RIBA President Simon Allford pays tribute to 2022 Royal Gold Medal recipient and acclaimed Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi, who passed away on Tuesday 24 January 2023.
RIBA President Simon Allford said:
“News of Doshi’s death spread fast for he was both a hugely important and influential architect and a kind and generous man. He is a great loss to the city of Ahmedabad, to India and the world of architecture. However, his work and his teaching will ensure that his influence extends into the future.
I had the distinct pleasure of getting to know Doshi and have very fond memories of spending time with him and his close knit family in his studio and home when, in 2022, I had the honour of presenting him with the Royal Gold Medal.
Watch Balkrishna Doshi's RGM acceptance speech and interview with RIBA President Simon Allford below
Like many great architects, Doshi was not the product of a formal education. His story – as he recounted it to me - was one his journey by boat to London in the early 1950s; part-time courses at North London Polytechnic and many hours in the RIBA Library studying books, drawings, photographs and the magnificent space – all washed down by tea with the Librarian. His amusing recollections of connections made on his various travels told me as much about Doshi as they did of those he met, including his two masters, Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. Doshi learned from them but was also vital to them both as enabler and collaborator. Indeed, it was Doshi who turned Le Corbusier’s dreamy Mill Owners Building into a wonderful reality; it was Doshi who won the project for the Indian Institute and then invited Kahn to lead their collaboration. Long after their departure Doshi continued to honour their memory by always making time to engage with the next generation through his teaching, writing and his buildings.
Indeed, Doshi went on a to build a remarkable series of buildings that are prescient in how they address social welfare, climate change, craft and community. These buildings, his family, and his faith helped ensure that Doshi was still busily and energetically engaged in all these forms of practice throughout his seventy years and right up until his death.
Doshi is a great loss, but his vital contribution to the practice and discourse of architecture is a legacy that will long endure. I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to Balkrishna Doshi’s family and friends.’’
