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UK team visits architect BV Doshi to confer Royal Gold Medal in-person
Given his age and the risks to travel amid Covid-19 pandemic, Doshi could not travel to UK to receive the award and hence a team of representatives of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), London, UK led by Architect Simon Allford, visited him at his residence in Ahmedabad to bestow him with the Royal Gold Medal 2022.
Ahmedabad: Well-known Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi, who is credited with designing some of the most iconic structures in the country, was on Tuesday, conferred with the prestigious Royal Gold Medal, 2022, one of the world’s highest honours for architecture.
Doshi, 94, is the only Indian and among few globally to have been awarded both the Royal Gold Medal and the Pritzker Architecture Prize, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture, in their lifetime.
Given in recognition of a lifetime’s work, the Royal Gold Medal is approved personally by Queen Elizabeth II and is given to people who have had a significant influence on the advancement of architecture.
Given his age and the risks to travel amid Covid-19 pandemic, Doshi could not travel to UK to receive the award and hence a team of representatives of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), London, UK led by Architect Simon Allford, President of RIBA and chair of the board of trustees of The Architecture Foundation visited him in-person at his residence in Ahmedabad to bestow him with the Royal Gold Medal 2022.
He has over 100 projects to his credit, including the famous Hussain-Doshi Gufa (now called Ahmedabad-ni-Gufa), IIM-Bangalore, the CEPT University campus (Ahmedabad), Shreyas School (Ahmedabad), Bharat Diamond Bourse (Mumbai), the National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi and the Physical Research Laboratory (Ahmedabad).
Doshi was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India, in 2020, for his contribution to the field of architecture. He is the protégé of the legends of the field, Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn.
“I am pleasantly surprised and deeply humbled to receive the Royal Gold Medal from the Queen of England. 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. I vividly recollect his excitement on receiving this honour. 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,” said Doshi.
The 2022 Honours Committee that selected the Royal Gold Medallist was chaired by RIBA President Simon Allford and comprised architects Alison Brooks and last year’s Royal Gold Medal recipient Sir David Adjaye OBE, architect and academic Kate Cheyne, and cultural historian and museum director Dr Gus Casely-Hayford OBE.
“It was an honour and a pleasure to chair the committee in selecting Balkrishna Doshi as the 2022 Royal Gold Medallist. At 94, he has influenced generations of architects through his delightfully purposeful architecture. Influenced by his time spent in the office of Le Corbusier, his work nevertheless is that of an original and independent thinker. His 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,” RIBA President Simon Allford said in a statement.
On December 10 when RIBA announced the award to Doshi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the acclaimed architect.
“Spoke to the distinguished architect Shri Balkrishna Doshi Ji and congratulated him on being awarded the Royal Gold Medal 2022. His contributions to the world of architecture are monumental. His works are globally admired for their creativity, uniqueness and diverse nature,” the Prime Minister said in a tweet.
In a career spanning seven decades and over 100 projects, Doshi has influenced the direction of architecture in India and its adjacent regions through both his practice and his teaching. His buildings combine pioneering modernism with vernacular, informed by a deep appreciation of the traditions of India’s architecture, climate, local culture, and craft. His projects include administrative and cultural facilities, housing developments and residential buildings. He has become internationally known for his visionary urban planning and social housing projects, as well as his work in education, both in India and as a visiting professor at universities around the world.
One of his most important projects is the Aranya Low Cost Housing project in Indore in 1989. About 80,000 people live in the complex, a “system of houses, courtyards and a labyrinth of internal pathways”, as per the statement in March 2018 by the Hyatt Foundation, which awards the Pritzker Prize.
Born in 1927 in Pune to an extended family of furniture makers, Doshi studied at the JJ School of Architecture, Bombay, before working for four years with Le Corbusier as Senior Designer (1951-54) in Paris and four more years in India to supervise projects in Ahmedabad. He worked with Louis Kahn as an associate to build the IIM-Ahmedabad, and they continued to collaborate for over a decade.
