Balkrishna Doshi : Architecture for the people – Exhibition

With the exhibition “Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People” (30 March to 8 September 2019), Vitra Design Museum presents the first international retrospective about the 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi (born 1927, Pune, India) outside of Asia. The renowned architect and urban planner is one of the few pioneers of modern architecture in his home country and the first Indian architect to receive the prestigious award. During over 60 years of practice, Doshi has realized a wide range of projects, adopting principles of modern architecture and adapting them to local culture, traditions, resources, and nature. The exhibition presents numerous significant projects realized between 1958 and 2014, ranging in scale from entire cities and town planning projects to academic campuses as well as cultural institutions and public administrative offices, from private residences to interiors.

Doshi’s work is presented though four main sections, dedicated to educational buildings, new social approach through experimental housing based on participation, institutions buildings planed during the past 60 last years and especially the “Indian Institute of Management” (IIM) in Bangalore (1977-1992), and eventually Doshi’s large-scale town planning projects. The exhibition offers diversified supports as pictures but also drawings, plans, mock-up and even introduces partial reconstitutions. The richly illustrated survey comes complete with a detailed biography and new photographs of his buildings, which demonstrate the impressive timeless of the Indian master’s approach to a wide variety of typologies.

Educated in Europe and a Le Corbusier disciple, Doshi is inspired by the Western approach of architecture and urban spaces while remaining closely connected with the Indian social and cultural context.