Balkrishna Doshi's iconic projects include designing Chandigarh, IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Bangalore and housing for Life Insurance Corporation in 1973.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday congratulated Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi, 94, for winning the UK's prestigious Royal Gold Medal 2022 in recognition of his lifetime work of over seven decades in the world of architecture. "Spoke to the distinguished architect Shri Balkrishna Doshi Ji and congratulated him on being awarded the Royal Gold Medal 2022," PM Modi tweeted.
Doshi a thinker, architect and academician will receive the Royal Gold Medal 2022, one of the world's highest honours for architecture, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced. The veteran architect has more than 100 projects under his belt.
Born in 1927 in Pune, to an extended joint-family of furniture makers, Balkrishna Doshi studied at the JJ School of Architecture, Bombay. However, midway through the course, in 1950, he moved to London to work as an associate of RIBA. It was here that Doshi had a chance to meet with an architect from Le Corbusier's office who took him to Paris.
The Swiss-French architect was drawing up plans for Chandigarh. From then on, Corbusier would be the mentor of Balkrishna Doshi. He went on to work for four years with Le Corbusier as a senior designer between 1951-54 in Paris and four more years in India to supervise projects in Ahmedabad.
His interest in design at an early age saw him joining a painting class, where he would draw village landscapes, homes, temples, animals and people, a rootedness that later found its way into his work.
Notable works of Balkrishna Doshi
Balkrishna Doshi worked as an associate with Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier for designing Chandigarh.
Balkrishna Doshi worked with American architect Louis Kahn on designing the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
His iconic projects include the designing of the Shreyas Comprehensive School campus in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
He designed the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Amdavad ni Gufa, a cave-like art gallery that exhibits works of M F Husain.
One of Doshi's favourite projects remains the one he did for Life Insurance Corporation in the early 1970s.
These low-rises, high-density units were grouped as a pyramid with cascading terraces with no economic hierarchy marking the houses.
For his Aranya Community Housing project in Indore, he included infrastructural needs and also laid out the streets and connected open areas.
His achievements
Received the UK's prestigious Royal Gold Medal 2022 in recognition of his lifetime work in the world of architecture.
In 2018, Balkrishna Doshi was the winner of architecture's highest honour, becoming Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.
The Aranya Community Housing project in Indore made Balkrishna Doshi win the Aga Khan Award in 1995.
He won the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award after the Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan in 1976.
Doshi joins Charles Correa (1984), among numerous international architects, engineers and writers to receive the Royal Gold Medal.
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 "Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi")
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