B. V. Doshi: A Journey Through the Life of an Indian Architect
Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi was an Indian architect. He is an important figure in Indian architecture and noted for his contributions to the evolution of architectural discourse in India. As he worked under Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, he was a pioneer of modernist and brutalist architecture in India.
His noteworthy designs include FLAME University, IIM Bangalore, IIM Udaipur, NIFT Delhi, Amdavad ni Gufa, CEPT University and the Aranya Low Cost Housing development in Indore for which he was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
In 2018, he became the first Indian architect to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize. He was also awarded the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, the Padma Vibhushan. He was also awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Royal Gold Medal for 2022.
During his career of about 70 years Doshi completed more than 100 projects, many of which were public institutions based in India: schools, libraries, art centres, and low-cost housing.
He learned the principles of working with Le Corbusier & Louis Kahn. In considering India’s traditions, lifestyles, and environment, Doshi designed structures that offered refuge from the weather and provided spaces in which to gather.
In addition to the Pritzker Prize, Doshi was made an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2011. That is France’s highest honour for the arts and he was the recipient of the 2022 Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. That is an annual award given to those who have contributed to the advancement of architecture.
Early life
Doshi was born on 26th August 1927 to a Gujarati Vaishnav Hindu family in Pune, Bombay Residency, British India. His mother died when he was 10 months old and his father remarried. His grandfather and aunts helping raise him. At the age of eleven, he was injured in a fire accident, and thereafter walked with a slight limp.
Doshi’s grandfather owned a furniture workshop and Doshi initially believed he would take up that profession as well. He was interested in architecture, however, in 1947 he entered the Sir J.J. School of Architecture in Mumbai.
In 1950 he travelled to London, there he met Le Corbusier and for the next four years, he worked in the famed architect’s studio in Paris. He returned to India to oversee the construction of some of Le Corbusier’s projects, like the Mill Owners’ Association Building and the Villa Sarabhai in Ahmedabad.
He eventually settled in that city, where he designed his own residence in 1963. He named it Kamala House after his wife. During the same time, he designed his studio, Sangath; and some of his most important projects. In 1956 Doshi founded his own practice, Vastushilpa, which he later renamed Vastushilpa Consultants.
Personal life
In 1955, Doshi married Kamala Parikh. The couple had three daughters – Tejal, Radhika, and Maneesha. Tejal Panthaki is a textile designer, Radhika Kathpalia is an architect and fashion designer and Maneesha Akkitham is a painter.
Career
In 1950, he went to Europe. He worked closely with Le Corbusier on the latter’s projects in Paris between 1951 and 1954. In 1954, he returned to India to supervise Corbusier’s buildings in Ahmedabad, which included the Villa Sarabhai, Villa Shodhan, Mill Owners’ Association Building and Sanskar Kendra.
Corbusier is described as having been a major influence on Doshi’s later work. Doshi’s early works show the influence of his mentors’ projects in India. The School of Architecture in Ahmedabad, which Doshi founded and designed in 1966, recalls the grid facade of the Mill Owners’ Association Building, while the use of brick and concrete evokes the Villa Sarabhai.
Appreciative of Le Corbusier’s ability “to create a soft light that makes people’s faces glow,” Doshi included slanted skylights and sliding doors to manipulate light and to regulate temperature.
In 1955, he established his studio Vastu-Shilpa with environmental design. He worked with Louis Kahn & Anant Raje at the time when Kahn was designing the campus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He was a fellow at the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in 1958. Later in 1962, he started the School of Architecture (S.A).
The school continued to grow in the following decades, expanding to include, among others, the School of Planning in 1970, the Visual Arts Centre in 1978, and the School of Interior Design in 1982.
It was renamed the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT University) in 2002. Students assisted in designing each new addition, using similar forms and materials so that the entire campus felt cohesive.
Doshi quickly became known for his commitment to providing affordable housing throughout India, where a shortage of homes had plagued cities for decades. Notably, he designed the Life Insurance Corporation Housing known as Bimanagar in Ahmedabad in 1973 and the Aranya Low Cost Housing in Indore in 1989.
The latter his best-known project, was a township for low- to middle-income families. Doshi offered future inhabitants a selection of 80 models that ranged from one-room units to larger houses that suited different needs and incomes.
The minimalist designs show Doshi’s dedication to waste little space and material. The completed township provides 80,000 individuals with 6,500 residences.
Bimanagar Housing Society, Ahmedabad is one of the well-known project of Doshi. As of Doshi, it was one of his most favourite housing projects that he designed for Life Insurance Corporation at Ahmedabad.
As of him the houses would be occupied by several generations of the same family, that they would identify with it, that there will be a strong sense of belonging and that their needs will change, and they may modify parts of it.
In addition to addressing practical needs, Doshi’s work could also be playful, as seen in one of his most experimental projects, Amdavad Ni Gufa in Ahmedabad in 1994. It is the art gallery features the colourful work of artist Maqbool Fida Husain within an underground space. The cavernous interior uses irregular columns that resemble mineral deposits.
Like a cave, it offers a cool refuge from India’s heat. The bulbous roof, which is covered in a mosaic of white tiles, is low enough to the ground that visitors can walk upon it, sit, and interact with one another.
Some of Doshi’s other notable projects are the Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, Premabhai Hall, Ahmedabad and the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
In 2019 a retroactive of Doshi’s work, “Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People” was organized by the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany and Wrightwood 659, a private exhibition space in Chicago.
Teaching
Doshi is equally known for having been an educator & institution builder apart from his international fame as an architect. During the period of 1962 to 1972, he was the founding director of the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad.
He was also the founding director of School of Planning during 1972 to 1979. Even he was the founding dean of the Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology during 1972 to 1981. He was founding member of the Visual Arts Centre, Ahmedabad & Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad.
Doshi was a key person in establishing the nationally- and internationally-known research institute Vastu-Shilpa Foundation for Studies and Research in Environmental Design. It has performed pioneering work in low-cost housing and city planning.
He was a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Hong Kong and other universities. He lectured extensively throughout his career and published his autobiography, Paths Uncharted, in 2011.
Media
In 2008, Hundredhand’s director Premjit Ramachandran released a documentary of Doshi’s interview. He appeared as himself in Mani Ratnam’s O Kadhal Kanmani and Shaad Ali’s Ok Jaanu.
Style
Doshi had been inspired by historic Indian monuments, as well as the work of European and American architects.
Death
B. V. Doshi died in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on 24 January 2023, at age of 95.
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