Pritzker Laureate Balkrishna Doshi is a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architect and a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects. After initial study at the J J School of Architecture, Bombay, he worked for four years with Le Corbusier as Senior Designer (1951-54) in Paris and four more years in India to supervise his projects in Ahmedabad. His office Vastu Shilpa (Environmental design) was established in 1955.
Prof. Doshi has been a member of the Jury for several international and national competitions including the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, Aga Khan Award for Architecture and the Pritzker Prize for Architecture.
Apart from his international fame as an architect, Prof. Doshi is equally know as an educator and institution builder. He has been the first Founder Director of School of Architecture (1962-72) and School of Planning (1972-79), Ahmedabad. Dr. Doshi has been instrumental in establishing the nationally and internationally know research institute Vastu-Shilpa Foundation for Studies and Research in Environmental Design. As an academician, Dr. Doshi has been visiting the U.S.A. and Europe since 1958 and has held important chairs at American Universities.
Prof. Balkrishna Doshi is foremost among the modern Indian architects and has to his credit outstanding projects ranging from dozens of townships and several educational campuses, which include those for CEPT University-Ahmedabad, National Institute of Fashion Technology-New Delhi and Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore.
His distinguished professional career is more than matched by his academic achievements as the first founder director of the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad started in 1962, which is regarded as both the pioneer and the fountainhead of modern architectural and planning education in India.
In recognition of his distinguished contribution as a professional and as an academician, Pritzker Laureate Doshi has received several international and national awards and honors including ‘Padma Shri’ conferred by The Government of India ‘in 1976; Honorary Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, USA in 1993 and McGill University, Canada in 2006; Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1996, Prime Minister’s National Award for Excellence in Urban Planning and Design in 2000; Global Award for Lifetime Achievement for Sustainable Architecture by Institut Francais d’architecure, Paris in 2007; Officer in the Order of Arts and Letter from Ministry of Culture and Communications, French Republic in 2009, and The Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2018 which is considered as an equivalent of Nobel Prize in Architecture. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2020.
Honorary Fellows Keynote Lecture - Balkrishna Doshi
