Tallest building in the city limits by the end of 2010.


CHENNAI: The government will literally tower over the citizens of Chennai in about two years. Chennai’s next skyscraper - the secretariat, set to come up adjacent to the assembly building inside the Omandurar Government Estate on Mount Road - will be the tallest building in the city limits by the end of 2010.

The 20-storeyed building, which will house government departments, will come up close to the futuristic assembly complex, for which the foundation stone was laid on Thursday.

While the legislature will move from the 17th century fort with Indo-Saracenic interiors to a new complex that blends futuristic design elements with traditional motifs, the babus will be transplanted from a building with 10 floors within Fort St George to a structure twice its height.

In a sense, the assembly will be coming back to the government estate, as it had functioned for some years from Rajaji Hall, which will remain untouched within the new complex.

Two other skyscrapers are being built in greater Chennai - a 28-storeyed residential complex being put up by the Hiranandani group and a 29-storeyed structure of True Value Homes, both on Old Mahabalipuram Road.

Within the city, the secretariat will certainly be a new landmark. For decades, the LIC building, with 14 floors, was the symbol of good old Madras. The Jains Westminster building in Virugambakkam, with 18 floors, snatched the pride of place from LIC. Berlin based architects - gmp, von Gerkan, Marg and Partner - have designed the new secretariat building. "The new secretariat will be a towering structure, housing government departments," said Hubert Nienhoff, CEO architect-partner, GMP.

Detailing the concepts that went into the architecture, Nienhoff said the basic idea came from the ‘mandala’ motif as the team was browsing through traditional Tamil symbols.

The architects learnt about the competition (for the best design) very late. "As we were keen to expand and embrace other cultures, we submitted a design combining modern and traditional elements. As the new assembly was to be a symbol of democracy, we came up with the design for a unique, iconic monument," he said.

"We were lucky to be selected. The chief minister liked the design from day 1. We had to work really hard," he said. The architects chose the dome for the legislature as it was an architectural symbol of democracy worldwide.

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