Architect Balkrishna Doshi passes away

AHMEDABAD: Renowned architect Dr BV Doshi (Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi) has passed away. He was 95 years old. He passed away on Tuesday at his residence in Ahmedabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many others expressed condolences.

The country had honoured him with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards. BV Doshi was an architect who won the Pritzker Prize, known as the Nobel of Architecture, and the Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, awarded directly by the British Queen. He was the first Indian to win the Pritzker Prize.

BV Doshi had worked with architectural legends such as Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. He worked with French architect Le Corbusier to design the city of Chandigarh, envisioned by Jawaharlal Nehru as India's first planned city. Doshi was Louis Kahn's associate in the design of the Indian Institute of Management campus in Ahmedabad. Doshi's architectural style was a blend of Indian architecture, climate and local culture.

Some of his projects include the Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, CEPT University, Kanoria Centre for Arts, Indian Institute of Management, Amdavad ni Gufa, Tagore Hall, Delhi National Institute of Fashion Technology, Kamala House ( his personal residence), Bangalore and Udaipur IIMs. He won the Aga Khan Award in 1995 for Aranya Low-Cost Housing Township, Indore.

BV Doshi was born on August 26, 1927, in an ordinary family in Pune. He did his B.Arch graduation from JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai. He went on to work with Le Corbusier as a senior designer in Paris (1951-54) and also supervised several projects in Ahmedabad.