Regarded as “India’s greatest architect”: Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, winner of the renowned Pritzker Prize for Architecture, died in Gujarat on Tuesday at the age of 95. He was one of the few pioneers of modern architecture on the subcontinent and shaped the development of his country’s architectural discourse. Born in Pune in 1927, Doshi studied architecture in Mumbai before studying in Paris with Le Corbusier, who was a major influence on him. Doshi worked for four years at Le Corbusier as a senior designer in Paris (1951-54) and four more years in India overseeing projects in Ahmedabad. Later, as an employee of Louis Kahn, he was involved in setting up the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Ahmedabad.
The bandwidth of his work ranges from the planning of entire cities and settlements to private houses to universities, cultural institutions, government and administrative buildings. One of Doshi’s most important works is his own architecture office Sangath in Ahmedabad (1980) as well as the famous Aranya housing estate in Indore for people on low incomes (1989). “As a master of form and light, Doshi has left an indelible legacy,” writes the journal Architectural Digest India on Instagram.