Mr. A.D.Savardekar
(1936-2019)
Shri A.D.Savardekar did his Bachelor of Engineering (civil) in 1957 from the University of Pune.
He had wide experience in the field of structural engineering, having worked for 6 years in W. Germany and Switzerland in the early 60s and thereafter in India spanning 5 decades.
He worked on large industrial projects along with late Shri S.M.Muzumdar. After Shri Muzumdar’s retirement, he took over the reins of the firm in 1976 and took it to great heights. He has designed several large scale and challenging projects during the course of his 5-decade long career.
Education:
Mr. Arun Dattatray Savardekar, professionally known as A.D. Savardekar, had a humble beginning.
He graduated in 1957 in civil engineering from Walchand Engineering College, Sangli, India which then belonged to Pune University. A man of humble beginning, but vast dreams, he ventured to travel to Germany for gaining practical experience in structural design. For 4 years he worked as trainee and then as junior engineer in a small design office. Germany was being re-built after the World War II and so needed work force from outside their country and being part of this endeavour proved a great learning platform.
With a consistent focus toward new learning, he began attending post-graduate level lectures in his spare time. Later, encouraged by his boss, he started work on his doctoral thesis under the guidance of world-renowned Structural Engineer Prof. Leonhardt. Unfortunately this effort could not fructify, as the financial means to conduct the necessary laboratory experiments were lacking. However, Savardekar is candid “I learnt a great deal from my revered professor and still continue to learn from his lecture notes,” he says.
To master the subject of practical design of pre-stressed concrete, he moved to the well-known construction company Züblin in Switzerland. Two years’ experience in their Design office gave him a broader picture of structural design and its practical and important aspects. Some lectures/courses at Zürich University helped to learn the elements of the theory of Plasticity which was just introduced then in structural design.
Return to India:
Retuning to India, after undertaking some construction site experience for one year, he joined the design office of Mr. S.M.Muzumdar in 1965 as his associate. Savardekar spoke of him with great affection, “He was a fatherly figure to me and taught me the science and art of Engineering. He stressed on the importance of taking into account many practical aspects of engineering practices in India. After working with him for 11 years, I took over his practice as he wished to retire. We still continue to use his name for our firm out of respect for him.”
Advise to young Engineers :
When asked about his advice to young engineers, he would say that the basics of Structural Mechanics must not be forgotten. Recognizing the advances in Information technology, and the Structural Design software and their application, he maintained that Computer Analysis was a wonderful tool and surely quite indispensable in several cases. But any mistake in the structural modeling or data input can be serious if the results are not examined for their reasonableness. Therefore, he shared an instruction from his teacher Professor Leonhardt with all aspiring engineers: “Do not confuse complex mathematics with Good Engineering”!