Remembering BV Doshi, the great architect who strived to build timelessness

Pritzker awardee, Doshi blended modernist values with local ethos; the IIM-B building is an example

BV Doshi, arguably India’s greatest architect, breathed his last at the age of 95 in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. With him comes to an end one of the most prolific chapters of Indian architecture – Doshi’s brand of sustainable development in which the building blends seamlessly with the surroundings and facilitates harmony between the built environment and its inhabitants.

Doshi managed to forge a distinct architectural philosophy and expression – a blend of modernist values and local ethos – and it won him the Pritzker Prize in 2018. The Pritzker is considered the Nobel Prize in architecture, and Doshi is the only Indian architect to have been awarded it.

Agile and alert well into his nineties, the master architect, urban planner and educator was last year also awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA’s) Royal Gold Medal – one of the rare people globally to have been awarded both the Pritzker and the Royal Gold Medal. In a first, RIBA president came down personally (to Doshi’s house in Ahmedabad) to present the award.

Born in 1927 in Pune, Doshi’s architectural career spanned six decades.

He studied in Mumbai, before travelling to Paris in the 1950s to work for Franco-Swiss pioneer and iconic 20th century modernist architect Le Corbusier, who designed the city of Chandigarh.

Doshi’s wide-ranging works include designs for noted academic institutions, mixed-use complexes, housing projects, public spaces, galleries and also private homes.

Much is said about the influences of legendary architects Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn on him, but in an interview with Business Standard in March 2018, Doshi had recounted the influences that his early years had had on his style.

Sitting in the garden in the backyard of his house in Ahmedabad, which was named after his wife Kamala, Doshi had said: “My grandfather and his house (to which levels kept being added to accommodate the growing family) shaped my way of looking at things. And also the temple visits in Pune as a child.”

And so he designed the campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore along the lines of the Meenakshi temple in Madurai — “complex, beautiful and workable”. The campus was one of his personal favourites, apart from the Amdavad ni Gufa (the underground art gallery), which he co-built with artist MF Husain. The IIM Bangalore campus is designed like a maze with an intention to create an illusion to visitors so that they feel indoors and outdoors at the same time.

When asked what guided his choice of projects, he had said, “I like to see that the project is valuable in terms of its character. That character has to show timelessness.”

He had then explained, “The client is an instrument to make it happen — I give him his goods, but I must also enjoy the process. Say, if I own it, would I feel happy there?”

For him, the philosophy was as simple as it is profound. “We are born out of nature and we like to go back to nature — not consciously, but instinctively, which we are now disconnecting from. The essence of architecture and planning is the quality of the space that you create,” Doshi had told Business Standard.

The crux of Doshi’s architectural philosophy is that buildings are ‘organic beings’ – they respond to the biological needs of its inhabitants.

His own house in the narrow bylanes of central Ahmedabad is a testament to his style.

Considered one of his finest creations, Kamala House was among Doshi’s favourites – a space that he created and recreated over the decades. It was the first house in India that had cavity walls (to trap heat). The project started when Doshi’s father-in-law suggested that, given his temperamental nature, it would be wise if he built a house for his family to ensure a secure life.

Having designed over 100 small and big projects, a dream project that the master architect wanted to finish was the ‘reshaping’ of the Bhadra area in the walled city of Ahmedabad.

In 2018, Doshi had shared his vision for it with this correspondent. He wanted to create spaces where street hawkers could be rehabilitated and organised so that they could blend harmoniously with the surroundings.

“I want to create similar spaces across the city. I had made a plan for that, to link Bhadra with a bridge, connecting the eastern and western parts of the city,” he had said.

With his passing, that dream remains unfulfilled.