious International Advisory Board of International Association for Shell & Spatial Structures [ IASS ], Madrid
Sundaram holds a Master’s Degree in Structural Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and a B.E. in Civil Engineering from B.M.S. College of Engineering, Bangalore
Shalini Sundaram - Design Director
Professional Experience: 23 years
She has been leading the master planning and building design team at Sundaram Architects for several large projects for both Indian and Multi-national clients for their Institutional, Educational, Corporate offices & IT, Healthcare, Aviation, Science & Technology, Real Estate Clients for over 21 years.
Shalini’s flair for design and passion for space is apparent in the way she conceives and designs living and working spaces with the simplest, yet sleekest strokes. An exceptional designer and intuitive architect, her focus lies in the art of balance, combining architectural details and design elements like spatial flow, light, scale and material with clients’ goals to bring their dreams into reality.
She has a keen eye for detail and has led the design teams of complex, ambitious projects. Understanding the importance of both beauty and functionality, Shalini works meticulously through each detail to accommodate special interests, overcome challenges, and transcend client expectations. Her intimate knowledge of material and technique make her a vital resource in all aspects of the project and her perspective is always respected, as is her ability to multi-task on an ongoing basis.
When in California she has had the privilege of training under the famous architect Arthur Dyson and attended workshops with the celebrated architect, Tadao Ando, in Osaka Japan.
Shalini did her initial B Architecture coursework from UVCE, Bangalore/California college of arts and crafts, USA and later pursued her Masters in Archiecture from SFIA-USA with additional certification courses from the University of California, Berkeley,USA
Raj Sundaram - Director, Strategy and Business development
Professional Experience: 28 years
Sundaram V. Rajagopal (Raj), has over 28 years of experience in real estate private equity and design development throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. Raj is also the founder of Taalin Aria Capital, a real estate investment manager, which served as the asset manager for Starwood Capital’s India assets and as the advisor to real estate and infrastructure companies.
From April 2013 to September 2014, Raj was a senior partner in Ada Investments and CEO of Ada Real Estate, a New York based systematic equities business, where Raj managed a US real estate securities portfolio with research collaboration from Dr. Chris Mayer of Columbia University and helped manage the business.
For four years prior to this, Raj was a Managing Director at Starwood Capital Group and led the firm’s activities in Asia, where he led both acquisitions and asset management. During this time, Starwood Capital was active in India, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, and Vietnam. In India, Raj managed over $500 million of real estate asset value, including the development of a Grade A office building in Mumbai and an interest in a large Southern Indian residential developer.
Earlier, Raj was the Managing Director and Country Head for Lehman Brothers’ Real Estate Partners’ activities in India from 2006 to 2010. Here he developed and executed Lehman’s entry into real estate private equity in India and invested approximately $300 million of equity across ventures and asset classes.
Prior to joining Lehman Brothers in 2006, Rajagopal served as the Managing Partner for Third Point India, LLC, a partnership dedicated to real estate, and other special situation investments in India. He joined Third Point India from Starwood Capital Group, where he served as a Vice President focused on transaction execution for a variety of asset classes in the United States and Europe over a period of three years.
Prior to earning his MBA at Harvard Business School, Raj was a practicing architect and engineer (for 9 years) in the US initially and, later, India. His experience in India included leading the design development and subsequent construction of several large office campuses, residential developments and infrastructure projects. While in the US, Raj was a project manager for a California based infrastructure consultancy.
Rajagopal holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.S. in Structural Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School.
Jagan Venkataramanan - Director, Business Development & Operations, Managing Partner - V+S Design Partners
Professional Experience: 29 years
Close examination of Jagan’s extraordinary portfolio of works, accumulated from over 29 years, reveals evidence of craftsmanship, economic sensibility, ecological sustainability and unadulterated innovation - a style that consistently challenges the status quo of building design in a raw and unyielding manner.
This challenge of the conventional takes form in the characteristics that his work possesses. They defy any straight jacketing into any simple categorization and have the continual ability to innovate and surprise with each new project. It is an architectural and strong engineering mind-set that constantly searches for new breakthroughs in many fields, be it cutting edge building technology, sustainable ecological designs or interpretations of conservation.
Jagan sees every project as a design puzzle where all goals, problems, constraints, ideals and opportunities have an innovative solution to be found. Adopting an open mind-set and an unwavering vigour, he has a gift for unlocking the hidden aesthetic potential in projects and has an uncanny ability to seamlessly weave in the needs and aspirations of the people and environment involved.
He has been a senior partner at Venkataramanan Associates, Architects for 21 years and was instrumental in driving the firm’s vision and goals . He was involved in leading and directing several greenfield projects for Fortune 500 firms and leading Indian corporates. He was instrumental in setting up the firm’s systems and processes and facilitating their ISO 9000 approvals in addition to spearheading several JV's with leading design and Engineering firms.
While working at Cygna Corporation and ADP-flour daniel in San Francisco, CA he has done very challenging projects in California and Mid-Western United States in the areas of IT and Biotechnology, Advanced and Hi-Tech semiconductor manufacturing, Healthcare and Commercial and residential projects. He has done some path breaking research projects in close collaboration with Prof. EGOR Popov at the University of California, Berkeley.
He has been instrumental in developing an ERP software called Konnect which is now commercially available and specially written for managing the efficiency and profitability of medium and large sized Architectural, Engineering and other professional services firms and is used by leading A/E firms. He is additionally a BIM/VDC evangelist and has founded V+S design partners (www.vs-dp.com) which is a full service BIM/VDC based firm whose focus is to orchestrate the design process bringing in advanced & efficient processes and leverage the use of technology to design and build safer, faster, economical and sustainable buildings for the clients.
He has a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering - Bangalore University, Masters in Structural Engineering, Oklahoma State University, USA and Masters in Architecture, SFIA USA with a focus on sustainability and ecological design.