In an interview in 2025, Tom M. Thomas cited his passion for aero modelling (which was to develop into microlight fabrication and flying), as having been a formative influence on his architectural career, honing his ability to visualize shape and form, to read blueprints and take delight in creating. Thomas was educated at the University of Madras in Chennai, India, graduating with a BArch in 1967. In the academic year 1969-70, he is recorded as having travelled to London to attend the Architectural Association’s Department of Development and Tropical Studies’ post-graduate programme, within which he elected to take the ‘General Design’ course. Practicing within Bangalore since the early 1970s, Tom subsequently launched Thomas Associates Architects in 1992 – a firm which has since developed into one of the most prominent and influential practices in the city. The practice has completed well over 50 major projects and worked with a range of key real estate developers and multinational corporations. Their works range from technological parks and corporate campuses (including Intel Bangalore, Motorola Hyderabad, HP Bangalore, Bagmane Tech Park) to a series of residential apartment complexes (like Kingfisher Tower and Prestige Acropolis, in Bangalore), commercial office space including (including Prestige Minsk Square, Bangalore and Raheja Towers Chennai), hotels (including Meridian Hotel, J W Marriott & Conrad Hilton), malls (like Forum Mall Bangalore and Vijaya Forum Chenna), and mixed use spaces (such as UB City) – most of which are concentrated in the central business district of Bangalore. Thomas Associates’ portfolio of work has contributed to the transformation of Bangalore, leaving a mark on its skyline and gaining the practice a reputation as one of the leading contemporary architectural firms operating in the South of India. T.M. Thomas’s son, Tilak joined the as a partner and principal architect in 1999 and together they continue to guide the practice. In 2022, the Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) awarded Thomas a lifetime achievement award for his contributions over the past 5 decades.
Sources
- Architectural Association Student Register 1945‐1972, AA Archives
- Thomas Associates webpage, https://www.thomassociates.com/home-backup, accessed 21 June 2025
- Thomas Associates Linkedin page, https://www.linkedin.com/company/thomassociates/?originalSubdomain=in, accessed 21 June 2025
- World of Facades, Tom Thomas bio page, https://zakworldoffacades.com/speaker/tom-thomas-2/, accessed 21 June 2025
- Personal communication, Tom Thomas to Shyam Boopathy, 2025.
