Theory of design

Name: Feby Mathew

2nd

year B.Arch

MBSSPA

Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi

Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi

Biography

Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi was born in Poona, India in 1927. After he completed his studies

at J. J. School of Art, Bombay in 1950 he became a senior designer on Le Corbusier's

projects in Ahmedabad and Chandigarh. In 1956 he established a private practice in Vastu-

Shilpa, Ahmedabad and in 1962 he established the Vastu-Shilpa Foundation for

Environmental Design. He also founded and designed the School of Architecture and

Planning in Ahmedabad. Doshi has worked in partnership as Stein, Doshi & Bhalla since

1977.

His studio, Vastu-Shilpa (environmental design), was established in 1955. Doshi worked

closely with Louis Kahn and Anant Raje, when Kahn designed the campus of the Indian

Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

In 1958 he was a fellow at the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. He

then started the School of Architecture (S.A) in 1962.

Doshi is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and has been on the selection

committee for the Pritzker Prize, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, and the Aga

Khan Award.

Dr Doshi has been a member of the Jury for several international and national competitions

including the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts and Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Apart from his international fame as an architect, Dr. Doshi is equally known as educator and

institution builder. He has been the first founder Director of School of Architecture,

Ahmedabad (1962-72), first founder Director of School of Planning (1972-79), first founder

Dean of Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (1972-81), founder member of

Visual Arts Centre, Ahmedabad and first founder Director of Kanoria Centre for Arts,

Ahmedabad.

Dr. Doshi has been instrumental in establishing the nationally and internationally known

research institute Vastu-Shilpa Foundation for Studies and Research in Environmental

Design.

The institute has done pioneering work in low cost housing and city planning.

In recognition of his distinguished contribution as a professional and as an academician, Dr.

Doshi has received several international and national awards and honours.

.

National Institute of Fashion Technology

Project details

National Institute of Fashion Technology

NIFT Campus

Nr. Gulmohar Park

Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016

Client - National Institute of Fashion Technology

Principal Architect - Balkrishna Doshi , M/s Stein Doshi & Bhalla

Project Associate - Laxman Patel, S.L.Shah

Structural Consultant - Himanshu Parikh, Ahmedabad

Electrical Consultant - Sheth Consultants, Ahmedabad

Site Area - 11650 m2

Total Built-up Area - 13570 m2

Project Cost - Rs. 8.5 million (1994)

Location plan

Ground floor plan

Model of NIFT

Design approach

Fashion implies creativity with and time.

In architectural terms a spatial modulation of continues movement in time and space

much as the ambiance of an Indian bazaar where the drama of day to day life unfolds.

The National Institute of Fashion Technology at New Delhi, recreates an inwardly

bazaar, livened up by designed displays and movements of students as well as visitors

through entire \ space.

Consisting of academic, administrative and residential activities, the campus

reinterprets the traditional town square through its inward looking building;

interactive corridors, bridges and terraces; kund like steps; and communicative

facades.

The front court, surrounded by the terraced Academic block and glazed administrative

wing becomes culturally appropriate and climatically comfortable outdoor space.

Animated by a series of high and low platforms, soft and hard landscaping, a water

channel and a mirror like wall back drop, the space multiplies as entrance court,

central green, display platform, informal theatre and a visual focus.

Open as well as glass screened bridges separating kund like court from amphitheatre

court, not only remain as movement path, but also double up as the cat walk for the

fashion shows which can be viewed over from the class rooms, corridors, library as

well as the administrative block.

Fragmentation of the built mass and facade articulation illustrate a tenuous yet

experientially rich interrelationship between various parts of the ensemble.

Formlessness and fragmentation of buildings at NIFT renders it flexible to adapt and

express different form and elements of different edges, in effective response to their

specific functions and context.

While, the common set of elements namely -court, steps and corridors integrate

these parts into unified whole.

Sangath

Project details

Sangath (1979-1981)

Thaltej Road, Ahmedabad 380 054

Client: Balkrishna Doshi

Principal Architect : Balkrishna Doshi Project

Assistants : J.Joshipura, S. Patankar, H.M. Siddhpura

Project Engineer : B.S. Jethwa, Y. Patel

Structural Engineer: G.A.Tambe

Site Area: 2346 m2

Total Built-up Area: 585 m2

Design

SANGATH” means “moving together through participation "and the place is more than

just an architectural office. The site was a quadrilateral looking south over a road towards open country with camels

and tribal villagers going in one direction, diesel trucks and new suburbanites passing in

the other.

Inspired by the earth-hugging forms of the Indian vernacular, it also draws upon the vault

suggestions of Le Corbusier.

A warren of interiors derived from the traditional Indian city, it is also influenced by

sources as diverse as Louis .I. Kahn, Alvar Aalto and Antonio Gaudi.

A work of art stands on its own merits and Sangath possesses that indefinable quality of

authenticity.

The architecturally dominating shapes of “Sangath” are vaulted forms, which, again, were

derived from a combination of local traditions, local materials and culturally prefigurated

historical examples such as Indian temples and traditional Indian head-dresses.

These determining elements became unified and a complex new shape resulted in the

design.

In addition, by sinking the floor in the main studio below ground level, the enclosed

spaces were more dynamically interconnected inside and outside, giving the vaults a

dominating presence.

With the help of movable formwork, the vaults of “Sangath” were constructed with

hollow clay tiles sandwiched into walls.

Inexpensively purchased, the outer skin is covered with broken glazed tile pieces from a

manufacturer’s waste material.

Doshi’s use of this traditional technique reduces the heat inside the building. So, not only

is the re-use of waste material an important element of Third World methodology, it is

also one of the most efficient ways to reduce the large percentage of sun-rays.

The juxtaposition of enclosed and open spaces is one of the links which makes “Sangath”

a traditional building, one that receives its strength and beauty from local materials,

skilled and unskilled local workmanship and local architecture values.

One of the results of the reintroduction of traditional values is the outside stepped seating

amphitheatre for lectures and other gatherings.

“Sangath” is, in fact, a powerful architectural manifestation of an independent and

original Indian architecture, creative in its rediscovery of traditional and local elements in

harmony with site, people and their past.

Husain-Doshi Gufa Art Gallery

Project details

Husain-Doshi Gufa Art Gallery (1993)

CEPT Campus

Navarangpura

Ahmedabad-380009

Client: Maqbul Fida Husain

Principal architect: Balkrishna Doshi Project, M/s Stein Doshi & Bhalla

Assistants: S.L.Shah, Vishnu Joshi, v.v. Ranga Rao, Lise Trottier

Structural Engineer: Vishnu Joshi

Site Area: 1000 m2

Built-up Area: 280 m2

Project Cost: Rs. 1.8 million (1993)

Design

Essentially an art gallery exhibiting paintings and sculptures of noted artist M.F.Hussain,

the Hussain Doshi Gufa in Ahmedabad is located on a campus of the Centre for

Environmental Planning and Technology.

Sense of ablution, comfort conditions of the subterranean, painting abstractions

reminiscent of palaeolithic art, and visual reminders of Buddhist caves from Ajanta and

Ellora, all influenced the form imagery of a cave for the proposed museum.

As a human intervention and interpretation of a natural form the basic plan organization

evolves out of the familiar module of an intersecting circles and ellipse.

The spaces formed within are however contiguous and amorphous through inclined

planes of domes, curvilinear planes of walls, undulating floors and non rectilinear leaning

columns.

The shells, domes and skylight protrusion of various sizes and shapes float on a part

buried space and eves gutters extending over ground further accentuate this feeling and

anchor the object to the ground.

Projecting skylights and skin cutout not only illuminate the spaces within but create

mythic shafts and spots of light reminiscent of the galaxy and stars.

Buried spaces, earth mounds, raised volumes and china mosaic finish renders the

architecture energy conscious, cutting down it’s energy intake, in an otherwise harsh hot

dry climate.

. A simply wire mesh and mortar lined floor in a form of natural sag of cloth, evolved

through scaled model studies, eliminates the need of any kind of foundation, as the basic

form is continuous and efficient in optimizing the stresses and its distribution.

Illusions emerging out of such dualities manifest a healthy dialogue between art and

architecture is a setting for art or art is an embellishment of architecture. At Hussain-

Doshi Gufa they become mutual references – one animating the other

Style of working

Over the years Doshi has created architecture that relies on a sensitive adoption and

refinement of modern architecture within an Indian context. The relevancy of his

environmental and urban concerns makes him unique both as a thinker and teacher.

Architectural scale and massing, as well as a clear sense of space and community mark most

of his work. Doshi's architecture provides one of the most important models for modern

Indian architecture.

Building style & forms that would best express B.V Doshi’s ideas:

The building profile will have natural light + air + movement + access elements against

the sky to express the cosmic relationship.

The building base will gradually widen towards the ground through platforms, terraces,

and steps.

The building mass will integrate roof, rainwater, cascades, water bodies, natural

landscapes, gardens, foliage.

The external finish of the building will express one homogenous mass but will have

adequate details/ textures/ surface modulations.

The main arrival to the building will be at a higher or raised level- with provision for a

lower entry to express duality.

Not all movements within the building will be symmetrical but will shift axis to give

unexpected experiences and provide ambiguous / dual impressions.

Aesthetic considerations will take into account local symbolism, context, and

associations.

Casting of shadows, breaking of mass, rhythms in the structure, solids, voids, will be the

mode of expression.

Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier

Biography

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887 –

August 27, 1965), was a Swiss architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for

being one of the pioneers of what now is called Modern architecture or the International style.

He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in his thirties. His career spanned

five decades, with his buildings constructed throughout central Europe, India, Russia, and one

each in North and South America.

Le Corbusier's early work was related to nature, but as his ideas matured, he developed the

Maison-Domino, a basic building prototype for mass production with free-standing pillars

and rigid floors.

Le Corbusier's post-war buildings rejected his earlier industrial forms and utilized vernacular

materials, brute concrete and articulated structure.

Near the end of his career he worked on several projects in India, which utilized brutal

materials and sculptural forms. In these buildings he readopted the recessed structural

column, the expressive staircase, and the flat undecorated plane of his celebrated five points

of architecture.

Le Corbusier did not fare well in international competition, but he produced town-planning

schemes for many parts of the world, often as an adjunct to a lecture tour. In these schemes

the vehicular and pedestrian zones and the functional zones of the settlements were always

emphasized.

His worldwide reputation led to a commission from the Indian government to plan the city of

Chandigarh, the new capital of the Punjab, and to design and build the Government Center

(1950-70) and several of the city's other structures.

These poetic, handcrafted buildings represented a second, more humanistic phase in Le

Corbusier's work that also was reflected in his lyrical Pilgrim Church of Notre Dame du Haut

at Ronchamp (1951-55) in the Vosges Mountains of France; in his rugged monastery of La

Tourette, France (1954-59); and in the structures he designed (from 1958) at Ahmedabad, in

India.

Le Corbusier accidentally drowned in the Mediterranean on Aug. 27, 1965.

Sanskar Kendra

Project details

Sanskar Kendra museum (1953 - 1957)

Opposite National Institute of Design (NID),

Paldi, Ahmedabad - 380 007

Client: Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

Principal architect: le Corbusier

Assistant: Yatin Pandya

Building type: museum

Context: urban

Style: modern

Design

The building, designed by the legendary architect Le Corbusier, is an object of display in

itself. It has been restored as a heritage building.

Display systems, respecting the vocabulary of modernist architecture, refer to the

Modular scale of LeCorbusier.

Using wall planes as the backdrop, the intermediate display elements are placed in the

middle as freestanding and dwarfed, so as to humanise the scale, without altering the

volumetric perception of the space.

The services in the form of lighting tracks and conduits are exposed and expressed as

add-ons, maintaining the honesty and purity of inserts without confusing with original

volumes and elements.

On the other hand, the display layout and implied movement recreates the experiences of

winding streets of Ahmedabad through its sequential movement, gradual unfolding of

space, varying scales, axis and framed vignettes; as a spatial reminder and prelude to the

context it represents.

Plants are linked by stairs that emerge from the first level. These lead to different

exhibition halls are located on the first level as in galleries in seven meters wide.

The roof is an important issue because, although not the typical terrace used in all

projects, Le Corbusier sees it as water-filled vessels which bring relief to the building due

to the high temperatures that exist in the city. That's why the deck is a concrete slab is

covered with a layer of lightweight concrete, then a waterproof layer, and then covers it

for different layers of earth and gravel to fill all "vessels" with water.

The facades are composed of red brick double walls with different separations between them in each front, covering the building in this way to reduce temperatures. On the fourth level we can distinguish that has forged a remarkable finish concrete in making a function to attach the brick facade and provide rigidity. We can also see a reinforced concrete slab as a finish on the main facade around the building.

Notre Dame du Haut

Project details

Notre dame du haute (1955)

Ronchamp, France

Client: The Association Oeuvre Notre Dame du haut

Principal architect: le Corbusier

Building type: church

Style: Expressionist modern

Context: rural, mountains.

Design

Unlike Le Corbusier’s previous structures, the chapel has an organic feel, and responds to the

natural environment. The building is sloped to fit each of the four horizons: a plain opposite hills and two valleys on

the remaining sides. The texture of the surfaces also reflects the chapel's natural environment. The chapel is made of

rough sprayed concrete, covered by a layer of whitewashed plaster. Large wooden beams provide support for the walls and roof, and also form the benches within

the chapel. In addition, the organic, natural materials of the chapel stand in sharp contrast to the glass and

steel that show up in the earlier works of Le Corbusier and his International Style colleagues. The incorporation of the natural environment with the composition of the building continues

with the shape. The chapel, on the outside, has a sweeping line, coming to a peak point billowing towards the

sky. The entrance to the chapel is nothing more than a slit in the folds of concrete, creating the feeling of an intimate, cave-like enclosure on the inside.

The structure feels and sounds cave-like, with its intimate scale and thick walls surrounding dark, hollow space.

Within the chapel, the building follows a traditional layout. In the front is a large altar with a sacristy to the left. A large choir space lines northern edge of the main chapel space, and wooden pews fill the south edge.

Several coloured windows puncture the thick south wall creating beams of light that burst through the thick material.

The windows, and more broadly the use of light and darkness in the space is one of the most breathtaking features of the structure.

The windows, positioned all over the dark wall of the south side of the church, and appearing as holes on the outside, display different shades of primary colours.

The roof of the chapel is a large, curved slab of concrete, under laid with aluminium. Le Corbusier says that his inspiration for the roof came from a crab shell.

The roof appears to hover over the chapel, as a 10 cm band of light pierces through where the seam between walls and roof should be, "to amaze," as Le Corbusier explains.

Villa Savoy

Project details

Villa Savoy (1928-1931)

82, Rue de Villiers

78300 Poiss, France

Owner: French government

Principal architects: le cobusier, Pierre Jeanneret

Current tenants: centre des monuments nationaux

Building type: house

Context: rural or sub-urban

Style: modern

Design

The Villa Savoye is probably Corbusier's best known building from the 1920s. It was

designed addressing his emblematic "Five Points", the basic tenets in his new

architectural aesthetic:

1. Support of ground-level pilotis, elevating the building from the earth and allowed an

extended continuity of the garden beneath.

2. Functional roof, serving as a garden and terrace, reclaiming for nature the land

occupied by the building.

3. Free floor plan, relieved of load-bearing walls, allowing walls to be placed freely and

only where aesthetically needed.

4. Long horizontal windows, providing illumination and ventilation.

5. Freely-designed facades, serving as only as a skin of the wall and windows and

unconstrained by load-bearing considerations.

Unlike his earlier town villas Corbusier was able to carefully design all four sides of the

Villa Savoye in response to the view and the orientation of the sun.

The plan was set out using the principle ratios of the Golden section: in this case a square

divided into sixteen equal parts, extended on two sides to incorporate the projecting

façades and then further divided to give the position of the ramp and the entrance.

The four columns in the entrance hall seemingly direct the visitor up the ramp. This ramp,

that can be seen from almost everywhere in the house continues up to the first floor living

area and salon before continuing externally from the first floor roof terrace up to the

second floor solarium.

Corbusier's pilotis perform a number of functions around the house, both inside and out.

On the two longer elevations they are flush with the face of the façade and imply

heaviness and support, but on the shorter sides they are set back giving a floating effect

that emphasizes the horizontal feeling of the house.

The Villa Savoye uses the horizontal ribbon windows found in his earlier villas.

Building style & forms that would best express le Corbusier ideas:

Use of exposed concrete

Use of pillotis, ribbon windows, roof guarding and free facades

Free spaces with the help of partition walls

Use of pure form and colours

Furniture designing

Modular and golden section

Open floor plan, meaning that the floor space was free to be configured into rooms

without concern for supporting walls

Roof garden to compensate for the green area consumed by the building and replacing it on the roof.

Similarities between the work of B.V Doshi and Le Corbusier

Use of exposed concrete

Use of pure geometric forms and colours

Inspired by history of architecture

Use of modular section and proportion

The building mass will integrate roof, rainwater, cascades, water bodies, natural

landscapes, gardens, foliage.

The external finish of the building will express one homogenous mass but will have

adequate details/ textures/ surface modulations.

Dissimilarities between the work of B.V Doshi and Le Corbusier

Perception of creating light and shadow in a space is different.

Reinterpretation of light, space and form makes BV doshi’s work distinct from his mentor.