Eugene Pandala Biography 
Eugene Pandala is an Indian architect from Kollam, Kerala. His constructions are built with values of environmental sustainability. He was a keynote speaker at the 361 degree conference 2016 held at Nehru centre in Mumbai, and in 2016 he was hosted by British council for their Great Talk Series held in Mumbai and Pune, Maharashtra. Eugene N. Pandala along with Jaygopal G. Rao received the first Laurie Baker Award instituted by the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi in 2011.
Mud as a medium of construction began to fascinate Eugene during his student days in New Delhi, and currently he advocates for such eco-friendly constructions. He uses the cob technique. His meeting with legendary Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy made him think about eco-friendly mud constructions. Currently he is one of the top architects from the state of Kerala, who has also constructed some memorable buildings. Some of his best creative pieces include - Earth resort at Banasura Hill Resort in Wayanad, a 94-room resort The Raviz at Kollam, the Film Academy Revathy Kala Mandir at Thiruvananthapuram, Pazasi Raja’s Tomb, his residential building built with mud "Bodhi", Owiyum, Sarai at Toria, Madhya Pradesh etc.
Eugene N. Pandala was born in Kollam, Kerala in the year 1954. He completed Masters in Urban Design at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and the idea of mud homes fascinated him during his stay in Delhi. Once completion of studies he received Fellowship from Heritage Conservation at University of York and Fort Brockhurst English Heritage Training Centre in U.K. Later he started his own school of Architecture in 1985, only the second one of this kind in Kerala. He designs buildings with natural materials and gives preference to landscapes with biodiversity conservation, and also native vegetation.
Published: March 01, 2019
Updated: March 01, 2019
