Ar. Mullaimanalan has been working as the Head of Architecture Department at Saveetha College of Architecture and Design, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He has an amazing 17 years of experience in the Architecture and Design Practice field and he has been heading design teams in various award-winning firms like HKS Inc., KGD-Bangalore, Inform Architects-Bangalore and won many architectural competitions as well. He has dinner M.Arch with distinction in Digital Architecture for the School of Architecture and Planning, Chennai as part of his academics. Apart from this, he has executed several projects for leading brands like Apollo Hospitals, Sheraton Hotel of Bangalore, Van Bhavan of Bhopal, King Fahad Medical City of Riyadh and Aster Medcity of Kochi. 

Saveetha College of Architecture and Design

Which best facilities are you offering in your college to help students stand apart from the crowd?

"We have best infrastructure, research facilities and education system for students"

Our college provides unique and employment oriented courses to students to help them excel in the outer competitive world. And rigorous research activities and experiments have been integrated with each course to ensure best practical learning experience for students. We also provide Working Drawings to them as conveying design ideas through drawings to stakeholders is essential and help us to make students industry ready. Apart from this, we have 24 elective courses to expose students to various kinds of industries and research areas. Last but not the least, SCAD organizes study tours on both regional and international levels and also provides short term workshops to students for their skills enhancement. 

Which factors make the programs of your college worth pursuing and the best choice for the students?

"Skills this course demands and opportunities which it offers makes it a best fit for students"

The B.Arch course which we offer to students demands a creative learning attitude and analytical thinking capabilities from students and students who have a flare for good design naturally opt for this course. Unlike regular courses which are mostly classroom bound, our program requires and provides abundant opportunities to students to walk out of the campus and learn from real world scenarios. In addition to all this, doors of multiple domains like Journalism, UX/UI Design, Project Management and Town and City Planning are open for students after successfully finishing our course. So all these factors together make our courses worth pursuing for students.

What would you say are the best practices of courses your institute is offering to students?

"Students have the option to choose and learn subjects of their own interest and that's the best thing"

We have given flexibility to students to learn at their own pace and make best use of Choice Based Credit System which allows them to choose courses of their interest. In addition to this, vertical learning sessions and knowledge sharing programs are organized to enforce healthy interaction between senior and junior students. And we also encourage students to leverage the concept of Peer Learning through Multiple Integrated Learning Algorithms and to undertake certification courses offered by online learning platforms like Swayam and NPTEL.

Check Saveetha College of Architecture and Design Courses & Fees

What are some valuable insights of programs students are pursuing from your college?

"Our teaching pedagogies and specializations we offer under each course makes them unique"

We offer our courses in 5 major categories and the very first category is called Professional Core which actually acts as the foundation Architecture courses for students and include subjects like history of architecture, architectural graphics and design etc. Next we have Building Science and Engineering courses which include allied and essential professional subjects. In addition to this, we have Professional Electives courses that are handpicked and offered by experts for making the students industry ready. The 4th one is the Skill Enhancement courses whose primary focus is to inculcate communication, presentation, graphics and real life skills in students. And the very last category of courses is Non-CGPA courses which prepare students for diverse fields like Industrial Design, Web Design and Traffic Engineering etc.

How do the courses of your college ensure the future preparedness of students?

"To ensure future readiness of students, we regularly conduct workshops and research programs"

SCAD offers courses based on industry demands and technologies being used there in order to enable our students to design, evaluate, detail and visualize their built form and review the same for enhancements. And to bridge the gaps between students' skills and what industry expects from them and keep students informed about current industry practices, we conduct industry connect sessions, workshops on Fabrication, Rapid Prototyping, 3D Printing, Augmented and Virtual Reality in collaboration with industry people on a regular basis. Additionally, students are engaged in college's research activities, initiatives and programs to make them aware about how people and processes work together on ground level. Interdisciplinary courses are also conducted as Architecture is interrelated with a variety of other streams.

How do you train your faculties to help them deliver new programs to students in the best possible way?

"They are upskilled through FDPs and we also encourage them to work on government projects"

We regularly motivate our faculty members to Faculties to attend Faculty Development Programs on various topics and also to undertake research projects of government, non-governmental, autonomous and private industries to keep themselves up to date with the latest trends, technologies and developments of both the industrial and educational world. In addition to this, Faculties conduct peer reviews in leading institutions to refresh their knowledge and build new skills. And we have Practicing Architects from industries who bring in their years of valuable experience and industry connections to SCAD classrooms and teach our students. 

How do you establish a connection between your institute courses and industry demands?

"By organizing guest learning sessions, industrial tours and visits to educate students about latest trends and technologies"

For the purpose of linking our institute courses and industry requirements, we regularly conduct guest lecturers in hybrid mode or by inviting industry experts in person to share their experiences and difficulties they have faced in their professional journey with us, and this helps us a lot in customizing our courses and training programs for the benefit of students. And professional visits and tours are also organized by us to educate students about the latest trends, leading architectural practices and principles and research facilities of national and international significance. And to teach them real-life problem solving skills and give them an exposure of various practical scenarios, we have an Experienced Architect. 

How do you strategize and implement the curriculum to make it more beneficial for students?

"We implement the curriculum with the support of our highly qualified faculties and CBCS"

I firmly believe that with evolving educational standards, we need to think out of the box to deliver the best quality and employment oriented education to students. Hence, we recruit highly qualified and extensively experienced faculty members and experts from a variety of verticals in order to diversify the portfolio of courses which we are offering to our students presently. Also, to implement the Choice Based Credit System we have successfully established a fully automated academic records management system. Lastly, we provide well-structured study materials for various subjects to students so that they can perform best during internal and external assessments. 

On what types of projects your students are currently working on under their respective courses?

"Our students are presently working on projects connected to heritage and historical sites"

Our students are currently working on a wide variety of projects related to heritage development and restoration, conservation of historical entities, rural habitats and settlements etc. and also documenting and recording details of architecturally significant structures. Additionally, they are doing numerous real life and consultancy based projects related to landscape design, interior design and built forms and also developing hypothetical designs for auditoriums, commercial buildings, apartments, institutions and housing residences etc. And we provide our full support to them and encourage them to develop prototypes and patents of their project's ideas. 

What career options would be available for students after pursuing courses from your college?

"Students can join diverse range of sectors like Journalism, Web Designing and Project Management"

Our B. Arch Degree courses inculcate best professional skills, creativity and analytical thinking competencies in students and due to the same reason, multiple domains offers amazing opportunities for them. And after successfully completing B. Arch programs from our college, they can join sectors like Journalism, UI/UX and Graphic Design, Photography, Fabrication, Fashion Designing, Project Management and Town and City Planning etc. Apart from this, they can work as an Urban Designer and also valuable LEED/GRIHA Certification, BIM Modeling.