BV Doshi

The Unmistakable Authority On Architecture

- Tina Thakrar

Conversations with legendary architect BV Doshi are about so much more than architecture and design. They’re ripe with wise anecdotes, witty remarks and insightful nuggets of information. The Padma Shri awardee is much like the timeless structures he designs — open, uninhibited, grounded, honest and quietly powerful. Throughout the course of his esteemed career, the design icon has blurred the line between ‘man’ and ‘manmade’ to create ground-breaking projects that have heralded him as the country’s most profound architect.

The architecture luminary closely connects spaces to people, designing the former as an envelope that perfectly fits around the rough edges and nuances of its inhabitants. Words like ‘ideas’, ‘change’ and ‘sustainable’ are an inherent part of his architectural vocabulary, which stems from his early life experiences. The grandson of a furniture designer, Doshi imbibed the concept of spaces and their function very early in life, attributing it to the ritualistic background of his family. Temples and shrines, at home and otherwise, framed his first sense of space.

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