Mumbai: Hafeez Contractor is probably India’s most commercially successful architect with his work spanning 100 cities in five nations, including skyscrapers such as the Imperial and Hiranandani Gardens in Mumbai, 23 Marina in Dubai and DLF Cybercity in Gurugram. Mumbai-based Contractor, 68, is known for his outspoken and controversial views, and has been a proponent of high-rise buildings. Going vertical, according to him, is the only way for cities to grow, a view that has been criticized by urban planners. In an interview, the Mumbai-based architect spoke on Mumbai’s new development plan (DP) and how projects are being designed these days. Edited excerpts:

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Has project design changed over the years? Has it changed the way we live?

Everything has changed, including project sizes. When I worked as an apprentice, designing a 10,000-15,000 sq. ft building was considered big, and a 40,000 sq. ft was even bigger. Today, 4-5 million sq. ft is run-of-the-mill. Sizes are blown apart. Buildings are becoming bigger and bigger. When I was in college, a 13-14 storey (building) was called a skyscraper. Today we are making so many buildings which are 80-90 storeyed. Structure has to be taken into account...new technology has to be taken into account. How to build efficiently, that has to be taken into account. There are a lot of challenges but these are good challenges. And on the horizon, I see lots and lots of high-rises where everyone will be sitting on their balconies, sipping, and not sitting on the pavement. 

The real estate sector is undergoing a transformation. What’s the brief developers give you these days?

Money is getting very, very dear. Flats are getting smaller. The trend today is to make smaller flats and have common amenities, which are fabulously large. If you want to entertain a person, invite him to the common areas which has the best of bars, lounges so that you don’t have to entertain them in your house. I still wish that builders allocate more areas for clubhouses with various facilities like swimming pools so that kids and families can enjoy them. When we were small, we used to be lucky to go to a swimming pool. We crib we don’t get a gold medal for swimming. How the hell will we get when at 18 years, one jumps into the swimming pool for the first time? 

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