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Bimal Patel
Bimal Patel
Bimal Patel
Patel
Dr. Bimal Patel, the son of Ar. Hasmukh Patel is one of the
greatest architects of India practicing in Ahmedabad,
Gujarat.
Bimal Patel lives and practices architecture and city planning inAhmedabad,
India.
Ahmedabad is also the city that he grew up in and its architectural history
and planning culture have influenced and informed his work.
He studied at theSchool of Architecture, Center for Environmental Planning
and Technology, CEPT, from 1978 to 1984.
In 1981, he apprenticed withFrei Ottoat the Institute for Lightweight
Structures, Stuttgart, Germany.
After receiving his first professional degree in architecture from CEPT in 1984
and a year of work in Ahmedabad, Bimal Patel moved toBerkeleyto study at
theCollege of Environmental Design, CED.
He graduated with M.Arch. and M.C.P. degrees in 1988 and a Ph.D. from the
Department of City and Regional Planning in 1995.
CARRER:
While still working on his Ph.D. dissertation, Bimal Patel returned to India in 1990
and joined his fathers architectural practice.
One of his first building design projects, a campus forThe Entrepreneurship
Development Institute, Ahmedabad, won theAga Khan Award for Architecturein
1992.
In 2000 he was selected to build the New Campus for theIndian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad.
Over the years he has built up a significant body of architectural and urban
design work ranging from single family homes, to institutions, industrial buildings
and urban redevelopment projects. HCPDPM the firm that he heads has won
numerous awards for its projects.
PHILOSOPHY:
AWARDS:
PROJECTS:
Entrepreneurship Development
Plan
1. Entrance
2. Inquiry
3. Administration
4. Training centre
5. Research centre
6. Library
7. Trainees hostel
8. Deluxe hostel
9. Kitchen-dinning
10.Auditorium(2nd
phase)
MATERIAL PALLETE
Here Ar. Bimal Patel has used
exposed materials in order to
minimise the maintainance
cost as well as giving justice
to the pallete
TheIndian Institute of
Management
Ahmedabad(IIM
Ahmedabad, also known
as IIMA), was the second
Indian Institute of
Management to be
established in India after
IIM Calcutta.
It was built by Ar. Louis I.
Kahn in 1961
Later in 2001, Ar. Bimal
Patel won the national
competition for the
extension of the old
campus.
The new campus is
seperated by a road from
the old campus.
The new campus acts as
an independent body with
the similar language and
spirit.
Plan
Located on a 39acre plot, the
extension includes
facilities like; 9
dormitories for 340
students; an
academic block
with 5 classrooms
and seminar
rooms;
administrative
facilities ; IMDC
Hostels; 20 blocks
for married
students; 6 VIP
suites; a sports
complex; kitchen &
dining facilities; a
CIIE Block and 100
guestrooms.
The public areas
are designed to be
The underpass
Although the new campus
functions independently from
the old without any direct
visual link and even has its
own approach road and
entrance halls, it is connected
to the old campus by means
of an underpass, which
houses an exhibition on Louis
Kahns work. The buildings of
the new campus use exposed
concrete as the primary
building material with
fenestrations in a
combination of mild steel and
wood.
Comparing both, Kahns and Bimal Patels campus, Bimal Patel has tried to keep
the Louis Kahn spirit alive.
There is a continuum, in both spirit and body. If one takes an aerial view and
draws a straight line, the classrooms and dormitories in both the campuses
seem to be placed along it. Even the room numbers are continued.
Bimal Patel believed that to copy Louis Kahn is to insult him. To honour him, the
new building had to uphold the same values that he held dear.
Bimal Patel
densified his
plan, bringing
greater intensity
to those allimportant
courtyards,
corridors and
passageways
According to him,
these open
spaces
addressed one of
the perceived
problems of the
Kahn site - that
many of the
professors saw
its empty
comparison
Bimal Patel
focused on
circulation by
using elevated
corridors as the
principal
ordering device
same as Kahn
did.
New
campus
New
campus
Old
campus
Old
campus
Both of them
used scale as a
mojar factor to
show the
monumentality
of the
institutional
building.
Similar to Louis
Khan, Bimal
Patel also use
exposed
materials in
order to give
justice to the
materials.
Louis Khan use
concrete with
bricks while
Bimal Patel used
New
campus
Old
campus
New
campus
Old
campus