Balkrishna Doshi wins Royal Gold Medal 2022

Amdavad Ni Gudfa, Ahmedabad, India, 1994 by Balkrishna Doshi

Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi was born in Pune, the 7th most populated city in India in 1927 and was brought up in an environment of local furniture makers. He studied at the J J School of Architecture, Bombay, before moving to Europe in his twenties where he worked as Senior Designer with Corbusier on a number of projects in Paris.

After four years he returned to India to supervise a number of Corbusier projects being built in Ahmedabad and in 1956 he set up his own practice called Vastushilpa (meaning environmental design) with two other architects. He went on to work closely with Louis Kahn and Anant Raje on the design for the campus of the Indian Institute of Management, also in Ahmedabad.

His practice completed a number of buildings in Ahmedabad, including the Shreyas Comprehensive School Campus, Atira Guest House, low cost housing, the Institute of Indology and the Ahmedabad School of Architecture. The multi-disciplinary practice Vastushilpa continues today with over sixty employees in an open door office, inviting passers-by to drop in as part off their philosophy of pro-active participation.

He set up the research institute, Vastu-Shilpa Foundation for Studies and Research in Environmental Design, and was the first founding Director of the School of Architecture, the School of Planning (1972–79), the Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad as well as Dean of the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology.

He has been celebrated as an innovative designer with a strong social and environmental ethic and passion for light and material, as well as being an inspirational teacher and educator. He has been internationally recognised on a number of occasions for his work; as recipient of the Padma Bhushan, in 2020, the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2018, Global Award for Lifetime Achievement for Sustainable Architecture, Institut Francais d’Architecture, in 2007, the Prime Minister’s National Award for Excellence in Urban Planning and Design, India in 2000, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Gold Medal of the Academy of Architecture of France in 1988.

As Gold Medal winner in 2022 at the age of 94, Doshi continues to work and engage with architectural practice, design and teaching.

For more information about the RIBA Gold Medal and previous winners please visit https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/royal-gold-medal and for images of Doshi and his buildings visit https://riba.app.box.com/v/2022RoyalGoldMedal

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