About Kurula Varkey (Monograph by Prof. Neelkanth Chhaya)

Professor Kurula Varkey was born on the 14th of July 1945, the elder of the two sons of T.K. Vergis and Sosamma Vergis. On completion of his schooling at the Lawrence school, Lovedale (Nilgiris), he joined the IIT, Kharagpur to study architecture. His interest in Literature, Theatre and Music found encouragement here, and he took part in the activities on campus with zest.

He came to Ahmedabad in 1968, joining Vastu-Shilpa initially as a trainee, and later as an architect upon graduation. Ahmedabad, then the capital of the young Gujarat state, a centre of economic and financial activity, was in the throes of much developmental activity and thinking. Institutions such as the Indian Institute of Management, the National Institute of Design and the School of Architecture were already emerging as leading centres of intellectual activity, complementing the Physical Research Organization. The conservative traditional society of Ahmedabad was renewing itself by engaging in a vigorous participation in an emergent sense of modernity.

For Varkey, this was an intense shaping experience. Participating in te architectural community at this was to participate in the reformation of the profession in modern India - its ethos, its concerns, its methods and its language. Working and living in this environment, sharing thoughts and debates with his contemporaries, Varkey developed, bit by bit, his unique method of understanding and analyzing architecture. This was to be the armature of his thoughts in the years to come. This period culminated in his first teaching assignment at the School of Architecture. Teaching studio, history of architecture and settlement pattern as well as guiding number of theses, he put down the foundations of his range of thoughts.

In 1977, Prof. Varkey took up a teaching post at the University of Nairobi. A completely new physical and cultural context greatly stimulated him. In the years to come, he initiated a complete overhaul of the Department's curriculum and teaching methods, emphasizing the particular nature of Kenya's culture and geography. Through his sheer dedication and sincerity, he was able to maintain bonds of friendships with even those who disagreed with him. He came into contact with people from varied cultures in this cosmopolitan atmosphere - African, European, American - but always his acute awareness of his student's needs guided his course.

A period of study and travel followed. He joined Masters Program in Architecture at the University of Helsinki and traveled all over Scandinavia and Europe. As a result of this experience, he questioned the relationship of the individual to society and the design vocabulary with its concern for contextuality and urban coherence became richer.

Returning to India in 1987, he was appointed Director of the School of Architecture at the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad. This he saw both as a challenge and an opportunity. A school with high standards and well established tradition presented the challenge of enlarging the concerns. Varkey took the opportunity to emphasize the relation of architecture to culture and urban contexts during this venture as Director.

In these last years he had been a much respected and sought-after participant in educational and professional forums across the country. Yet he maintained a close relationship with each student that he taught. It is a mark of his warm humanity that anyone who came across him remembers him with respect and affection. He will be sorely missed by his wife Alice, daughter Mayuri, and other family members, friends, colleagues, students and many others who knew him.