I. M. Kadri

Early life and education I.M. Kadri was born in Ahmedabad in 1929. He attended Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi and completed his civil engineering degree with honours at the Engineering College of the University of Pune in 1953.

After graduating, he married Vipula Kadri a social worker from Karachi, and settled in New Delhi. He has 1 son, architect Rahul Kadri who is also the principal architect and director of IMK Architects, and 2 daughters, Isha Mehra and Mana Shetty (Sunil Shetty's wife).

Career

Kadri started his architectural practice I.M. Kadri Architects in 1958 in Churchgate, Mumbai. In 1971, he expanded his establishment to another company called Kadri Consultants Private Limited with its head office in Mumbai followed by branches in Bengaluru and Muscat.

In the 1960s, I.M. Kadri was selected by Hilton senior management as an architect to build the proposed Bombay Hilton hotel in Worli, Mumbai, and was sent on a world tour to study all of Hilton's hotels around the globe. However, the Bombay Hilton Hotel was never built, and instead, Kadri went on to design many Indian hotels in the 1970s and 1980s, including many Taj hotels built in that era like the Taj Mahal (Mansingh) and Taj Palace Hotels in New Delhi.

Some notable buildings designed by Kadri include the Shivsagar Estate, Nehru Center, Ceat Mahal, Happy Home and School for the Blind and Otter’s Club in Mumbai. The Government of Maharashtra also appointed him as a member of the Steering Committee on Slums in the year 1981, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority in 1994.

He served as vice-president on the Board for the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) formed in 2002 to promote communal harmony in India.

In 2016, Niyogi Publications published his book, The Architecture of I.M.Kadri.

Architectural Influences At a young age, I.M. Kadri was largely influenced by the Diwan's Bungalow in which he lived. The residence had a garden, terraces and apparent interwoven visual connections, and was situated in a century-old palatial haveli in the historical quarter of Ahmedabad. Kadri cites Mughal Architecture and calligraphy as influences, which can perhaps be seen in all his projects. Otters Club, Mumbai, 1973 Fort Aguada Beach Resort, Goa, 1973 Taj Coromandel for Oriental Hotels Ltd, Chennai, 1974 Taj Mahal (Mansingh) Hotel, New Delhi, 1979 Haj House, Mumbai 1987 Haveli House, Mumbai 1989 Sona College of Technology, Salem 1997 International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England, in their Seventh Edition as "Men of Achievements". 2021, Awarded the Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya Trophy, Lifetime Achievement Award at the 12th CIDC Vishwakarma Awards 2021.