About Madhras

A boy from Kayalpatnam.

Madhras was founded by AbuBacker Siddiq Hasan, who grew up in Kayalpatnam, a coastal town in Tamil Nadu that was once a major port of the Pandya kingdom. He spent his childhood on his father's building sites, trained as an architect in Chennai and as an urban designer in London, and started Madhras to bring that same care for how places are built to how businesses present themselves online.

Where it starts

A port town, then and now

For centuries, ships from Kayal sailed to Arabia, Persia and China. Today the route runs through Chennai and Dubai to London.

Trade routes from Kayalpatnam Historic sea routes from the port of Kayal to Aden in Arabia, Hormuz in Persia, Malacca and Quanzhou in China, and today's journey from Kayalpatnam to Chennai, Dubai and London. EQUATOR 0°E30°E60°E90°E120°E15°N30°N45°N ARABIAN SEABAY OF BENGALINDIAN OCEANSOUTH CHINA SEAMEDITERRANEANRED SEA AdenArabia HormuzPersia MalaccaMalay peninsula QuanzhouChina ChennaiArchitecture studies DubaiETECH Group LondonMadhras studio KayalpatnamPandya-era port of Kayal N

Swipe the map to see the full route.

Pandya era

Kayal was one of the great ports of the Pandya kingdom, trading pearls, spices and textiles across the Indian Ocean.

1290s

Marco Polo described the busy harbour of “Cail”, widely identified with Kayal, on his voyage home from China.

Today

Architecture in Chennai, ETECH Group in Dubai, and the Madhras studio in London: the same instinct for trade, in a new century.

Journey

From the site up

The moments that shaped how Madhras works today.

  1. RootsKayalpatnam
    Origins

    Growing up in a historic port town

    I grew up in Kayalpatnam, a small historic town on the coast of Tamil Nadu. Centuries ago it was a major port of the Pandya kingdom, and its harbour linked South India with traders from Arabia, Persia, China and beyond.

    Growing up among streets shaped by centuries of trade and travel is where my fascination with towns, buildings and how places grow began.

  2. 2009
    First inspiration

    Next to my father's development project

    At the age most children want to be astronauts, I was standing beside the scale model of my father's residential development, already set on joining the industry. Seeing a building move from model to site to home for real families still shapes how I approach design.

    AbuBacker as a boy in 2009 standing beside an architectural scale model of a five-storey residential building developed by his father
  3. 2011
    Where it started

    On the roof slab of my father's apartment

    "It all started here."

    Hard hat on, I stood on the reinforcement of my father's apartment building on the day its roof slab was poured. Watching steel, formwork and concrete become a building turned curiosity into a career choice.

    AbuBacker as a teenager in a yellow hard hat standing on roof reinforcement during concreting of his father's apartment, 2011
  4. 2015to 2020
    Leadership · Crescent Blood Donors

    Welcome address at the Life Saver Meet 2019

    Crescent Blood Donors is a student-led NGO serving communities across Tamil Nadu, recognised by government bodies and private companies. I rose from volunteer (2015–2018) to head of event management (2019) and president (2020).

    As head of events, I opened the Life Saver Meet 2019 with the welcome address.

    AbuBacker giving the welcome address at a Crescent lectern at the Crescent Blood Donors Life Saver Meet 2019
  5. B.Archinternship
    Site manager, architecture internship

    Managing site works at Maahaniya Building Solutions

    As site manager during my architecture internship at Maahaniya Building Solutions (now Maahaniya Design Studio), I oversaw works through the foundation stage.

    When a group of architecture students toured the project, I led the session on site, explaining pre-construction planning, foundation design and pile foundations.

    Students and workers standing in a flooded foundation excavation with column reinforcement cages, during a site visit
    AbuBacker explaining foundation reinforcement to a group of visiting architecture students holding umbrellas
  6. MARabat
    International joint studio, Morocco

    Presenting the El Akkari waterfront in Rabat

    During a week-long international studio run by the University of Westminster and the International University of Rabat, I presented our El Akkari waterfront masterplan to faculty from both universities, setting out how green corridors and low-traffic streets could reconnect the neighbourhood to the sea.

    See the El Akkari project

    AbuBacker presenting a waterfront masterplan on a projector screen to professors and students in Rabat
  7. MAgraduation
    University of Westminster

    Graduating with an MA in Urban Design

    Receiving my MA in Urban Design from the University of Westminster marked the move from architect in Chennai to urban designer in London, and laid the foundation for the research on this page.

    AbuBacker in graduation gown and cap smiling as he is congratulated on stage at the University of Westminster MA graduation ceremony
The studio today

Built on that foundation

What it means for clients. An architect's discipline applied to every project: understand the site, plan the structure, then build with care. Madhras designs websites, brands and digital tools for growing businesses, and brings urban design expertise to projects in the built environment. The studio is part of ETECH Group of Companies.

Advisors

The people behind the advice

Specialists who guide Madhras and its clients beyond design.

Legal Advisor · Commercial Law & Arbitration

Sumeet Anil Kankariya

A practising advocate in India focused on litigation, commercial law and dispute resolution. Sumeet holds an LL.M. from Queen Mary University of London, specialising in Commercial Arbitration, and worked with Singhania & Co. in London on commercial arbitration, corporate disputes and cross-border matters.

His practice in India covers civil and criminal litigation, with a focus on commercial disputes and arbitration. He advises Madhras on contracts, commercial matters and cross-border work.

LL.M., Queen Mary University of LondonCommercial arbitrationCross-border disputesCivil & criminal litigation

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