India’s uprising from a dependent to an independent governance altered the way it was perceived by the world. The country’s evolution left architects and urban developers with important questions: How can they solve the economic and environmental disparities in India, and how can they implement an understanding in people about the potential of what they can achieve with their country’s culture and resources.
In a new extensive video interview by Louisiana Channel, Indian Pritzker Prize-winner Balkrishna Doshi narrates how he became an award-winning architect, his traditional Hindu beliefs and culture, and India’s juxtaposition of having nothing to keeping up with a world that is creating everything.
The Pritzker Prize is the most important award in the field of architecture, awarded to a living architect whose built work "has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity through the art of architecture." The Prize rewards individuals, not entire offices, as took place in 2000 (when the jury selected Rem Koolhaas instead of his firm OMA) or in 2016 (with Alejandro Aravena selected instead of Elemental); however, the prize can also be awarded to multiple individuals working together, as took place in 2001 (Herzog & de Meuron), 2010 (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA), and 2017 (Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta of RCR Arquitectes).
The award is an initiative funded by Jay Pritzker through the Hyatt Foundation, an organization associated with the hotel company of the same name that Jay founded with his brother Donald in 1957. The award was first given in 1979, when the American architect Philip Johnson, was awarded for his iconic works such as the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.
The Pritzker Prize has been awarded for almost forty straight years without interruption, and there are now 18 countries with at least one winning architect. To date, half of the winners are European; while the Americas, Asia, and Oceania share the other twenty editions. So far, no African architect has been awarded, making it the only continent without a winner.
Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, photo by Vinay Panjwani. Image Courtesy of Vitra Design Museum
The Vitra Design Museum has announced a new exhibition exploring the work of Pritzker architect Balkrishna Doshi. Titled Architecture for the People, the museum will present the first international retrospective about Balkrishna Doshi outside of Asia. The goal of the exhibition is to open Doshi’s work to a global audience and show how the architect’s work has redefined modern Indian architecture to shape a new generations of architects.
With the exhibition »Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People« (30 March to 8 September 2019), Vitra Design Museum presents the first international retrospective about the 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi outside of Asia.
The renowned architect and urban planner is one of the few pioneers of modern architecture in his home country and the first Indian architect to receive the prestigious award. During over 60 years of practice, Doshi has realized a wide range of projects, adopting principles of modern architecture and adapting them to local culture, traditions, resources, and nature. The exhibition will present numerous significant projects
Days of Oris is an international architecture convention organised by Oris magazine and the Oris House of Architecture. The two-day event has been held since 2001. It presents the most significant names of the architectural and cultural scene and gathers more than 2000 visitors every year.
Balkrishna Doshi, the 90-year-old architect who became the first ever Indian winner of the architecture world's most prestigious award earlier this year, will present his Pritzker Prize Laureate Lecture entitled "Paths Uncharted" on Wednesday 16th May at 6:30 pm ET. The event is hosted by The University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, at the school's new home in the Daniels Building at One Spadina Crescent. The lecture will be one of the first events at the new building and marks the 40th anniversary of the Pritzker Prize. 2018 will also be the first year that the award is presented in Canada.
https://www.archdaily.com/894485/watch-balkrishna-doshis-live-pritzker-prize-laureate-lectureAD Editorial Team
I’m sitting in a busy suburban coffee-and-donut shop with the quiet, grandfatherly Indian architect, Jitendra Vaidya. When I started my life as an architecture intern in the late 90s, Jitendra was one of the most experienced technical designers I knew. Equally comfortable weighing the relative merits of various flashing details as he is discussing abstract design concepts, Jitendra is an old-school, universal architect. After more than half a century in a profession famous for grinding deadlines, Jitendra still maintains a joyful twinkle in his eye when he talks about architecture. So it’s no surprise that Jitendra is visibly animated today as he tells me about his teacher, the man who was just recognized as one of the world’s greatest living architects, B.V. Doshi.
For the Pritzker Prize—the profession’s highest honor—to be awarded to a 90-year-old academic urbanist who spent his long career primarily teaching architecture students and serving poor communities in India is a stunning development. To be fair, the caricature of Pritzker winners as arrogant, scarf- wrapped, Euro-American, Starchitects, is overblown and outdated. Recent winners such as Alejandro Aravena, Wang Shu, and Shigeru Ban, are connected in their mutual dedication to serving poor and displaced communities through innovative, culturally authentic designs. But even accepting this nuance, Doshi is fundamentally different from recent winners.
Architectural photographer Iwan Baan recently honored 2018 Pritzker Prize Laureate Balkrishna (B.V.) Doshi. It has been a little over a month since the Pritzker jury selected the Indian architect as the latest winner, and his work still remains popular within the online world. The genuine materiality and intricate spatial experience associated with Doshi's work are captured by Baan in multiple projects across India. Baan's Instagram (@iwanbaan), which has nearly 120K followers, acts as "a diary of travels with the iPhone."
Read on to see some of Baan's images (some posts have multiple images, so be sure and use the left and right arrows to see the full set of pictures).
Architect, urban planner, and educator for the past 70 years, Doshi has been instrumental in shaping the discourse of architecture throughout India and internationally. Influenced by masters of 20th century architecture, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, and Louis Kahn, Doshi has been able to interpret architecture and transform it into built works that respect eastern culture while enhancing the quality of living in India. His ethical and personal approach to architecture has touched lives of every socio-economic class across a broad spectrum of genres since the 1950s.
Concept Drawing for Vidhyadhar Nagar Masterplan . Image Courtesy of Pritzker Architecture Prize
Balkrishna Doshi, also known as B.V. Doshi or simply Doshi, has been named this year’s Pritzker Prize Laureate. His extensive portfolio of educational, cultural, public administration, and residential projects is matched only by his contribution to architectural culture—from founding The School of Architecture at Ahmedabad (now known as the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology) to co-authoring the Habitat Bill of Rights, among others. Yet, his vividly illustrated conceptual drawings reveal as much, if not more, of the architect’s relationship with building, history, tradition, culture, and modernism.
Balkrishna Doshi named 2018 Pritzker Prize Laureate. Image Courtesy of VSF
Last Wednesday the world knew the name of the latest Pritzker Prize laureate: Balkrishna Doshi, the first Indian architect to receive architecture’s highest honor. The jury stated that "with an understanding and appreciation of the deep traditions of India’s architecture, Doshi united prefabrication and local craft and developed a vocabulary in harmony with the history, culture, local traditions and the changing times of his home country India".
While architects all in India are rejoicing and celebrating him, Anupama Kundoo, Professor at IE School of Architecture and Design, shared her thoughts on Doshi’s Pritzker Prize. "It is timely that there is recognition of a holistic understanding of the role of the architect, where the design of the built environment is seen as sensitive interventions that retain human scale in the man-made built landscape", stated Kundoo.
After designing over a hundred buildings and establishing several schools of architecture, Balkrishna Doshi achieved architecture’s highest accolade: the Pritzker Prize Award. Doshi is the first Indian architect to receive this award. He is known as an architectural advocate for social change and the environment.
Doshi believes his award is not only for himself but for all of India. The 90-year-old architect stood out as a pioneer of social housing design and architectural identity in India. Reflect on his legacy through these 21 images of his work:
Balkrishna Doshi, despite his vast number of completed projects, is a little-known name in the Western world. Directed by Premjit Ramachandran, the documentary "Doshi" allows the viewer to appreciate the vision of this important Indian architect, probing his thoughts while getting to know a number of his projects. Filmed in a frank style of conversation, the documentary reveals an original and creative human being who, even in old age, remains passionate about architecture as well as life and learning.
The film becomes a roundtable with Doshi, his alumni, his contemporaries and even family members, all within the context of his architecture. The camera follows its protagonist through spaces designed by him, while he narrates, recalls and explains his processes of creation. It also reveals how he makes his philosophy an intrinsic part of his own life.
https://www.archdaily.com/890243/doshi-documentary-explores-pritzker-prize-winning-career-modern-indian-architectAD Editorial Team
Earlier today, B.V. Doshi was named the winner of the 2018 Pritzker Prize, the profession’s highest accolade. For the past 70 years, Doshi has shaped the discourse of architecture and urban design, with a particularly strong influence in his native India, through projects including private residences, schools, banks, theaters, and low-income housing developments. Here are seven examples of this work that exemplifies Doshi’s respect for eastern culture and his desire to contribute to his country through authentic designs that enhance people's quality of life.
Le Corbusier and Balkrishna Doshi. Photo courtesy of Balkrishna Doshi.
B.V. Doshi, one of modern Indian architecture’s most celebrated practitioners, was born in Pune, India in 1927. Nearly 90 years later, the Pritzker Prize jury chose Doshi as the 2018 Laureate. Get to know about Doshi’s history—including his close relationship to the legendary Le Corbusier—in this list of interesting facts.
https://www.archdaily.com/890128/who-is-balkrishna-bv-doshi-12-things-to-know-about-the-2018-pritzker-laureateAD Editorial Team
This year’s Pritzker jury has selected Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi, often known as B.V. Doshi or Doshi, as the 2018 Pritzker Prize Laureate. Doshi has been a practitioner of architecture for over 70 years. Previously, he had studied and worked with both Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. Doshi’s poetic architecture draws upon Eastern influences to create a body of work that “has touched lives of every socio-economic class across a broad spectrum of genres since the 1950s,” cites the jury. Doshi is the first Indian architect to receive architecture’s highest honor.
https://www.archdaily.com/890126/balkrishna-doshi-named-2018-pritzker-prize-laureateAD Editorial Team
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