NAGPUR: "Builders have taken over the city. It is purely being developed for investors and not the citizens. The entire city has become a victim of it," said renowned Delhi-based architect Romi Khosla while expressing concern about Nagpur being transformed into 'another concrete jungle.'

Khosla was in the city on Saturday to deliver the 14th Mavlankar memorial oration on 'Doubt and search for solutions' organized by Indian Institute of Architects (IIA), Nagpur Centre. Chairman of the institute Paramjeet Ahuja and architect Sujit Rodge were also present on the dais.

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Describing one of his early works, Khosla said, "It was a contemporary but conventional work I designed at Himachal Pradesh. The building had a traditional setting but we used all modern technique to give it a cutting edge. In my work, there is always a relationship between the local craftmen and the building. It was carefully crafted in wood and steel. Each panel of the building was different from each other. There were horizontal bands of timber that went between the stones making the whole architecture earthquake-resistant."

Khosla is currently working on a theory called 'Natural Cities'. He said, "Inspite of concentrating on the builder's need, the city should focus on nature, which has to survive through all this. Nature is a unified entity that embraces all animate and inanimate things including each human being in their unique capacity."

(Reporting by Shakti Singh)