The character arc of Balkrishna Doshi
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 26 August 1927 into a Gujarati family in Pune. Between then and his death sit the death of his mother when he was ten months old, a fire at eleven that left him walking with a limp for the rest of his life, art school in Mumbai from 1947, Europe in 1950, four years working closely with Le Corbusier in Paris, a return to Ahmedabad to supervise those buildings, his own studio in 1955, work alongside Louis Kahn, five institutions founded, the Aranya low cost housing at Indore, the Royal Gold Medal, and the Pritzker Prize in 2018 at the age of ninety. The line below draws the whole story.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who was Balkrishna Doshi?
Sixty eight years of work. The prize came at ninety.
His mother died when he was ten months old. His father remarried and a grandfather and aunts helped raise him. At eleven he was injured in a fire and walked with a slight limp afterwards, for the remaining eighty four years of his life. He studied at the Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai between 1947 and 1950.
In 1950 he went to Europe, and between 1951 and 1954 he worked closely with Le Corbusier on his projects in Paris. Then he came home, to supervise the buildings Corbusier was putting up in Ahmedabad: the Villa Sarabhai, the Villa Shodhan, the Mill Owners Association Building, Sanskar Kendra. Corbusier is described as a major influence on everything he did afterwards.
He set up his own studio, Vastu-Shilpa, meaning environmental design, in 1955, and worked closely with Louis Kahn and Anant Raje while Kahn designed the campus of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. So he learned the trade twice, from two of the largest figures of the century, and then spent sixty years making something that was neither of them.
The teaching is half the legacy. He founded the School of Architecture in Ahmedabad and directed it from 1962 to 1972, founded the School of Planning and directed it to 1979, was founding dean of the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, a founding member of the Visual Arts Centre and founding director of the Kanoria Centre for Arts. He set up the Vastu-Shilpa Foundation, whose research went into low-cost housing and city planning. He said his favourite housing project was one he designed for an insurance company in Ahmedabad, because he knew several generations of the same family would live in it, identify with it, and change it as their needs changed.
The buildings people name are FLAME University, IIM Bangalore, IIM Udaipur, NIFT Delhi, Amdavad ni Gufa, CEPT University, Nalanda International University, and the Aranya low cost housing development in Indore, for which he won the Aga Khan Award. India gave him the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan. In 2018 he became the first Indian architect to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, at ninety, and the Royal Gold Medal followed for 2022. He married Kamala Parikh in 1955 and they had three daughters, a textile designer, an architect and a painter. He died on 24 January 2023.
The moments
Balkrishna Doshi's timeline.
The 1920s
Born in Pune
Everyday. Pune, 1927.
His mother dies
Setback, and it changed everything. Ten months old.
The 1930s
A fire at eleven
Setback, and it changed everything. He walked with it for the next eighty four years.
The 1940s
Art school in Mumbai
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Three years of drawing, before any building.
The 1950s
Working for Le Corbusier
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty three years old, in Corbusier office.
Stay in Paris, or go home
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: go back to India, taken, or build a career in Europe. He founded five institutions, built the Aranya housing at Indore, and became the first Indian architect to win the Pritzker.
Home, to build them
Milestone, and it changed everything. He went home to put up what he had helped draw.
His own studio
Milestone, and it changed everything. A studio and a marriage in the same year.
The 1960s
He starts a school
Milestone, and it changed everything. Five institutions, founded by one man.
Alongside Louis Kahn
Milestone, and it changed his direction. He learned the trade twice, from two of the century largest figures.
The 1970s
The Vastu-Shilpa Foundation
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A research institute, pointed at the cheapest houses.
Houses that change
Milestone, and it changed everything. He designed it expecting the families to alter it.
The 1980s
Aranya, and the Aga Khan Award
Milestone, and it changed everything. The prize came for the cheapest houses he ever built.
The 2010s
The Pritzker, at ninety
Milestone, and it changed everything. Ninety years old, and the first Indian to get it.
The 2020s
He dies at ninety five
Setback, and it changed everything. Ninety five, and the practice carried on.
His granddaughter runs the foundation and the Indore housing is still lived in and still being altered by the families in it, which is exactly what he designed it to allow. What he set moving is the argument that the best building is the one its occupants keep changing, and it took the profession most of a century to award it.
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His best known prize arrived sixty eight years into the work, which says something about how long a line can run before it turns. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Balkrishna Doshi: frequently asked questions
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Where does this timeline of Balkrishna Doshi's life come from?
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Sources
- B. V. Doshi, English Wikipedia biography.
- The Pritzker Architecture Prize record for 2018.
- The Aga Khan Award for Architecture citation for Aranya.
- His own words on the Ahmedabad housing, as quoted there.