Ponni M Concessao

Overview

Architect Ponni Concessao is a reputed architect whose career has spanned decades devoted to design and has won 114 national and international awards.  Her award-winning work has covered all large prototypes of town planning, buildings and interiors in all parts of India.  Her contributions include creating award-winning designs, authoring and publishing technical papers, architectural education, conservation, women's rights, and nation-building. 

Born into a family of professionals, Architect Ponni Concessao enrolled into the illustrious Church Park Convent where she excelled in academics and won national awards in art.  This exposure propelled her ambitions in nation-building through architecture and design.  A pioneer in women's technical education, Ponni Concessao was the first women undergraduate student of the prestigious National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli, The University of Madras, and graduated in June 1987 – a premier engineering institution in India.   She graduated in the top 2% of her class, winning design competitions, performing social service at the village level and holding leadership positions.

Architect Ponni Concessao went on to complete her post-graduate studies in Cornell University USA in 1989 with financial awards from the JND Tata Endowment Scholarship, Graduate assistantship from Cornell.  She won the College of Human Ecology Grant for Thesis Research in Cornell on her pioneering work on conservation.   In 1992 she went on to do the Advanced Professional Studies at Harvard University, USA.  This was a milestone in her life that defined her ambitions of developing India along global lines through architecture and building technology.

Architect Ponni Concessao worked with Edward Larabbee Barnes Architect, New York City, USA.  She also worked with the National Trust of Historic Preservation, Washington D.C., USA. Architect Ponni Concessao received an Honorable Mention, 1991 Salem Witch Trials Tercentenary National Design competition. 

On her return to India Architect Ponni Concessao set up her architectural practice and worked on large projects all over India.  With her outstanding professional achievements and significant research contributions, Architect Ponni Concessao can be rightly counted amongst the most eminent architects of the country.

In 2004 Architect Ponni Concessao won the Excellence in Built Environment Award from the Indian Buildings Congress, New Delhi.  In 2005, she won the Indian Buildings Congress Award for the Hallmark Technology Park project in Chennai for using innovative technologies such as post-tension technologies in high rise buildings, which was the first of its kind in India.  

In 2006, she won the Society Interiors – Award for Creative Excellence in Architecture & Interiors. In 2009, she won the Archi Design Award - Award for Best Institutional Building for Sastra Arts & Sciences, Tanjore.  In 2011, she was a winner of the Outstanding Achievers Award at the Indian Architecture Design Festival (IADF, 2011.  In 2008 Architect Ponni Concessao was conferred the honorary doctorate degree in Architecture in Malaysia and and Universita of Milano for Modern Architecture and Architectural Science in 2012. 

In 2014, won the Distinguished Alumni Award from Dr A.P.J Kalam for the Golden Jubilee of NIT Trichy.  In 2014 won the very prestigious Smt. Satya Goel Award National award for the most Eminent Woman Building Professional award in New Delhi.    In 2019 Architect Ponni has won 2 BAM Awards, the Futuristic Architecture Firm Award and Women Icon of Asia Award at Singapore, 6 Time2Leap Awards in June 2019 at Pune, won the MAMR Best Female Architect in India Award  at India's Most prominent Women Empowerment Awards 2019 and Architecture & Design Golden Brick Awards Dubai, Septemeber 2019 recently.

To Architect Ponni Concessao, an architect's role is nation building and one must have a strong sense of contributing to society to all levels - especially the poor.   Her work includes the School for children of leprosy victims in Tamil Nadu for the Rising Star Outreach – an  NGO. 

Architect Ponni Concessao has dedicated herself for several social causes such as Rotary and Round table organizations and charity projects, building Noon-Meal Centers, Schools for the underprivileged, and Tsunami Housing. She was a Chairperson, at Madras Mylapore Ladies Circle, No. 4, in the year 2003 and a winner of the Ladies Circle India, Convener, Women Achiever Award, 2002. She is also a Paul Harris fellow of Rotary International.

Research / Technology Interest:

Urban Design of Engineering and Medical campuses, Sustainable Green Buildings, Eco-Friendly Architecture, Affordable Housing, Tsunami Housing