The decisive architect of post-independence India, who collaborated with Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, among others, was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for his “pleasant purpose” architecture
Last modified on Friday, December 10, 2021 09.56 EST
The 2022 RIBA Royal Gold Medal is the highest honor in the field of British architecture, and it was won by Balkrishna Doshi, the most famous living architect in India. The 94-year-old worked with Le Corbusier to design the city of Chandigarh and played an important role in defining post-independence India's architecture. His design combines the principles of modernism and a deep understanding of local vernacular traditions.
During his 70-year career, Doshi has witnessed more than 100 completed projects, from low-cost housing to administrative buildings and cultural facilities, each of which has been fine-tuned to the local environment and climate.
RIBA Chairman Simon Allford praised his "purposeful and pleasant" architecture: "In the 20th century, when technology promoted many architects to build independently of the local climate and traditions, Balkrishna Doshi remained closely connected to his hinterland: it Climate, new and old technologies and craftsmanship."
Doshi was born in Pune, India in 1927 into a family of two generations in the furniture industry. Although he does not speak French, he studied architecture in Mumbai before going to Paris to work for Le Corbusier in 1951. He returned to India in 1954 to participate in Le Corbusier's plan for the new city of Chandigarh, and supervised Ahmedabad's projects, including the famous Mill Owners Association Building and Xiaodan Villa.
The influence of his mentor is still great. "The news of this award reminds me of the time I worked with Le Corbusier in 1953, when he had just received the news of the royal gold medal," Dorsey said. "I clearly remember his excitement in receiving this honor from Her Majesty. He said to me metaphorically, "I want to know how big and heavy this medal is. "Today, six years later, I am really overwhelmed to receive the same award as my master." As one of the last surviving connections with the great modernist of the 20th century, Dorsey and Louis Kahn Cooperating as an assistant at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, they have continued to cooperate for more than ten years. Crucially, his work brought a human presence to the sometimes alienated form of modernism in the 1960s. He drew lessons from the dense and compact street patterns of traditional Indian towns and informal shanty towns, and wrote that architecture needs to “reflect social lifestyles and spiritual beliefs”, always mentioning “the constant elements of Indian architecture: village squares, market City, courtyard".
His own studio in Ahmedabad, built in 1981, is a condensed manifesto of these principles. Low barrel-arched buildings rise from the garden-like landscape, with terraces intersecting waterways, reflecting pools and shallow water outdoor theaters for gatherings. The name of the building, Sangath, means "to advance together through participation", and Dorsey describes it as "a continuous school of continuous learning, forgetting and relearning". As always, climate is at the core. The buildings are half buried in the ground, where they can better withstand high temperatures, dust and monsoon winds, while the vaults are made of ceramic pipes, covered with concrete and broken white tiles, to provide shade and water in the rainy season. The Aranya Low Cost Housing in Doshi, built in Indore in 1989, won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and was praised for its integration with mixed-income groups. It can accommodate houses and courtyards for more than 80,000 people, intertwined in a dense labyrinth, and the design of the houses takes into account scalability and adaptability. His Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore (1977-1992) was also inspired by the labyrinth of Hindu temple cities, organized into a complex of interlocking buildings and galleries, with overlapping shaded areas as hot The climate provides a respite.
After a more organic transformation in the 1990s, Doshi tried to create an underground cave-like complex for the Amdavad Ni Gufa Gallery. Irregular tree-like pillars support interconnected domed roofs, inspired by turtle shells, covered with broken ceramic pottery. Daylight enters through a nose-like opening, creating a constantly changing pool of light on the floor, creating a mysterious atmosphere. Teaching is also a core part of Dorsey's practice. In the 1960s, he founded his own design school, Ahmedabad School of Architecture (now called CEPT University), with open-air classrooms and focusing on learning from the environment. He led for 50 years and he has been a guest Professors in many universities around the world. In addition to honors, the gold medal was awarded nearly four years after Doshi became the first Indian architect to win the Pritzker Prize in 2018.