Archinect - News

Balkrishna Doshi receives RIBA Gold Medal in virtual ceremony

2022-06-15T16:40:00-04:00

Renowned Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi has been formally presented with the 2022 Royal Institute of Architects (RIBA) Royal Gold Medal in a virtual ceremony hosted by the organization and President Simon Allford.

Featuring video tributes from Frank Gehry, Álvaro Siza, and Benedetta Tagliabue, the ceremony honored the 7-decade body of work created by the 2018 Pritzker laureate in a presentation broadcast simultaneously from RIBA’s 66 Portland Place headquarters and the architect’s self-designed 41-year-old Sangath studio in Ahmedabad.

Previously on Archinect: Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi's plea for a Biological City

“What a great honour! The news of this award brought back memories of my time working with Le Corbusier in 1953 when he had just received the news of getting the Royal Gold Medal,” the architect said, speaking of his luminary early mentor. “I vividly recollect his excitement to receive this honour from Her Majesty. He said to me metaphorically, ‘I wonder ho...

Delhi-based architect Swati Janu awarded the 2022 Moira Gemmil Prize for Emerging Architecture

2022-05-03T14:14:00-04:00

The W Awards, formerly known as the Women in Architecture awards, announce this year's Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture winner. The awards program was created to recognize the work and achievements of female and non-binary designers in professional practice under the age of 45.

Last year's prize was awarded to six female architects part of the architecture practice Lacol. This year's Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture goes to architect Swati Janu.

Social Design Collaborative's ModSkool in Delhi, a modular, low-cost school designed to help communities quickly dismantle the structure as a means to protect it from demolitions. The Modskool was awarded the Beazley Design of the Year 2020 in Architecture. Learn more about the project here. Image courtesy of the Architectural Review.

The Delhi-based architect, writer, and community artist is the founder of Social Design Collaborative. Her practice focuses on integrating architectural activism and community engagemen...

Balkrishna Doshi on the road that led to his RIBA Royal Gold Medal

2022-02-23T13:37:00-05:00

India based Balkrishna Doshi will be awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in April. He gave Eleanor Young a rare insight into how Ahmedabad and his studio there taught him the importance of sound and silence to design, about flexibility and rejoicing, and putting people first

The recent RIBA Royal Gold medalist Balkrishna Doshi spoke about various episodes and challenges in his six-decade career, stating that in his view, client directives are the single-biggest obstacles he faces as a designer.

“As architects, we say ‘I have made a nice verandah, but somebody has encroached’ — we think encroaching or deviating is incorrect ethics. But when you are living and celebrating life, you forget the original purpose, and that is important.”

Previously on Archinect: Balkrishna Doshi awarded the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the RIBA

Doshi also described his passion for working with young people and credited an early incident outside the Parisian offices of his mentor Le Corbusier as a formative event in his life and career.

“I clearly remember my first day at 35 Rue de Serves, when I entered Monsieur Corbusier’s office with a suitcase on my head. I had crossed the road without thinking about the traffic light, and suddenly there was a huge honking, everybody braked, an...

Balkrishna Doshi awarded the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the RIBA

2021-12-09T15:32:00-05:00

Renowned Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi has been announced as the recipient of the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the RIBA, one of the highest architectural honors in the world. By receiving the award, Doshi joins past winners including Sir David Adjaye (2021), Grafton Architects (2020), and Sir Nicholas Grimshaw (2019). Doshi is also the 2018 recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

RIBA President Simon Alford described Doshi as an individual who was “influenced generations of architects through his delightfully purposeful architecture.” The ninety-four-year-old architect has seen over 100 built projects throughout his 70-year career, influencing the direction of architecture in India and adjacent regions through both his practice and teaching.

Aranya Low-Cost Housing, Indore, India. Photographer: John Panicker (c) Vastushilpa Foundation

Born in 1927 in Pune, India, Doshi studied at the J J School of Architecture, Bombay, before working for four years with Le Corbusier as Seni...

MoMA's next exhibition will explore the role architecture played in shaping post-colonial South Asia

2021-11-11T16:53:00-05:00

MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design has announced a forthcoming new exhibition that will examine the way in which the modern architecture of former colonial enterprises helped shape the post-independence era of self-determination politics in latter South Asia.

Woman carrying cement at the Capitol Complex, Chandigarh, India, in front of the Secretariat (1951–58) designed by Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, 1887–1965). 1956. Photograph: Ernst Scheidegger.

Comprised of over 200 photos, architectural models, and other media taken from institutions in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, the exhibition highlights key projects from some of the region’s most prominent designers, including Mahendra Raj and 2018 Pritzker laureate Balkrishna Doshi.

Chittagong University, Chittagong, East Pakistan (Bangladesh). 1965–71. Vastukalabid (est. 1964). Muzharul Islam (1923–2021). Master plan. Ink and pencil on paper. Muzharul Islam Archives.

The exhibition was organized by MoMA...

'Her architecture is elegant, ecological and always intriguing' — Architect Anupama Kundoo wins 2021 RIBA Charles Jencks Award

2021-08-17T16:53:00-04:00

The RIBA Charles Jencks Award has been given to architects and firms who have made "a major contribution to both the theory and practice of architecture." This prestigious award has been presented to Débora Mesa and Antón García-Abril of Ensamble Studio (2019), Herzog & de Meuron (2015), and Eric Owen Moss (2011) to name a few.

The notable shortlist of nominated architects includes MASS Design Group, Emilio Ambasz, Alexander Brodsky, Nigel Coates, Beatriz Colomina, Francis Kéré, Peter Salter, Marina Tabassum, and Eyal Weizman.

This year's RIBA Charles Jencks Award is presented to Indian architect and researcher Anupama Kundoo. Her winning the award is a great reflection of influential architectural practices and academic work in South Asia.

Wall House by Anupama Kundoo. Image © Javier Callejas

Trained in Mumbai, Kundoo's focus on housing initiatives, material research, sustainability, and community-driven design has positioned her as an advocate for socially responsible architectur...

Part modern studio, part forge or medieval workshop

2019-10-16T14:02:00-04:00

Here again were bare untiled floors and the constant presence of wind and earth. There was a stillness, a permanent air of afternoon and an interior that was magically cooler and airier than the exterior it felt so much at peace with. The site sloped downward, so the house had been set on many levels.

A profile of Bijoy Jain and the work of Studio Mumbai, wherein we learn Bijoy is a fan of Masanobu Fukuoka and the idea of subtraction.

Researchers propose concrete mixed with plastic for India's rapid construction

2018-09-19T16:28:00-04:00

Researchers say India could alleviate its growing shortage of sand, which is needed for concrete, by partially replacing it with waste plastic. Research carried out by the University of Bath in the UK, and India’s Goa Engineering College, has found that concrete made with an admixture of ground-up plastic bottles is almost as strong as traditional concrete mixtures.

With India's rapid urbanization, concrete construction has dramatically increased causing a shortage in the country's sand used to make the building material. Mixing in plastic bottles focuses on solving both the issue of a sand shortage and the accumulation plastic waste on the streets. While the plastic added material is not as strong as concrete, it could still be used for lower tech functions such as paving slabs.

'My works are an extension of my life': Notable designs of 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi

2018-03-07T15:12:00-05:00

If you're not too familiar with the works of 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi, the 90-year-old architect, urban planner, and educator has been a major influence in shaping modern architecture and urban living in his native India. Throughout his 70-year career, he has built public administrations, educational and cultural institutions, private residences, and more.

Read on for a glimpse into some of Doshi's notable projects.

Balkrishna Doshi (photo courtesy of VSF)

“My works are an extension of my life, philosophy and dreams trying to create treasury of the architectural spirit. I owe this prestigious prize to my guru, Le Corbusier. His teachings led me to question identity and compelled me to discover new regionally adopted contemporary expression for a sustainable holistic habitat,” Doshi said on receiving the Pritzker Prize. “[W]ith all my humility and gratefulness I want to thank the Pritzker Jury for this deeply touching and rewarding recognition of my work. This rea...

Footwear giant Puma accused of defacing 17th century buildings in Delhi for shoe commercial

2017-11-22T13:38:00-05:00

Global sportswear giant Puma was accused today of irreversibly damaging 17th-century architecture in Delhi's historic quarter as part of an advertising stunt to promote a new line of shoes.

For their latest shoe ad dubbed "Suede Gully," Puma spraypainted large, colorful murals over several buildings in Old Delhi, a centuries-old quarter and heritage area. The stunt has conservationists outraged, claiming that the graffiti has caused permanent damage to the carved sandstone, limestone plaster and Lahori bricks.

Rules to protect Delhi's heritage sites do exist, as does one that specifically forbids advertising on historic buildings. However, laws protecting these sites from destruction are rarely enforced and the sportswear brand was granted all of the necessary permissions for their graffiti clad campaign.

Urban India: Informal Housing, Inadequate Property Rights

2017-03-03T09:56:00-05:00

The rapid pace of urbanization in developing countries places increasing levels of stress on cities. As thousands of people move into urban areas each year, the availability of affordable housing emerges as a key challenge. In India, 412 million people live in urban areas. Depending on the source, anywhere between 33 and 47 percent of those (equivalent to 26-37 million households) live in informal housing, which often lacks access to basic services like roads, water, and sanitation. To make matters worse, most of those households do not have any formal property rights, thus jeopardizing their ability to live and invest in the land they currently occupy.

As architects, we often use “informality” to describe everything outside of the formal city. Informality is the gray area occupied by the slum, the favela, or the barrio. Our failure to segment informality into distinct categories results in design solutions that barely scratch the surface of urban complexity. Designing for informalit...

When art architects life: city from Bollywood film "Bahubali: The Beginning" may become actual location in India

2017-01-10T14:03:00-05:00

While the architecture in real cities has sometimes become the jumping off point for imaginary structures in cinema (think: the Los Angeles of Blade Runner) the reverse seems to be happening in India, where a filmmaker is being asked to design real structures based on the imagined buildings that appeared in his film. According to Quartz.com:

"Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister Chandrababu Naidu wants Rajamouli, the Telugu filmmaker behind the blockbuster Bahubali: The Beginning, to contribute his design skills to the architecture of the main government and administrative complex of Amaravati—the proposed capital of Naidu’s newly truncated state."

Here's a trailer for the film, which showcases the imagined city of Mahishmati:

The havelis of Shekhawati

2016-06-27T12:28:00-04:00

Ozymandian in their hubris and decay. There are over 2,000 buildings, most of them havelis, covered inside and out with frescoes that depict scenes from battle, myth, the ancestries of their owners and the coming of the Europeans. The havelis are mostly empty now, and their desolation, combined with their scale and opulence, produces a feeling of wonder.

Aatish Taseer extols, the faded opulence of, the painted houses found in the desert of Marwar, Rajasthan.

Master architect M.N. Ashish Ganju on working to achieve "good architecture"

2015-09-03T13:07:00-04:00

Munishwar Nath Ashish Ganju is a thought leader in Indian architectural philosophy...Based in New Delhi, Ganju cares about the fact that over a quarter of Delhi’s population lives outside the law in unauthorised colonies. He lives and works on the urban fringe, to demonstrate by example the principle of urban renewal by citizens.

In a recent Forbes interview, esteemed architect M.N. Ashish Ganju looks back on his career over the last few decades -- from the history of Indian architecture, his most notable projects, to his current efforts to instill citizen-led urban renewal in the outskirts of the country.

You can also read some of Ganju's writing here.