If you are an inventor like he was, you want to see things as a child, with fresh eyes,
without any prejudices
– B.V. Doshi on Le Corbusier
The 2018 Pritzker Laureate, Sir B.V. Doshi is one of India’s most celebrated architects. His legendary works serve as an inspiration for students and architects alike internationally. He’s not just an architect, but also a charismatic teacher and a prolific speaker. An architect is defined by his works and the ideals that shape them. A man of principles that B.V. Doshi is, here are a few life lessons that one may learn from his 7 decades of practice.
B.V. Doshi often regards his life as a series of chances.
I was a student of painting, and then I enrolled for science. My teacher asked me why I chose Science,?when my grandfather had a furniture shop, He encouraged me to go to JJ School of Architecture and I?did. That’s how architecture happened to me, by chance.
He enrolled himself for architecture at Sir JJ School of Architecture at Pune upon the advice of
his teacher, despite not having any background in architecture. Thus, began his 7 decade tryst
with architecture.
With no idea how much money I had in my account, I landed in London. I don’t know what got into my?mind and I called the secretary and asked for permission to be an observer at the conference.
In 1951, He travelled to London seeking employment, because a friend persuaded him to. He
had assured him that he would find a job there. By instinct, he called upon the CIAM’s secretary to
seek permission to be a silent spectator. This is where he met his mentor, Le Corbusier.
I took it up because everyone told me this would be a great chance.
Doshi offered to show his portfolio to German Samper who would struck a conversation with Young
Doshi. Instead Samper asked him to write an application in his own handwriting . Within a week
he received a response in French offering an unpaid role of trainee in Paris.
It was a chance to meet Buckminster Fuller that led to his career as a teacher. In their meeting,
Bucky asked young Doshi if he would? be interested in teaching at Washington University, to which he responded that he would never taught before. Bucky hence said, there is always a first time. Taking the advice to heart, Doshi embraced another chance when the opportunity presented itself.
He went to US in 1958 with the Graham Foundation Scholarship where he taught at several universities for years.
“I like the freedom the students enjoyed there. I liked the multi-disciplinary approaches. A university?must allow you to discover yourself and discover something that’s useful to society. If you borrow these?two fundamentals and come back to India, where do you go? “
During his time in the US, Doshi developed a taste for their education system which allowed for
freedom, for students to discover themselves. When he came back home, to India, he then set up
the school of architecture (Now CEPT University) in 1964, at Ahmedabad. The ideals on which
CEPT was founded permanently altered architectural education in India.
“For me, the best lessons ever given by Le Corbusier was by drawing on my table he was sitting on the table and drawing with me, so he was showing me how people would move, how they would go, how the birds would fly through the buildings, how you would see nature, landscapes. And when he drew a sketch of a tree, you could see the tree moving. And I think those experiences have stayed with me and connected me to my childhood , my family and my life.”
He never lost his passion for learning through the seven long decades of his practice and sought every experience as an opportunity to learn, to experiment and to contribute. The 90-years young architect considers himself as a learner from every aspect of nature. Despite his claim of a lack of discipline being key to life, his regard for learning, his teachers and his lessons to students exhibit traits of an extremely disciplined man.
Guru is not an entity; a guru is part of your heart.
“Now, in India, we had the same craftsmen working on both, but if they were building a mosque it would be very simple, clear and pure and the geometry would be explicit. In the temple, on the other hand, things would twist and turn, go up and down, in apparent disorder, like Le Corbusier, who delighted in pure geometry that he would then destroy”,
All through his life, with his teachers and his interaction with people, nature and architecture, B.V. Doshi displays unconditional respect for all.
He was initially approached for the design of IIM-A, when he humbly said that the American Architect, Louis Khan, would be the best choice and that hed be happy to work under him.
He then designed the IIM-B, with its meandering gardens and a flamboyant dance of daylight that trickled through carefully designed pergolas, on the walls of the business school, was regarded as his best work ever by Doshi himself.
“When a building celebrates life, then it is called architecture. Architecture is not a product. It is made to suit the conditions or styles or predilections of the users. When we talk about that, the whole question is; Is the user comfortable, or is he going to be really happy? Would you like to go back to the place?”
He was conferred the prestigious Aga Khan Award in 1996, for his contribution to habitat de-velopment in the Aranya Low-Cost housing project. His design was an honest attempt to solve the urgent demands of the Indian society.
Each project is a manifestation of every ideal he had developed over decades of practice. And the culmination of these ideals pave way for iconic projects like Aranya Housing, that benefit a noble cause.
His ability to comprehend architecture as a setting beyond spaces helped him design successfully. It wouldn’t be possible to produce great architecture at times of adversity without the fullest willingness from an architect to give the project his all. And in case of Doshi, every project, big or small, is worked on meticulously to the point that its ridiculously detailed.
His dedication to giving his best in everything he does sets him a class apart from the rest.
“You don’t see the place as an office because it doesn’t look like an office, really, there’s a garden. Meandering through, you don’t see anybody. So you wonder whether the office has any people or not. You don’t know where the entrance is. So actually, it’s a surprise to discover it. But in the mean time, you change your attitude. You have forgotten the crowd. Then you are listening to the music that’s going on through the small speakers around. Then you go into the office and you are below ground. I think its like a journey. Architecture is a journey, a journey of discovery”.
Porosity, Paradox and Practice he says, are the three principles that guide his works. He considers Sangath, his self-designed office as an embodiment of these principles and his philosophy that Architecture is a backdrop for life.
In his works, people are the protagonists and his spaces serve as the backdrop in the spectacle that his architecture is.