PRESENTATION

ON

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

AR. J. M. DUGGAL RISHABH MONGA
PREETPAL KAUR
BALKRISHNA VITHALDAS DOSHI
INTRODUCTION

A teacher, a speaker, an
architect- Balkrishna
Vithaldas Doshi is a man
who has worn several hats.
•He is one of the most visionary leaders of a generation who
have been searching for a continuous strand in the long history
of architecture.
•His early association with two of the most influential ‘form-
givers’ in modern architecture, Le Corbusier and Louis I
Kahn, made an indelible impression on him.
•Doshi’s work is a compelling mixture of the modern and the
traditional, containing the most fundamental aspects of each,
without being deflected by superficial forms.

B.V.
 HIS LIFE & CAREER
•Professor Balkrishna V. Doshi is an Indian architect,
educator, and academician.
•He was born in Pune on 26 August,1927.

•In 1947, he enrolled himself in JJ college of architecture,

Bombay.

•After initial study in Bombay, he worked with Le Corbusier

in Paris (1951-1954) as senior designer.

B.V.
•In 1955 he returned to India to supervise Le Corbusier’s
projects in Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.
•He worked closely with Louis Kahn and Anant Raje, when
Kahn designed the campus of the Indian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad.
•He married Kamala Parikh in 1955.
•In 1956, he established his private practice Vastu-Shilpa in
Ahmedabad.
•In 1962, he established the Vastu-Shilpa Foundation for
Studies and Research in Environmental Design known for
pioneering work in low-cost housing and city planning.
•He also founded and designed the School of Architecture and
Planning, Ahmedabad in 1962.

•Doshi has worked in partnership Stein, Doshi & Bhalla since

1977.

•Today, his internationally renowned projects are designed

under the name of Vastu-Shilpa Consultants, with offices in
Ahmedabad.

•As an academician, he has been visiting the U.S.A. and

Europe since 1958, and has held important chairs in American
universities.
 ROLE AS AN ACADEMICIAN
•Apart from his international fame as an architect, Dr. Doshi is
equally known as an educator and institution builder.

•He has been the first founder Director of School of

Architecture, Ahmedabad (1962–72), first founder Director of
School of Planning (1972–79), first founder Dean of Centre for
Environmental Planning and Technology (1972–81), founder
member of Visual Arts Centre, Ahmedabad and first founder
Director of Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad.

B.V.
 PHILOSOPHIES
•According to him Architecture of a building is conceived not
as a container of specific activities but as a place to be
inhabited, as a place to facilitate the course of human
environment
•Doshi's work has consistently revolved around the
interrelationship of indoor and outdoor space, an appropriate
and honest approach to materials, proper climatic response
and observance of hierarchy and order that has always been
present in the best modern architecture.

B.V.
• It is this so called ‘filter’ between contemporary and
traditional architecture which Doshi has masterfully
brought in.
• The success of any project depends on effective
construction, contracting, logistic planning and co-
ordination.
• An essential part of the philosophy is the construction of
scale models and of full scale mockups to make decisions
jointly with the client about the building.

B.V.
 HIS EIGHT PRINCIPLES IN
TRADITIONAL
ARCHITECTURE
1. Space can be “modified according to the desire of the
perceiver” and is never static .
2. A building can be transformed according to its functional
use.
3. His third principle is amplified by his own deep cultural
experience and the popular evolution of new institutions .
4. A fourth, more specific, principle is to follow a “flexible
rather than rigid approach to structure”.
B.V.
5. Symbolism.
6. Amorphous, rather than finite forms.
7. A seventh principle of the ‘Vastu-Purusha Mandala’ ensures
minimum standards of health and hygiene.

8. As an eighth and final principle, Doshi seeks timelessness in

his architecture, much as Louis Kahn did, describing this quality
as ‘open-endedness’. Foresight has allowed his work to
withstand changes.

B.V.
 AWARDS, HONOURS &
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
•B. V. Doshi has received numerous international awards and
honours.
•He is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, has
been on the selection committee for the Pritzker Prize, the
Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, and the Aga Khan
Award.
• He is also a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects.

B.V.
1958-59: International Fellow of the Graham Foundation for
Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago, USA
1971: Padmashree by the government of India
1976: Honorary Fellow, American Institute of Architects, U.S.A
1987: Distinguished Professor, School of Architecture,
Ahmedabad
1987: Distinguished Professor, School of Planning, Ahmedabad
1988: M B Achwal Memorial Gold Medal instituted by the IIA
1988: First Prize National Design Idea Competition for 1137
mixed income housing units at Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai for
CIDCO
1988: Vishwa Gurjari Award
1990: Honorary doctorate from University of Pennsylvania

1991: Project Award for Excellence in Architecture by Journal of

the IIA

1992: Special Award for Excellence in Architecture by Journal of

the IIA

1992: Architect of the Year Award instituted by JK Cements

1994: Great Master’s Award instituted by JK Cements

1995: Aga Khan Award for Architecture

1997: Nagar Bhushan Award instituted by Ahmedabad Municipal

Corporation

2011: Inside Outside Lifetime Achievement Award

 LIST OF WORKS
1962: Centre for Environment Planning & Technology, Ahmedabad
1963: Doshi House, Ahmedabad
1977: Visual Art Centre, Ahmedabad
1977: Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
1977: LIC Township, Ahmedabad
1979: Sangath
1982: ARANYA, Low cost Housing, Indore
1985: Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad
1988: CIDCO, Mixed Income Mass Housing Kalamboli, Navi
1989: National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi
1991: Hussain Doshi Gufa/ Amdavad ni Gufa
1992: Bharat Diamond Bourse, Mumbai

B.V.
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE,
CEPT, AHMEDABAD
B.V. 1962
•Doshi’s primary concept for the School of Architecture was that it
should be “an open place with hardly any doors”, and he was
determined to use such accessibility not only as a metaphor for
academic freedom but also for environmental responsiveness.
•The studios are high and airy, with north light from angled glass
monitors, and wide doors which serve more as panels hinged at
the third point, giving unhindered visual access to the outside and
allowing a free flow of air.
•Outdoor rooms in the cooler air of the garden
allow work to continue in the extreme weather
condition.
 The space underneath is active and
multi-functional, designed for sun
protection and exposure to the
breeze.
The courtyard draws cooler air
up from the garden by
convention.
B.V. NORTHERN FACADE
B.V. SOUTHERN FACADE
STUDIOS
SANGATH, AHMEDABAD,1979-81
•Sangath is the best known of all his works internationally.
•Sangath, which means ‘moving together through
participation’ in Sanskrit, is a village-like enclave of distinct
rectangular volumes aligned along a north-south axis inside a
lush green compound on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
•Sangath" is a design laboratory where professionals from
diverse disciplines are invited to explore new visions,
concepts and solutions integrating arts, crafts, engineering and
philosophy of life. Sangath to see that each individual in the
coming millennium is benefited from its visions and design
solutions. - Balkrishna Doshi

B.V.
Accounts Printin
g
Conference Design Studio
Secretary

Entrance Court
Worksho
p

Meetin Engineer
g s
Multipurpose space
Loung Court
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Doshi’s
room
Diagonal
Librar
Pathway
y GROUND FLOOR
 Entrance Court

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

Account Services Design Court Entranc Road
s Studio e Court
Conference

SECTIONS

VSF
VSF

Loung Conferenc
e e
SOUTH ELEVATION

WEST ELEVATION
•The vaulted form used at first minimally was later
developed extensively to relate to Indian sensibilities. The vaulted
roofs, separated by lower, flat surfaces, were designed to make
the best use of natural light.

•The pools were developed as a natural cooling system.

Mosaic tiles, purchased as waste material, were used as an
inexpensive means to reflect harsh sunlight and thereby reduce
heat absorption.
 ARANYA LOW-COST
HOUSING TOWNSHIP INDORE
•It is located 6 kms. From the centre of Indore on Agra-
Bombay highway.
•Aranya site is flat.
•Doshi was commissioned by the Indore Development
Authority to provide housing for the “Economically weaker
sector”.
•Ar. Decided to integrate some upper-income units to
subsidize the lower cost units.
•The target pollution was 40,000 on a 80 hectare site,
incorporating 6,500 plots ranging b/w 35 & 475 sq. mts.
•Of these 65% were allocated for the very poor, 11% for
lower income, 14% for middle income, 9% for high income
group.

B.V.
•The Aranya housing scheme divided as 58% residential
use, 23.5% pedestrian & vehicular access roads, 8% open
space, 7% shared community.
•Doshi divided the site with a north-south spine where the
main amenities are clustered, feeding 3 zones of housing
on each side.
•The choice of orientation, as well as the use of offsets, also
maximizes shade.
•Houses are clustered in groups of 10.
•A Septic tank has been provided for every cluster or 20
houses.
•Water is drawn from 3 local reservoirs to serve the entire
project.

B.V.
SITE PLAN
Varied façade treatments with material control

B.V.
VARIOUS ARRANGEMENTS DONE IN PLOTS
 HUSSAIN-DOSHI GUFA
 IT WAS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BETWEEN DOSHI AND M.F.
HUSAIN FOR THE EXHIBITION OF ARTIST’S WORK.
 THE REFRENCE FOR THE GUFA ARE ELEMENTAL AND
PRIMEVAL; IT IMERGED FROM THE BUDDHIST STUPA AND
KARLI AND AJANTA
 STUPA AS THE PRIMARY REFRANCE, SIGNIFIES BOTH TOMB OF
BUDDHA AND THE SYMBOL OF PURSUIT.
 STUPA FORMALLY SIGNIFIES AND IMPLIES THE ENLIGHTENING
NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE.
 25 MILLIMETRE THIN FERROCEMENT CAVES.SHELL THAT HAS
BEEN USED AS THE STRUCTURE OF DOSHI’S MUSEUM.
 SLOPING COLUMN SUPPORT MUSEUM INTERNALLY.
 THE HUSSAIN DOSHI GUFA IN AHMEDABAD IS LOCATED ON A
CAMPUS OF THE CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING
AND TECHNOLOGY.
 THE PLAN IS EVOLVED FROM THE INTERSECTING CIRCLES
AND ELLIPSE.
• SITE AREA: 1000 M2
• BUILT-UP AREA: 280M2
• PROJECT COST: RS 1.8 MILLION.
•HUSAIN-DOSHI GUFA IS AN UNDERGROUND ART
GALLERY,EXHIBITING
•THE SPACES FORMED WITHIN ARE CONTNIOUS AND
AMORPHOUS
• THROUGH INCLINED PLANES OF DOMES, CURVILINEAR PLANES
OF VAULTS, UNDULATING FLOORS AND NON RECTILINEAR
LEANING COLUMNS
• THE STRUCTURE IS IN THE FORM OF SKELETON SKIN AND WIRE-
MESH,SANDWICHED ON EACH SIDE BY LAYERS OF CEMENT AND
HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT WITH SIMPLE HAND TOOLS BY
UNSKILLED WORKERS.
•PROJECTING SKYLIGHTS AND SKIN CUT-OUT NOT ONLY
ILLUMINATE THE SPACES WITHIN BUT CREATE MYTHIC SHAFTS
AND SPOTS OF LIGHT REMINISCENT OF THE GALAXY AND STARS.
•BURIED SPACES,EARTH MOUNDS,RAISED VOLUMES AND CHINA
MOSAIC FINISH RENDERS THE ARCHITECTURE ENERGY
CONSCIOUS,CUTTING DOWN IT’S ENERGY INTAKE,IN AN
OTHERWISE HARSH HOT DRY CLIMATE.
 EXTERIOR VIEWS EXTERIOR DETAIL
SHOWING DOMICAL OF WIRE
CAVES FRAME.

INTERIOR VIEWS OF THE HUSSAIN DOSHI GUFA SHOWING

SUPPORTIVE COLUMNS, LIGHT SHAFT AND SCULPTURES OF
GUFA
THE USE OF COATINGSAS WELL AS DEPRESSING THE GALLERY MORE
THAN A METRE INTO THE GROUND IS AN EFFECTIVE INSULATING
STRATEGY AND THE WHITE TILES ALSO REFLECT THE SUN RAYS HELPING
TO KEEP THE INTERIORS COOL.
THE PROTRUBANCES FINALLY EMERGED AS WINDOWS SPECIFICALLY
ORIETED TO LET IN MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF LIGHT BUT MINIMUM AMOUNT
OF HEAT GIVING THE INTERIORS A GOLDEN GLOW.
TO ENHANCE THE CAVE LIKE FEELING, THE GENERAL CONTOURS OF THE
SITE WERE RETAINED RATHER THAN BEING LEVELLED.
THE GENTLE UNDULATING SURFACE OF THE EARTH CAN STILL BE
PERCEIVED BENEATH THE THIN CONCRETE SFLOOR SLAB POURED OVER
IT.

SITE PLAN OF HUSAIN-

EXTERIOR VIEW SHOWING DOSHI GUFA SECTION OF HUSAIN-DOSHI
THE DOMICAL PROTRUDING GUFA
 NATURAL CONTOURS
EXPLOITED ON THE SITE

DETAILS OF
DOMICAL SHEELS MADE OF FERRO DOMICAL
CEMENT WHICH PROVES TO BE A ROOFS
GOOD INSULATOR

INTERIOR VIEWS
THANK YOU