THE MAESTRO

AND HIS MAGIC

Dr. B.V. Doshi dons several hats with elan. An architect, artist,
teacher and speaker, he’s one of the pioneers who shaped
modern architecture in India. His holistic and comprehensive
approach to design — he considers architecture a social
enterprise — has, over decades, ensured a body of work that
anoints him the master of his craft.
The master architect speaks to Teja Lele Desai on how his design
sensibilities were forged, why the interior must be relevant to
the exterior, and why art, architecture and life need to co-exist.
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Photos courtesy: Vastu Shilpa Consultants and Anuja Khokhani

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 Ar. B. V. Doshi’s architecture is conceived ‘as a place to be
inhabited, as a place to facilitate the course of human interaction’

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 Born in 1927 in Pune, Doshi studied
at the J. J. School of Architecture,
Mumbai. He then headed for London,
after which he stopped off at Paris
where he worked under master
architect Le Corbusier. Corbusier
was a strong influence on Doshi’s
work and life. His years in Paris —
1951–54 — led to a wide range of
“exposure”, he says, resulting in
strong fundamentals of modern
architecture and materials.
Doshi returned to Ahmedabad to
supervise Le Corbusier’s numerous
projects in the city, working on them
from 1955–59. He set up his own
studio, Vastu Shilpa (environmental
design), in 1955, and also worked
closely with Louis Kahn when
Kahn designed the campus of the
Indian Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad. This was an important
period in Indian architecture, one
in which Indian architects had to
deal with foreign legacies and adapt
them to Indian conditions.
Doshi’s architecture takes pride
of place for “combining certain
enduring values of modern archi-
tecture with research into the
substructure of Indian traditions”.
Over the years, he developed his
own language of architecture,
Sangath, Ahmedabad, was designed to function as Doshi’s studio and visualises traditional Indian
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forging design sensibilities that
were inherent to India’s climate
and conditions. Take any of his
projects, be it IIM Bangalore, L D
Institute of Indology, CEPT Campus,
his own residence, all have a sense
of scale, proportion and light that’s
trademark Doshi. His environmental
and urban concerns, and his ability
to adapt modern architecture to an
Indian context makes his work one
of the most important models for
modern Indian architecture.
Most of the firm’s projects show
that Doshi does not favour the
imposition of any particular style,
his architecture is conceived “not as
a synthesised container of specific
activities but as a place to be
inhabited, as a place to facilitate
the course of human interaction”.
The firm also works to conserve
energy, human or mechanical,
optimize technologies, adopt
innovative ways of building and The IIM Campus in Bengaluru reflects the
alternative materials, and places an sense of scale, proportion and light
emphasis on urban design. that’s trademark Doshi
In Amdavad-Ni-Gufa, a book be distinguished separately either
published by Doshi’s Vastu Shilpa as modulation of light or surfaces or
Foundation, the architect writes: supporting system. On the contrary,
“…in true architecture one must a good design merges floors, walls,
experience joy and celebrations, ceilings into one contiguous whole
it must affect our inner self. It cannot and creates an organic space almost
like a living being… It then becomes
a small universe, a microcosm which
we can call paradise.”
The Interior and the Exterior
The inside and the outside. Should
they be kept at arm’s length from
each other or should they co-exist?
Doshi believes that during the design
process, architects need to keep in
mind that the interior and exterior
form an integral whole. “Can the
interior reflect the exterior? Can the
exterior give a clue to the interior?
Will they allow the unfolding of
experience and imagery?” he asks. “I
think about the interior and exterior
like a living organism. Like in a body,
there should be nothing superfluous,
there must be no compartments.
All should come together to form a
architecture in a modern medium
seamless whole,” he clarifies.
Presently, he believes that interior
and exterior are often viewed
separately by designers. “We often
operate on a micro scale, losing
sight of realities. We need to
function on a macro scale. After all,
the exterior is nothing but interior
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ar. b. v. doshi
Ar. Doshi believes that architecture ‘cannot be distinguished separately either as modulation of
light or surfaces or supporting system’

on a larger scale. So it’s paramount

that we expand our vision and
horizon, and take a look at all the
micro layers that make a design
macro,” he says.

Interior — be it the inside of a

building or a product — should talk
about sustainability, how it relates
to the outer environment. Interior
is experienced through movements
from all sides; like a kaleidoscope,
memories and perceptions change.
He turns thoughts on their head by
posing a question. “What is a street
if not the interior between two
buildings?” Clearly, says the master
architect, the scope of interior
design needs to be widened. “It
must be more inclusive so as to
include large-scale projects such
as airports, stations, infrastructure A good design merges floors, walls, ceilings into one contiguous whole and creates an organic
projects and enclosed public spaces space almost like a living being, Ar. Doshi says
within its ambit.”

His Favourites

Doshi favours a tightly knit team

when it comes to work, the reason
why he’s limited the size of the firm.
This also ensures having substantial
participation in all projects by the
principals. His firm has developed
and consistently embraced a design
methodology that revolves around
design teams framed at the outset
of each project to work together —
from concept phase to completion.
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At Vastu Shilpa, the development of

design begins from the conceptual
base of the project and generates
a formal vocabulary that ultimately

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 B. V. Doshi’s friendship with M. F. Husain resulted in Amdavad-ni-Gufa, an underground art gallery located on the CEPT Campus in Ahmedabad
At the Amdavad-ni-Gufa, the form of roof shells is guided by computer design and the structure
influences even the smallest details.
The firm is not compartmentalised
into divisions and so architects
involved in the conceptual decisions
also develop construction details
for the building, review fabrication
drawings and observe construction
at the job site along with various
specialists and consultants.
Does Doshi have any favourites from
his vast body of work? He thinks for a
moment and responds. “I would say
the Husain-Doshi Gufa and Sangath,
both of which are interior-wise
and space-wise very significant.”
Sangath, designed for himself to
function as a studio, exemplifies
this with a variety of spaces that
appear as a part and parcel of
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traditional Indian architecture and
are visualised in a modern medium.
In his book, Balkrishna Doshi, An
Architecture for India, William J.R.
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is in the form of skeletal skin and wire mesh
Curtis writes that Sangath is “a
fragment of Doshi’s private dream:
a microcosm of his intentions
and obsessions. Inspired by the
earth-hugging forms of the Indian
vernacular, it also draws upon the
vault suggestions of Le Corbusier.
… [with] interiors derived from the
traditional Indian city, it is also
influenced by sources as diverse
as Louis I. Kahn, Alvar Aalto and
Antonio Gaudi. A work of art stands
on its own merits and Sangath
possesses that indefinable quality
of authenticity. Even local labourers
and passing peasants like to come
and sit next to it, enjoying the low
mounds of the vaults or the water-
jars overgrown with creepers.”
Doshi’s friendship with artist M.F.
Husain culminated in Amdavad-ni-
Gufa, an underground art gallery
located on the campus of the
Centre for Environmental Planning
& Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad.
Months after he took up the project,
the architect did not have any
clear image for the Gufa. All he
knew was that the Gufa had to be
an underground structure without
any conventional form. One day, he
visited the site to gain clarity. That
night, he had a dream about a kurma
(a tortoise), who had appeared in
his dream eight years earlier.
He writes in Amdavad-Ni-Gufa:
“Kurma reminded me of the
achievements of the Renaissance
and Baroque period. He emphasised
how the definition of space and form
were gradually being dissolved, three
dimensionally, and how the sky was
becoming a part of the interior space.
He even talked about optical illusions
and how they are essential to make
us realise that the space and form
that we see are part of the infinite,
and hence timeless and illusory.”
Doshi went on to envisage a space
with wonderful light and structures,
unlike anything that had ever been
created before. Sketches were
doodled, models were made and
studies continued over time. The result
was a “sustainable, unexpected and
unimaginable building”, the now
famous Gufa. The form of roof shells
is guided by computer design and
the structure, built in ferrocement,
is in the form of skeletal skin and
wire mesh, sandwiched on each side
by layers of cement.
“The design is the epitome of
freedom of expression. On this,

Husain and I were both independent
and yet inter-dependent. That is
why the Gufa is so special,” Doshi
says of the structure that represents
the first collaboration between art
and architecture.
Inspiring Generations
Apart from his international fame
as an architect, Doshi is renowned
as an educator and institution
builder. He was the first Founder-
Director of School of Architecture,
Ahmedabad (1962–72), first Founder-
Director of School of Planning
(1972–79), first Founder-Dean of
Passers-by and local labourers like to come and sit near Sangath, enjoying the low mounds, the
water jars overgrown with creepers and the walkways
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. He was also the
force behind the nationally and
internationally known research
institute Vastu Shilpa Foundation
for Studies and Research in
Environmental Design, an institute
known for pioneering work in low-
cost housing and city planning.
Doshi, who has been visiting the
United States and Europe since
1958 and has held important chairs
in American Universities, has
been a continuing inspiration for
generations of students who pass
out of design schools in India and
abroad. Many of them, such as
academicians and professors Kurulla
Varkey, Saumitro Ghosh, Gurjeet
Matharoo, Shivanand Swami,
Trilochan Chhaya, Nilkanth Chhaya
and Krishna Shastri, have made
their mark on the profession of
architecture and inspire yet another
generations of students.
Inspired by the earth-hugging forms of the Indian vernacular, Sangath also draws upon the vault
suggestions of Le Corbusier’s work
Doshi, who believes that awareness
and interest has grown manifold in
recent times, offers simple advice
to students who turn to design as
a profession. Try a self-exercise
and question yourself. Why are you
doing this? What is your intent? Do
you intensely love this field or are
you entering it because someone
has recommended it to you? Would
you pursue this if you had financial
hardships? “For architecture is not
merely a hobby, it is a profession
that necessitates commitment as it
must be a part and parcel of your
lives,” he says.
When it comes to interiors, he
points out that often many people
who work in the field are not
professionals, they are people
who are there on account of their
interest. “Can academics be
expanded to include these people
in the profession,” he asks. On how
institutes and the media can help,
he offers a suggestion. “How about
identifying an architectural trail in
each city, places and buildings that
students must visit so that they can
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ar. b. v. doshi
learn and imbibe facets of design,
be it proportions, scale, space or
light… Education often turns out to
be fragmented,” he says. “This will
ensure that they take in all facets,”
he adds.
Doshi, a Fellow of the Royal Institute
of British Architects and a Fellow of
the Indian Institute of Architects,
was in 1976 awarded the Padma
Shri, an esteemed national civilian
honour. Apart from a clutch of awards
down the years, he has also received
an honorary Doctorate of Arts by the
University of Pennsylvania (1989)
and McGill University, Montréal,
Canada (2006), and the Great
Gold Medal of the French Academy
Institute of Architects.
Doshi continues to remain tireless —
about art, architecture and design.
“Hindu philosophy talks of Navarasa
— the entire diverse expressions
and experiences of life come out.
Hidden in them are the many
functions… that’s why I believe
there is no distinction between art,
architecture and life,” he ends. i
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