Perhaps very few building industry professional know the Bangalore skyline well as architect Dinesh Verma because he came to Bangalore in the early eighties, just when the construction boom was picking up.

Verma (born 1959) had his early education in Nagpur. He graduated in Architecture from Regional Engineering College, Nagpur in 1980 and did his Master’s in Industrial Design in 1982 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.  He came to Bangalore soon after and initially worked with renowned Architects, Karekar and Sundaram and after gaining experience joined with Ace Group  as Principal Architect and Managing Director. Under him Ace Group grew to handle large multicrore projects all over South India besides Delhi, Jaipur, Bombay, Hyderabad and Pune.

Verma  has designed some of the most  reputed school campus such as Indus International  School, Bangalore and The International School, Bangalore. Major Multinational Companies like IBM, i2 Technologies and GE Capital  are working in environments designed by  him. He was a teaching faculty  at BMS College and a visiting faculty at  BIT Architecture Dept. A number of students from all over the country have been provided Practical Training under him at his office. He has been a jury and examiner for B Arch Degree.

 He is a Fellow of  Indian Institute of Architects, Founder Member Designer Guild of India, President Designers Guild of India 1995-97, President  Practising Architects Association 2002-2004 and Associate Member Indian Institute of Interior designers. He is Recipient of   National Award from 'Accommodation Times", for the "Best Architect of   the Year 2005".

In a chat with Metrolife,  Verma gave his perspective about the City, its growth and the direction it should be ideally heading:

I came to Bangalore in 1984...
I didn’t have a job. Soon I joined the architects Karekar & Sundaram and after gaining some experience I joined Ace Group as the principal architect and managing director. It was a tough time as the building construction industry was not organised. It is 20 years since then and over time we have proved ourselves with out technical edge.

When I came to Bangalore I used to live in a paying guest accommodation in Sadashivanagar...
There was not much traffic. Autorickshaws refused to go beyond Cauvery theatre and I had to walk rest of the way. At that time I never expected that Bangalore would grow at this rate.

Bangalore needs to decentralise itself...
The City should not be congested further. The malls are a major attraction, but they should not come up in the heart of the City. They should be on the outskirts of the City.

In Bangalore the business capital and political capital is the same.....Everything is concentrated in one place. This leads to congestion. The world over the business capital and political capital are different. In New York state the political capital is the City of Albany.

High rise buildings are inevitable in Bangalore....
But it should be ensured that there is more free space in the surrounding area, rainwater harvesting facilities.
There should be at least 20 per cent land around the buildings for the rainwater to percolate and replenish the ground water. Take for instance, M G Road. The road is tarred, the pavement is tiled and there is no land around.
There is no proper road to the international airport being established at Devanahalli. In Malaysia, the airport is 80 kms away from the heart of the City, but I can reach there by 28 minutes.

I approve of the Master Plan for Bangalore....
But the Government has to ensure that it is implemented in true spirit and in accordance with the provisions made in the Master Plan and ensure that the newly developed areas do not result in the same chaos as the older areas. The shopping complexes of Rajajinagar and Indiranagar were developed much after the extension were formed and people starting living. The Millennium city on the outskirts of London city were provided with roads and civic amenities before the people started living there. Services and civic amenities should reach the new areas in Bangalore before the people start living there.