With a B.Arch. from VRCE Nagpur, Masters in Urban & Regional Planning plus a PhD in Urban Service Delivery from CEPT University Ahmedabad, Dr. Praful Gharpure holds a Project Management Professional Certification from PMI, USA and Six Sigma Black Belt Certification from ASQ, USA. Presently associated with Tata Consultancy Services as a Senior Consultant, the academically-driven architect proposes some insightful changes in the current architectural education offered in India. Here we present some excerpts from his paper - Leveraging Design and Project Management Lifecycle Synergy.

In recent times, various initiatives started at the National level focus on efficient built forms - where an “architect” is present as a crucial member in all teams. Considering this, there is a need to reorient the academic programs in architecture schools today to be in sync with project management approach for execution where architects are now required to play a lead role in implementation. This paper analyses potential way forward for its realization into practice.

Multiple teams which work on the designs conceptualized by a Principal Architect. The composition of teams and their respective roles are shown in table 1. One can clearly see presence of 10-12 architects across various teams associated with the project.

The table outlines the need for the capacity building in budding architects to play role in different teams for effective implementation of designs conceptualized as well as Project Management skills required for coordination of activities within project lifecycle. 

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