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 VastuShilpa, 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.
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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 m 2 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 HussainDoshi 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 & f orms 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 fr om his mentor.
