Balkrishna Vithaldas DoshiOAL (Gujarati: બાલકૃષ્ણ વિઠ્ઠલદાસ દોશી; 26 August 1927 – 24 January 2023) was an Indian architect.[1] He is an important figure in Indian architecture and noted for his contributions to the evolution of architectural discourse in India.[2] Having worked under Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, he was a pioneer of modernist and brutalist architecture in India.
Doshi was born to a GujaratiVaishnavHindu family in Pune.[8] His mother died when he was 10 months old and his father remarried, with his grandfather and aunts helping raise him.[9][10] At the age of eleven, he was injured in a fire accident, and thereafter walked with a slight limp.[11] He studied at the Sir J. J. School of ArtinMumbai between 1947 and 1950.[12]
Bimanagar Housing Society, located at Ahmedabad is one of the well-known project by Shri B.V Doshi. He once said, "One of my most favourite housing projects is the one I designed for Life Insurance Corporation, at Ahmedabad. Here I knew that 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.”
Apart from his international fame as an architect, Doshi is equally known for having been an educator and institution builder. He was the founding director of the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad (1962–72), founding director of the School of Planning (1972–79), founding dean of the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (1972–81), founding member of the Visual Arts Centre, Ahmedabad, and founding director of the Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad.[13]
Doshi was instrumental in establishing the nationally- and internationally-known research institute Vastu-Shilpa Foundation for Studies and Research in Environmental Design. The institute has performed pioneering work in low-cost housing and city planning.[14] He is noteworthy for his pioneering work on low-income housing, and for his designs that incorporate concepts of sustainability in innovative ways.[14]
In 2008, Hundredhands director Premjit Ramachandran released a documentary interviewing Doshi. He appeared as himself in Mani Ratnam's O Kadhal Kanmani and Shaad Ali's Ok Jaanu.[11]
Doshi married Kamala Parikh in 1955. They had three daughters – Tejal, Radhika, and Maneesha.[16] Tejal Panthaki is a textile designer,[17] Radhika Kathpalia is an architect and fashion designer,[18] and Maneesha Akkitham is a painter.[19]
Doshi died in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on 24 January 2023, at age 95.[20][21]
Doshi's work on the reunification of Indian and English heritages through his practice was awarded a Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2007, the award's first edition. The award recognized Doshi's significant step in the direction of an alternative development model.[22]
In March 2018, Doshi was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the Nobel equivalent for the field, thus becoming the first Indian to receive the honour. The Pritzker jury announced that Doshi "has always created an architecture that is serious, never flashy or a follower of trends", and noted his "deep sense of responsibility and a desire to contribute to his country and its people through high quality, authentic architecture".[5]
^Contal, Marie-Hélène; Revedin, Jana (June 2009). Sustainable Design: Towards a New Ethic in Architecture and Town Planning. Germany: Birkhäuser. ISBN978-3-7643-9938-2.
James Steel, The Complete Architecture of Balikrishna Doshi, Rethinking Modernism for the Developing World, Thames and Hudson, London 1998, ISBN0-500-28082-7
Bruno Melotto ed., Balkrishna Doshi. Sangath. Indian architecture between tradition and modernity, Maggioli Editore, Santarcangelo di Romagna 2012, ISBN88-387-6126-4
Bruno Melotto ed., Balkrishna Doshi. The Masters in India. Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn and the Indian Context, Maggioli Editore, Santarcangelo di Romagna 2014, ISBN978-88-387-6295-6
