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An Interview With Lifetime Awardee
An Interview with Ar Upen Kakati, recipient of the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 1st Edition of the HAFELE Assam Architecture Awards 2020At a time when there were just 5/6 practising Architects in Assam, way back in 1969, a man from the interior village of Samata, in Lower Assam, trolled his way on an unchartered path of toil and determination and started an entrepreneurship of architectural practice that spanned 5 decades.As he already mentioned in the interview, he wanted to become a mechanical engineer_ but probably fate had something else in store and he got the opportunity to study architecture in the prestigious Sir JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai. Friends, that was in the year 1960 and at that point of time architectural education in India was in transition _trying to wriggle out of colonialism and establish something which is inherently Indian. He had the opportunity to interact with teachers of repute like Prof Bharve from IIT Kharagpur and lot of fellow international students. On graduation he joined Dr J P Parikh & Sons and continued to work there till the desire to work in his homeland brought him back to Assam in the year 1969. At a time when getting into a Govt job looked to be the only viable option, he started his own practice beside other older Architectural Firms like Designers’ Guild. The profession of Architecture in Assam was indeed in its infancy at that point in Assam and surely he went through the trials and tribulations associated with initial establishment.Five decades of works and three generation of change _ he has withstood the vagaries and tests of time and technology and have established a position of strength and conviction in the architectural landscape of the region.Upen Kakati