The revered industrialist and visionary F.C. Kohli instigated the project to build the first fully integrated IT Campus in India on a five acre site 20Km from Chennai. Prior to its establishment, TCS, along with all of the other growing Indian IT companies, were in rented accommodations in various buildings throughout the city. The vision was to take all the city offices and combine them in one campus.
The campus was designed for a workforce of 1,000 software engineers working in groups of 50. From this premise the form of the building arose. Taking into consideration the harsh sunlight, the workstation areas were arranged on the north side of the building with deeply recessed windows to prevent glare, 5 building towers set up in a row provide sun screening for each other while allowing space for internal courtyard gardens. The center received a the sought-after Software Engineering Institute CMM Level 5 rating just months after opening and set the benchmark for Tata’s office centers.
The horizontal circulation spine passes through the main lobby and offers connectivity to shared resources such as the library, auditorium and cafeteria. The materials chosen and forms used are a tip of the hat to Louis Kahn who was also prolific on the India subcontinent.
Remarkably, this campus was inaugurated on March 25th 1999 as a standalone project along the old Mahabalipuram Road. It is now surrounded by many similar IT facilities along what is now known as the IT corridor.
Read: Jewel in the TCS Crown