India’s Foremost Architect Balkrishna Doshi, and 2018 Pritzker Prize Winner, Passes Away Aged 95

Multiple Indian news outlets and Architectural Digest India’s Instagram account reported on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, that architect Balkrishna Doshi, an expert architect, urban planner, educator, 2018 Pritzker Prize Winner, and 2022 recipient of the Riba’s Gold Medal, had passed away at the age of 95 in Ahmedabad, India.

©Vastushilpa Foundation

Former Pritzker Architecture Prize Executive Director Martha Thorne paid tribute to the legendary architect in a Facebook post “It is undeniable that Balkrishna Doshi stands apart from all other architects of the twentieth century. The architect’s achievements, writings, teachings, mentoring, and exemplary role model status have far-reaching effects. The extent of his work ranged from city planning to the design of single structures. Doshi’s approach to architecture is comprehensive, as evidenced by his utilization of traditional crafts repurposed for modern settings.”

Doshi, who was heavily influenced by the works of Le Corbusier and Louis Khan, is one of the most recognizable Indian architects who altered the architecture of India and the surrounding regions. His buildings are known for their combined pioneering modernism with vernacular.

Throughout his seventy-year career, architect Balkrishna Doshi has created some of India’s most prominent structures through his urban planning, social housing, and academic experience as a professor at institutions worldwide.

Architect Balkrishna Doshi’s Background

Doshi was born in Pune, India, in 1927 and attended the JJ School of Architecture in Bombay before spending four years as a senior designer for Le Corbusier in Paris (1951-54) and another four years in India supervising projects in Ahmedabad.

After that, he joined Louis Kahn’s firm as an associate to help construct the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. The two men ended up working together for over a decade.

Doshi then started his firm, Vastushilpa, with two other architects back in 1956; today, the company employs sixty people among five partners representing the three generations.

©Iwan Baan

Balkrishna Doshi’s Architectural Characteristics

Architect Balkrishna Doshi’s architecture addresses the relationships between human needs, self- and culture-connection, and ritual practices in the context of a location and its environment and in response to modernism. He views architecture as an adaptation of the body and uses functional materials while considering climate, geography, and urbanization. Doshi’s pioneering modernism and vernacular reflect his deep admiration of India’s architecture, environment, culture, and craft.

When explaining why they chose Doshi for the 2022 RIBA Honours, the committee noted that he was the first Indian architect to win the Pritzker Prize (2018) and that his work had a profound respect for India’s architectural, climatic, cultural, and artistic heritage.

His portfolio includes institutional design cultural centers, schools, neighborhoods, and private homes across various scales and program types. These range from private dwellings like Kamala House to public buildings like the Tagore Memorial Hall and the National Institute of Fashion Technology in Delhi to private schools like the Ahmedabad School of Architecture and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore to the Shreyas Comprehensive School Campus, which won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.