Balkrishna Doshi (born 1927 in Pune, India) played a pivotal role in shaping of postcolonial architecture in India. He is a pioneer in addressing crucial issues of social housing and urbanization in India. Doshi influenced the development of Indian architecture significantly through his teaching and lecturing activities and played a major role in the development of Ahmedabad into a center of Indian architectural education. This anthology assembles a selection of his writings, such as lectures, articles and essays.0Doshi, who worked for Le Corbusier in Paris for six years in the 1950s, has also always sought contacts with Western architects, for example by promoting the work of Louis Kahn in India.0The book is published to accompany the opening of the Balkrishna Doshi Exhibition at the Architekturmuseum der TUM, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich.
Balkrishna V. Doshi (b. 1927 in Pune) is one of the most influential pioneers of modern architecture in India. His life's work was honored in 2018 with the prestigious Pritzker Prize. Doshi has realized more than one hundred projects, including administrative and cultural facilities, housing developments, and residential buildings. He has become internationally known for his visionary urban planning and social housing projects, as well as his involvement in education. His most important buildings include the School of Architecture in Ahmedabad (1966-68) and the Aranya housing development in Indore (1989). 'Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People' is the first overview of the architect's work in over twenty years, analyzing his most important works and providing timely context to his oeuvre. In-depth academic texts by outstanding experts in the field, including Kenneth Frampton, Kazi Ashraf, and Juhani Pallasmaa, give insights into the inspiration behind Doshi's work and background to his projects, as well as his lasting influence on younger generations. The richly illustrated survey comes complete with a detailed biography and new photographs of his buildings, which demonstrate the impressive timeliness of the Indian master's approach to a wide variety of typologies.
The culmination of Ravi Kalia's trilogy on the formation of capital cities in postcolonial India, Gandhinagar joins the historian's other two volumes, on Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar, in tracing India's efforts to establish its twentieth-century architectural identity. In following the development of these cities, Kalia recounts India's progression through precolonial, British, modern, and postmodern theory and practice, particularly the architectural ideology propagated by Western a rchitects Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. Kalia explains that Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat in western India, became a battleground for the competing ideals that had surfaced during the building of Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar. The mill owners of the neighboring city of Ahmedabad, backed by Indian architect and planner Balkrishna Doshi, wanted the American Louis Kahn to build Gandhinagar as a worthy rival to Le Corbusier's Chandigarh. There was, however, tremendous political pressure to make Gandhinagar a purely Indian enterprise, partly because the state of Gujarat was the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. Doshi and then by American-trained H. K. Mewada, who had apprenticed with Le Corbusier in Chandigarh Kalia shows that, unlike the other two cities, Gandhinagar would become emblematic of Gandhian ideals of swadeshi (indigenous) goods and swaraj (self-rule). Exploring the impact of modernist architecture on India as a whole, Kalia suggests that the style gained acceptance because its parsimonious designs and unadorned spaces never represented a threat to a religiously pluralist country anxious to create a secular identity. He explains how two competing versions of Indian history and ideology - Ganhdi's and Jawaharlal Nehru's - employed modemism's ideals for their own separate ends. Serving two masters, as Kalia illustrates, created constrictions and tensions evident in the building of Gandhinagar and in the careers of many Indian architects, including Doshi, Charles Correa, and Achyut Kanvinde.
In this rapidly globalizing world, any investigation of architecture inevitably leads to considerations of regionalism. But despite its omnipresence in contemporary practice and theory, architectural regionalism remains a fluid concept, its historical development and current influence largely undocumented. This comprehensive reader brings together over 40 key essays illustrating the full range of ideas embodied by the term. Authored by important critics, historians, and architects such as Kenneth Frampton, Lewis Mumford, Sigfried Giedion, and Alan Colquhoun, Architectural Regionalism represents the history of regionalist thinking in architecture from the early twentieth century to today.
Put together from the lifelong diaries and notes maintained by him, Paths Uncharted is a personal recounting of the remarkable journey of 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, Dr. Balkrishna Doshi, unfolding across continents and over more than 80 years. Dr. Balkrishna V. Doshi is foremost among the modern Indian architects. An urban planner and educator for the past 70 years, Dr. Doshi is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects. He has been the first Founder-Director of School of Architecture and School of Planning, Ahmedabad - regarded as the pioneer and fountainhead of modern architectural and planning education in India. Doshi has also held important chairs at American universities and has received several international and national awards and honours. He has also been on the jury for several international and national competitions. Doshi's life - from the time he was born into a modest family in the bylanes of Pune, and his struggles and tenacity to excel in his chosen fields--is a fascinating and inspiring story. Put together, for the first time, from the lifelong diaries and notes maintained by him, Paths Uncharted is a personal recounting of this remarkable journey unfolding over more than 80 years and across all the continents. This autobiography captures Doshi's career from his childhood to his studies at the JJ School of Architecture, Bombay and then London, his work at Atelier Le Corbusier in Paris (1951-1954) and collaboration with Louis I Kahn for IIM Ahmedabad. It recounts his meetings with the most remarkable persons in his own and allied fields, and his equally remarkable patrons. In 2018, Doshi was selected as the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, internationally known as architecture's highest honour. In 2014 and 2017, the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, and Power Station of Art, Shanghai, had hosted a retrospective exhibition of Doshi's notable works. And, in spring 2019, the Vitra Design Museum, Germany, will present the first European retrospective of Doshi's work, and is likely to travel to other international venues over the next several years. With the continued interest worldwide in his work, this volume brings to the reader invaluable insights into the course of Doshi's illustrious life, the paths it has taken over the years, the experience and the learnings. 182 illustrations
The Structure explores the work of Mahendra Raj, India's most significant structural engineer. Examining Raj's sixty prolific years of practice, this volume looks at his unusually inventive and intuitive work and how he has offered pioneering engineering solutions for buildings in exposed concrete. As this book shows, many of his structures can be seen as monuments narrating the history of architecture in post-independence India. The Structure features twenty-eight of Mahendra Raj's buildings in detail through rich photographs and color reproductions of archival plans. Essays are contributed by Raj himself and by the architects Neelkanth Chhaya and Jaimini Mehta. Also included are interviews with Raj by the architect Sanjay Prakash and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, a conversation with the architect BV Doshi, as well as an illustrated complete list of Raj's works.
Today there are more tools for communication than ever before, yet very little in the way of reflection on how these are being used and even less on what exactly is being conveyed. This issue of AD looks at how architecture is communicated from a cultural perspective. Do the identities of practices or their business-driven branding and promotional efforts resonate with the critical acclaim many architects seek? Has slick image-led media coverage sold the profession short? How is it possible to convey the less visual and haptic qualities of architecture? Can architects be more creative in their communication efforts, making these joyous on their own terms as Le Corbusier did so memorably? Is there really a need to succumb to the world of corporate marketing processes and managerial business jargon? The issue explores notions of editing and curating work in an age of data deluge, and discusses social media as a genuinely alternative space for communication rather than for just repurposing and regurgitating information relayed. The Identity of the Architect encourages the promotion of practices as an integral extension of the very culture they hope to engender through their work. Contributors: Stephen Bayley, Caroline Cole, Adam Nathaniel Furman, Gabor Gallov, Jonathan Glancey, Justine Harvey, Owen Hopkins, Crispin Kelly, Jay Merrick, Robin Monotti, Juhani Pallasmaa, Vicky Richardson, Jenny Sabin, and Austin Williams. Featured architects: Ian Ritchie, BIG, MVRDV, IF_DO and Zaha Hadid Architects
The field of architecture has gradually evolved from being a mere profession to becoming a representation of the society in which we live. Architects form the voice of this profession, and an in-depth discussion with them allows a greater understanding of their theories, visions for architecture, and contributions towards the field, and how they are managing the non-linear societal evolution in a comprehensive manner. This volume brings together 17 iconic Indian architects across generations, and, through dialogues, probes into their lives, beliefs and philosophies, and candid thoughts and opinions. It offers a platform for discussions on the core issues of architecture, and serves as a reference for the state of architecture both in India and globally. The book will appeal to architectural and building industry practitioners and students of architecture, as well as the general reader, as it speaks about architecture as an integral part of building a nation. It traverses the architecture journey in India, and bestows a clarity on the directions still to be taken.
Balkrishna Doshi is an architect, urbanist and educator who builds in harmony with the climate, culture and traditions of India. His contribution has long been acknowledged internationally but this is the first monograph to be devoted to his work. The book shows how Doshi has bridged the gap between modern architecture and the age-old lessons of Indias peasant villages and ancient buildings. At a time of rapid and unsettling urbanisation, Doshis architecture reaffirms the links between community and nature. The book is in four main parts a historical essay; a section which analyses key projects in detail with the aid of sketches, models, drawings and diary jottings; a selection of the architects reflections; and a postscript by the author on the trends in Indian architecture. A detailed bibliography and catalogue of Doshis works complete the study. Balkrishna Doshi: An Architecture for Indiais a valuable addition to the literature on architecture in developing countries.
