Balkrishna doshi biography
Born in 1927 in Pune, Balkrishna Doshi studied architecture at the Sir J.J. School of Architecture in Mumbai. He is the first Indian architect to be awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2018 and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Gold Medal for Architecture in 2022, along with the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Prime Minister’s National Award for Excellence in Urban Planning and Design, a Gold Medal from the Indian Institute of Architects, the Global Award for Lifetime Achievement for Sustainable Architecture, and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. He is a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects as well as the Indian Institute of Architects, and an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects. As an academician and urbanist, he founded the School of Architecture, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, in Ahmedabad, and was also instrumental in setting up various institutions around the city.
Doshi worked for four years with Le Corbusier as senior designer (1951–54) in Paris and four more years in India to supervise the latter’s projects in Ahmedabad. He also worked with Louis Kahn as an associate to build the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and they continued to collaborate for over a decade. He founded his own practice, Vastushilpa, in 1956 with two architects. Today Vastushilpa has five partners spanning three generations and has sixty employees. Together they have completed more than 100 projects since the inception of the firm. Some of his most famous constructions include IIM Bangalore, School of Architecture CEPT, the Institute of Indology in Ahmedabad, the Tagore Memorial Hall and Premabhai Hall in Ahmedabad, the LIC mixed income housing in Ahmedabad, Aranya Low Cost Housing in Indore and the famously renowned Amdavad ni Gufa featuring the work of M.F. Husain, to name a few. Doshi also established the Vastushilpa Foundation fo
| BALKRISHNA V. DOSHI | ||||
BIOGRAPHY / TIMELINE / FURTHER READING / RELATED | ||||
| Name | Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi (Gujarati: બાલકૃષ્ણ વિઠ્ઠલદાસ દોશી) | |||
| Born | August 26, 1927 | |||
| Died | January 24, 2023 | |||
| Nationality | India | |||
| School | TEAM X | |||
| Official website | vastushilpa.org | |||
| BIOGRAPHY | ||||
Balkrishna V.Doshi belongs to the generation of architects that commenced working soon after India’s independence in 1947. Influenced by the thinkers of the independence movement, Doshi’s career is devoted to establishing an identity for the contemporary Indian architecture, and he has accomplished this by rooting his work in the regional context, marrying his designs with the local environment, and building on India’s rich architectural and building traditions. Born in 1927 in Poona (Pune), a city near Bombay (Mumbai), Doshi was raised in a religious family that was engaged in the traditional carpentry business. Observing his drawing skills, his art teacher encouraged him to pursue architectural education. In 1947, Doshi joined the J.J. School of Art in Bombay; unhappy with the course of studies, he quit the program in 1950 and decided to go to London, where he met Le Corbusier at CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne). Following that meeting, Doshi moved to Paris to work with Le Corbusier, who at that time was designing the city of Chandigarh and other large Indian commissions as well as his influential European projects, such as La Tourette and Jaoul House. Profoundly influenced by Le Corbusier’s work, Doshi returned to India in 1955 to lo Indian architect (1927–2023) Balkrishna Vithaldas DoshiOAL (Gujarati: બાલકૃષ્ણ વિઠ્ઠલદાસ દોશી; 26 August 1927 – 24 January 2023) 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. Having 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 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, and the Royal Institute of British Architects' Royal Gold Medal for 2022. Doshi was born to a GujaratiVaishnavHindu family in Pune. His mother died when he was 10 months old and his father remarried, with 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. He studied at the Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai between 1947 and 1950. 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. His studio, Vastu-Shilpa (environmental design), was established in 1955. Doshi worked closely with Louis Kahn Facebook Twitter Mail Pinterest Whatsapp Or Copy B.V. Doshi, one of modern Indian architecture’s most celebrated practitioners, was born in Pune, India in 1927. Nearly 90 years later, the Pritzker Prize jury chose Doshi as the 2018 Laureate. Get to know about Doshi’s history—including his close relationship to the legendary Le Corbusier—in this list of interesting facts. 1) Doshi’s office, Vastu Shilpa, created a list of “must-see” architecture sites in the city of Ahmedabad so that visitors to the office can see the city and understand the context in which Doshi creates his buildings. 2) From 1951 to 1955, B.V. Doshi worked directly for Le Corbusier as an architectural apprentice in his Paris atelier. To this day, at the entrance of his cabin, Doshi keeps a portrait of the Swiss architect next to representations of Goddess Durga and Lord Ganesha. 3) Le Corbusier spoke to Doshi in broken English. But the Indian architect later recalled, “When you don’t know the language, the conversation becomes more visual and spatial.” 4) He got his unpaid job with Le Corbusier based on a non-traditional qualification: his handwriting. Doshi told the India Times in 2017 that he wasn’t asked to submit a portfolio, but “an application in my own handwriting.” 5) He first visited America on a Graham Foundation scholarship in 1959. 6) Doshi was significantly involved in the design of Chandigarh, the new state capital of Punjab (Chandigarh now serves as a joint state capital for Punjab and Haryana). He was tasked with designing the living spaces for the thousands of humble government servants. This gave way to his continued interest in producing the best, basic and low-cost communal spaces. 7) In the 1960s Doshi opened The School of Architecture at Ahmedabad with an alternative curriculum, known from 1972 onwards as the Centre for Environmental Planning a
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