L O U I S K H A N

C H A R L E S C O R R E A
B V D O S H I
A C H Y U T K A N V A N D E
&
I N D I A
L O U I S I K H A N (1901-1974)

•U.S. architect, educator, and philosopher

•best known works, located in the United States, India, and Bangladesh
•They reveal an integration of structure, a reverence for materials and
light, a devotion to archetypal geometry, and a profound concern for
humanistic values.
•Influenced by ancient ruins, Kahn's style tends to the monumental and
monolithic, heavy buildings that neither hide their weight, their
materials, nor the way they are assembled.
•During the 1930s, Louis Kahn was devoted to the study of modern
architecture and housing in particular.
•later 1930s - consultant to the Philadelphia Housing Authority and the
United States Housing Authority
•early 1940s - wartime housing projects
•1947 - independent practice and began a distinguished teaching career
PHILOSOPHY…
• Louis Kahn's work infused the International style with a
fastidious, highly personal taste, a poetry of light
• He was known for his ability to create monumental architecture
that responded to the human scale
• He was also concerned with creating strong formal distinctions
between served spaces and servant spaces
• His palette of materials tended toward heavily textured brick
and bare concrete, the textures often reinforced by
juxtaposition to highly refined surfaces such as light coloured
marble.
Important works :
1. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut (1951–1953)
2. Richards Medical Research Laboratories, University of Pennsylvania (1957–1965)
3. Jonas Salk Institute, La Jolla, California, (1959–1965),
4. Phillips Exeter Academy Library, Exeter, New Hampshire, (1965–1972)
5. Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban (National Assembly Building) in Dhaka, Bangladesh (1962–
1974)
6. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, (1967–1972)

7. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in India.

KEY POINTS

• Louis I Kahn was steeped in classicism by his Beux-Arts

education and Rome American Academy education
• He came to India in 1962
• Major design Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
• Khan’s influence was similar to Corbusier and had
influenced many Indian Architects.
• Doshi worked as site architect for IIM building
• Parallels could be drawn between Khan’s work and Mughal
architecture.
• Together with B V Doshi incepted CEPT.
• A new period of architects emerged
INDIAN INSITUTE OF MANAGEMENT - AHMEDABAD – 1963

•Situated on 27 hectare site – western side of Ahmedabad

•Campus promotes interaction of students and teachers
•Institutional complex and housing quarters
•All services located on north western side of campus
•Heart of complex is the hub known as Louis Khan Plaza
•Movement from active space to private space
•Plans are simple and volumes gigantic
•Exposed brickwork and concrete- Brutalist

LUOIS KAHN
PLAZA
"The organization of the complex, as well as its architecture, reflects the conceptual
organization of learning which is focused on three inevitable components: the school, the
students, and the teachers, which constitute 'The Indian Institute of Management'...Thus,
man's philosophy about his environment is contained here through the otherwise rarely
achieved response between condition of program and plastic emphasis of the structures; the
latter extending from the sudden vibration of light on the lowered arches spanning the
concrete cord to the gesture of full arches, and them of the round openings with their
curved shades, all maintained within the strict discipline of construction, spatial
dimensioning, and plan organization."
•The IIM Ahmedabad is
spread on a flat site of 66
acres
•Comprises of school
buildings, library, faculty
research offices,
administrative areas,
dormitories, faculty &
support staff housing with
sport facilities, dining
halls
•Form a neighborhood with
bank and post office
facilities
•The dormitories and school
building are grouped as one
forming a citadel with a
dug up lake in an L shape
separating the school and
dormitories and residences
creating a psychological
distance between the two

Cross section through
classrooms, plaza, part of the
faculty research offices
looking towards the library
entrance
A loop road off the main street
gave access to the faculty
residences and the other
brought visitors traffic to the
school entry
The brise soleil became porches
in architectural terms
Porches are considered as rooms
the porches as screens became
exterior walls that protect the
building from sun and rain

Longitudinal section through the library,

plaza and the earlier proposal for the
students dining hall
The architectural order is consistent
throughout – brick masonry bearing
walls and concrete as a restraining
member containing the thrust thrown by
the arches used over openings
The restraining member keeps the arch
from pushing out and brings into the
wall
There is no column and the arch – spans
openings
The porch acts as the interface between
the classroom and the living – a
transitional space where living and
learning meet
Each students room opens directly on to
the porch avoiding need for corridors
The dormitories and other residences
are turned toward the prevailing wind
direction assuring cross ventilation
The inner core of the building is a court inseparable from the various
spaces and has become a social meeting place
This court on a large scale is a central meeting place of the school
building
The court is called – “Louis Kahn Plaza” – an enormous room open to the
sky with ambulatories forming an edge to it all around encouraging social
and community participation in events throughout the year
Brick arches - spanning
Typical window detail

buttress
Plan of Dormitories
C H A R L E S C O R R E A (1930 - 2015)

AND I N D I A (PS: http://www.charlescorrea.net/)

BACKGROUND:

• Born in Secundrabad, India

• 1953 – Completed undergraduate architecture studies from University at
Michigan
• 1955 – Completed Post graduate from MIT, United States
• 1958 –: In private practice in Bombay

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY:

• India is a land of “abundant Sun” and “Plentiful Labor”

• “Open-to-sky” and “Tube dwelling”
• Combinatorial game of cellular housing patterns
• Stepped interlocking of spaces and details
• Highly climatic responsive buildings,
• Caters to the socio-economic needs
• Correa's work in India shows a careful development, understanding and
adaptation of Modernism to a non-western culture. Correa's early works
attempt to explore a local vernacular within a modern environment.
Correa's land-use planning and community projects continually try to
go beyond typical solutions to third world problems.
1. Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya,
Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad – 1958-63

• Memorial museum erected

in sabarmati ashram –
Dandi march
• Tiled roofs, brick
walls, stone floor and
wooden doors, RCC
Channels
• No glass, Lighting and
ventilation through
operable wooden louvers
• Typology analogous to
Gandhiji’s thinking of
villages
• Water courts, Meandering
design
2. Kovalam Beach Resort, Kerala – 1969-74

• Cluster of detached
units – “Kudils”
• Stepped terrace that
leads visually to the
beach
• Subtle level changes
having a certain
oriental character
• Highly articulated
living zones
• Views to beach even
from kitchenettes
• Highly responsive
resort with regional
character
3. Kanchanjunga Apartments, Bombay - 1970-83

Tower 1:4 Proportion – 21m X 84m – hosts 32 three or four bedroom

luxury apartments.
Ingenious cellular planning – interlock of one and a half storey,
split-level units.
Smaller displacement of levels differentiates external earth
filled terrace to interior elevated living volumes
Effectively shields the effects of both Sun and Rain
Tower with deep garden verandahs (Unite d habitation)
Its minimal unbroken surfaces are
cut away to open up the double-
height terrace gardens at the
corners, thus revealing some hint
of the complex spatial
organization of living spaces that
lie within the tower.
BALKRISHNA V DOSHI (1927 - )

Background
• BV Doshi studied at the Sir JJ School of Architecture
• 1951-54 – Worked for Le Corbusier in Paris
• 1954-57 – Returned back to India as Site architect for Chandigarh
• 1964-72 – Worked for Louis I Khan as site architect in IIM project
• 1965 – Founded the Center for Environmental Planning and
Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad

Philosophy:
BV Doshi had a substantial influence in Northern India as educator
and designer, not only as transmitter of Le Corbusier’s and Louis
I Khan’s philosophy but also in providing exemplar of work for
others to follow.
He was concerned with the Indian context to a greater extent,
providing a quality environment rather than modern buildings
1. Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore: 1983

• Courtyards
• Labyrinthine Academic complex
• Rich and Varied Architectural
texture
• Heavy building stone and delicate
concrete
• Traditional Built form in Modern
Language

• Semi-formal Landscape
• Exterior Grey Monotony

• Interior – soft and varied play of

light

• Underlying Geometric order Vs

surprise and apparent eccentricities
2. Sangath, Architect’s Own Office
Ahmedabad: 1980

• Sangath means
‘moving together’
• Building + Garden
• Complete
environmental
design
• Structure – small
scale
• Long Barrel vault
• 3 level structure
• A porous post and
beam structure
holds the vaults
• Vaults are light
weight composite
material

• Cylindrical terracotta
tiles sandwiched
between Ferro-cement
shells.
Inspired by the earth-hugging
• Exterior – a heat forms of the Indian vernacular,
reflecting waterproof it also draws upon the vault
coat of china-mosaic. suggestions of Le Corbusier.
A warren of interiors derived
• Rain water is from the traditional Indian city,
it is also influenced by sources
collected and channeled
as diverse as Louis I. Kahn,
to reflecting ponds. Alvar Aalto and Antonio Gaudi.
3. Aranya Township: Indore - 1988
• Aranya, 6 kilometres from Indore,
will eventually house a total
population of 60,000 in 6500
dwellings, on a net planning area of
85 hectares

• Designed around a central spine

comprising the business district

• Comprises of 6 sectors of population

7000 - 12000 east & west of spine
bisected by linear parks

• Site and Services strategy

• Plots, services and communal

infrastructure are provided by the
development authority

• Efforts to optimize the economics

• Dense urban neighborhood

• Scheme is sophisticated, highly

unconventional configuration of plot
and spaces.
 Exterior of two similar
houses with slightly
different detailing

•10 houses, each with a courtyard at the back, form a cluster that opens
onto a street.
•Internal streets and squares are paved.
• Septic tanks are provided for each group of twenty houses, and
electricity and water are available throughout.
•The site plan accommodates and integrates a variety of income groups.
•The poorest are located in the middle of each of the six sectors, while
the better off obtain plots along the peripheries of each sector and the
central spine.
•Payment schemes, and a series of site and service options, reflect the
financial resources of this mixed community.
•80 demonstration houses, designed by architect Balkrishna V. Doshi,
display a wide variety of possibilities, ranging from one room shelters
to relatively spacious houses.
Most of the income groups buy only
a house plot.
Available to the poorest, in
addition to the plot itself, are a
concrete plinth, a service core,
and a room.
The down payment is based on the
average income of the family, the
loan balance being paid in monthly
instalments.
Brick, stone, and concrete are
available locally, but owners are
free to use any material they
choose for house construction and
decoration.
An innovative sites-and-services
project that is particularly
noteworthy for its effort to
integrate families within a range
of poor-to-modest incomes.
• Housing is organized in
concentric rings to
avoid hierarchy.
• Large open areas are
avoided
• Public spaces are
evenly distributed in
small parcels
• Back to back
construction to share
services
• Reduced infrastructure
cost by 30%
• The site grows
according to the owner’s
affordability.
4. IIM: Ahmedabad - New Campus
•New concrete-look campus have 25 dorms, each of
which can hold 25-44 students in single-person
rooms.
•Each dorm has its own distinctive culture and
traditions.
•The new campus, connected to the old campus via
a pedestrian tunnel (which also serves as a
photo gallery), opened in 2006.
•The new campus is just across the road from the
old campus and houses 7 of the 25 dorms and some
classrooms and seminar halls
Padmashree Achyut Kanvinde,
(1916 – 2003)
BACKGROUND
• 1947 – completed architecture studies in Harvard, MA
• Worked with Walter Gropius
• president of the Indian Institute of Architects in 1976
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY:
• Radical thinker in Indian Architecture scenario
• Projects reflected of BAUHAUS style of modernism
• Kanvinde sought to create buildings that reflected modern
technology
• Purity in Form
• Pioneered in using flexible column and beam grid in India
• Introduced newer technique that emerged with technology – Waffle
Slab
• International style with Indian tradition
WORKS:
1. Dudhsagar Dairy Complex, Mehsana – 1971-74
2. National Dairy Development Board, New Delhi – 1983
3. IIT Kanpur, 1959 - 66
4. National Science Centre New Delhi-1991
5. Harivallavhdas House, Ahmedabad, 1964
Dudhsagar Dairy Complex, Mehsana - 1974
• Anthropomorphic interpretation
of building volumes
• Layout and hierarchy following
function
• Walls and structure are
theatrical than technical
• Large shafts in exterior for
ventilation
• Height difference is
exaggerated to a soaring mass
and profile
• Graphic banding articulate the
muscular physiognomy of the
building
• Articulation of the structural,
mechanical and ventilation
systems transform the
iconography of a plant and
laboratory
National Science Center, Delhi,- 1991
•six-storey structure situated on
a site that forms part of the
Trade Fair complex.
•The building comprises an
auditorium, conference rooms,
lecture hall, library, training
centre, exhibition areas, and a
cafeteria, totaling 14,000 square
m of built up area.
•An entrance concourse on the
first floor leads to the multi-
level display; and terraces
provide additional outdoor
exhibition areas.
• The building is finished with
aggregate plaster using local
Delhi blue quartzite stone chips
with bands in Dhopur stone chips,
and polished Kota stone with
Jaisalmer stone (ochre) bands are
used for the flooring.
National Dairy Development Board, New Delhi - 1983

• Irregular terracing and hanging

roof gardens
• Modest almost domestic character
reflects Delhi Neighborhood and
garden city character
• Alternative to conventional
office planning
• High emphasis on office-worker’s
amenities and environmentally
sensitive space
• Services are concentrated on the
rear
• Exterior rough finish – plaster,
floors are polished grey-green
sandstone
Inference:
Kanvinde was much focused on technology and architecture that reflects
purity of form and almost monumental
Details that enhance the above statement
Significantly influenced by the modernist thinkers of west like Gropius,
Wright – BAUHAUS
Have influenced a series of Indian architects thereafter
INDIAN MODERNIST
Authored the book – “Campus design in India”

His projects include :

Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association,
Hospital for Gujarat State Housing Board,
Darpana Dance Academy,
NDDB Campus at Anand,
Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad,
Administration building at Delhi for CSIR,
CBRI Roorkee,
CEERI Campus at Pilani,
Housing for Rajasthan Atomic Power Project,
Mahatame Phule Agricultural University at Rahuri,
University of Agricultural Science at Bangalore,
Nehru Science Centre at Mumbai,
National Science Centre at New Delhi,
Milk Dairy and Powder Plant at Mehsana,
NIBM at Pune,
National Insurance Academy at Pune,
Shere Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences at Soura,
Vedic Institute and Temple Complex for ISKCON at New Delhi