An Architect Rooted in Indian Context

Doshi often complained and at time felt aggrieved that cultural context is getting lost in the crass material race of the modern age

By M. A. Siraj

“Our tradition and culture have inherited certain rituals from the past. Just like the Japanese have the tea ceremony, we have kathas. These create an environment. Every object that we used to have, had an aesthetic meaning as well as spiritual and sensuous appeal. When you go to the a temple, you carry flowers which have colour, fragrance, delicate texture, the bells that you ring there produce a sonorous sound; when you prostrate, you experience temperature. These are the elements that make an environment”.

This is how renowned architect Balkrishna Doshi had responded to my query as to what does it mean to be in communion with nature. I had interviewed him for The Hindu (published issue dt. April 28, 2012 titled “Awareness is the essence of building”).

An ardent advocate of architecture rooted in Indian context, Doshi was the only Indian architect to have won the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2018. In his death (on Jan. 24), India lost an architect who combined modernism with vernacular and shaped the direction of architecture, climate, local culture, local material and craft.

One wonders, if the decision to award him Padma Vibhushan on the eve of Republic Day was an afterthought or his death was untimely. Doshi was revered for his iconic contributions such as the IIM campus in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, school of Architecture building in CEPT University, Hussain-Doshi Gufa (later rechristened Amdavad ni Gufa) and National Institute of Fashion Technology in Delhi.

Having done apprenticeship under such worthies as Le Corbusier and Louis I. Kahn and in locales as London, Paris and New York, Doshi came away unscathed and unadulterated. He wrote in his book titled Paths Uncharted (published 2012 by VastuShilpa Foundation, Ahmedabad), considered to be his autobiography: “I am indebted to Le Corbusier for setting me on the path to write, sketch design, paint and to Louis Kahn for widening my understanding of the more abstract and philosophical aspects of life working as an architect.”

Doshi often complained and at time felt aggrieved that cultural context is getting lost in the crass material race of the modern age which has transformed the families into nuclear ones and people looking at things for consumption rather than for wellbeing.

He had observed: “We are not having time to relax or listen to music or watch theatre or listen to chanting or do work with our hands. It is true that in the present time, with increasing population and higher physical needs of survival, we need higher and higher education and better employment.

For this we need to congregate in the cities and there is no time and place for such an experiment. Our time and energy gets used for mere survival. Our connection with the family is getting minimized. We need to provide pauses and porosity.”

In another interview, Doshi had critiqued the modern buildings thus : “Neither there is an art nor is there a building. It is pure market, supplying the need. It is need-based dwelling, not habitat. It is a shelter, just a sophisticated shelter. Architecture is far away. The priority is different. We have never been made aware of the quality of environment. Inspiration comes from the place you live, rejoice or experience. It is like music. Not everybody can sing. It is a question of tuning. Not only are today’s architects not tuned but it is not their domain. They are in a production line”.

Sustainability held centrality in Doshi’s thought, design and work. He would emphasise the need to think of religion, our cities, towns and metros like an organic whole. He lamented the deficient attention towards sustainability.

He had questioned: “Do we ever ask how much energy we consume? Our cities are becoming working places, not living places. We talk only about consumption. We have never addressed our cities as places of residence. In his view, Jaipur, as designed by Maharaja Sawai Jaisingh, ideally represented the Indian ethos.

He had said: “Jaipur is a model city for me. Today we are talking only about production and work. Look at the nature and the biological kingdom. All biological things, when they grow and grow to an extent that they feel they cannot sustain themselves, they reproduce.”

Doshi grew up in a joint family in Pune and lost his mother shortly afterwards and was brought up by his grandparents. He suspected that his longing for his maternal love made him withdraw within himself. His desire to recover this intimacy gave rise to the habit of scribbling whatever came to him right from a young age. These drawings (many of which are sp