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.

“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 how big and heavy this medal will be.’  Today, six decades later I feel truly overwhelmed to be bestowed with the same award as my guru, Le Corbusier - honouring my six decades of practice. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my wife, my daughters and most importantly my team and collaborators at Sangath my studio.”

The designer of Bangalore’s Indian Institute of Management campus and the Aga Khan Award-winning Aranya Low-Cost Housing complex in Indore was commended by RIBA's Honors Committee for “designing and delivering outstanding buildings and places for over seventy years.”

“Through his teaching and his practice he has helped define the direction of architecture in India and much of the adjacent regions. But even more importantly his development of and advocacy for an architectural language of material economy and elegance and delight - is ever more relevant to all architects working in today’s challenging times,” the rest of the citation reads. “Doshi is a visionary constructor of ideas who works with form and light. He is also a constructor of an appropriate vernacular for and of the places in which he works. His many wonderful buildings celebrate the local technologies and crafts as well as the natural habitat to create environments that are legible, hard-working backdrops joyfully accommodating the theatre of everyday life. Importantly building and nature are always intertwined to create a brave, confident and on occasion challenging architecture of purpose and delight. Architecture as background and foreground.” 

This year’s selection committee was chaired by Allford and included 2021 Gold Medalist Sir David Adjaye, RIBA House of the Year recipient Alison Brooks, UK-based academic Kate Cheyne, and V&A East Director Dr. Gus Casely-Hayford.

“Balkrishna Doshi’s outstanding contribution to the art of architecture, the craft of construction and the practice of urban design establish him as a most deserving recipient of this award. It was my honour to present him with the medal, and to have been able to celebrate with him, alongside a global audience,” Allford said finally. “At ninety-four years old he has influenced generations of architects through his delightfully purposeful architecture. An original and independent thinker – he is able to undo, redo and evolve. In the twentieth century, when technology facilitated many architects to build independently of local climate and tradition, Balkrishna remained closely connected with his hinterland: it’s climate, technologies new and old and crafts.”