Balkrishna Doshi wins Pritzker Prize, the 'Nobel for architecture'

March 08, 2018 08:07

Balkrishna Doshi has become the first Indian architect to win the Pritzker Prize in its four-decade history. Regarded as the profession's equivalent to the Nobel Prize, the award went to Doshi in recognition of a career spanning almost 70 years, it was announced today.

Considered one of the Indian subcontinent's preeminent living architects, Doshi is known for designing low-cost housing and public institutions. Among his most acclaimed projects are Tagore Memorial Hall in Ahmedabad and the Aranya Low Cost Housing development, a collection of more than 6,500 residences in the city of Indore.

The architect and urban planner described the decision as "a great surprise", but insisted on putting the achievement in the context of India's urban and economic development.

"I think it is very, very significant that this award has come to India -- of course to me, but to India," he said. "The government, officials, those who take decisions, cities -- everyone will start thinking that there is something called 'good architecture' (and that) lasting things can happen. (Only) then can we start talking about urbanization and urban design."

Born in Pune, around 100 miles from Mumbai, Doshi worked under Le Corbusier in Paris in the early 1950s. He returned to India to oversee the celebrated French-Swiss architect's projects in both Chandigarh and Ahmedabad, staying in the latter city to establish his own practice, Vastu Shilpa Consultants, in 1956.

Doshi's best-known public buildings include Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board in Jabalpur, the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore and Ahmedabad's striking School of Architecture, which he served as founding director.

Image: Balkrishna Doshi with Charles Correa, who died on June 16, 2015.

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