NARI GANDHI

G Pavan Kalyan
1160100576
● "I have heard him being called an eccentric genius, talent gone
wild, even crazy- but he was not crazy, it's the world around him
that was! Here was humanity personified, art and expression
exemplified, in a normal, humble, down to earth Parsi gentleman,
who wore simple old clothes and possessed a wealth of mind and
intellect, that would humble the most enterprising and exactiong
philosopher"- Amrutlal Thakker; a close friend of Nari Gandhi.
● Some refer to him as the ‘Howard Roark’ of India, or the ‘Robin
Hood’ of architecture.
 INTRODUCTION
● Nariman Dosabhai Gandhi was born on 2 nd
January 1934 Surat, India into a Zorastrian
Parsi family from Bombay.

● Nari completed his schooling at St.Xavier's

School (V.T) .

● Later he joined Sir.J.J. School of Architecture

in Mid Fifties. He was brilliant in college. He
was an enigma to his professors, who didn't
know what to make of it. Few were equipped
to understand his work at that time.

● He completed his education at Taliesin in

America under Frank Lloyd Wright.
● Nari Gandhi had a love for traveling, collecting watches,
cameras and pens. “He has spent a third of his life
traveling”.

● Nari Gandhi had a way with nature, with plants, with

animals, with snakes…, he was never afraid of them. He
could spend a night in a forest without any fear. He loved
to take walks amidst nature and loved the Himalayas.

● Nari had irked for attitude and not economic aspect. His
workers were hardly specialized but Nari trained his
workers to work with passion and dedication.

● Nari could not work in time limit he needed to be set free.

He would ultimately make something, which his client
actually expected.
 PHILOSOPHY
● He had learnt pottery for two years in Kent, which added
plasticity in his architecture. This also added his great
sense in using textures & colours in his work.

● While working in India, Nari continued to work on

Wright’s ideology of organic architecture and flowing
space.

● His work is a marriage of architecture & ornament,

space & form, materials & texture.

● To understand his work you need to have a basic

knowledge of art for then only you will come to know of
his talent.
 PHILOSOPHY
Nari Gandhi firmly believed that architecture was an emotional expression along with
being an art. Nari believed that the seven colours of spectrum were associated with the
seven glands in the human body. A detailed study of this aspect falls outside the scope of
this thesis.

A rough guide is as follows:

Red Root of spine
Orange Sex centre
Yellow Navel
Green Heart
Blue Throat
Indigo Third eye
Violet Top of the head
 CONSTRUCTION
● The most important feature in his architecture was the
use of materials. Very often, the nature of space is due
to the nature of materials and nari was thorough with
the basic rule, which is seen in his work.

● Nari used brick, stone, steel & timber as structural

materials.

● Each material persists of some emotion and this

formed a base to select a particular client, ofcourse
the materials were also based on what the site
demanded.

● He basically used brick & stone in his work. All his

work has a strong base of geometry. Light for him was
the soul of architecture.
● Banaji was the person whom Nari associated for his first two houses. He was one
year senior to him in Sir J.J. School of Arts. Nari was not a registered architect;
hence, he took help of Mr. Banaji to complete his projects.

● He required neither drawings nor a simple sketch for getting approved by his clients.
His clients would come to him with a lot of trust. If has get the essential character of
his structures, it could not be by camera, in as much as it is wholly a matter of
experience.

● Using a wooden stick as his pencil he sketched on the ground to explain plan.
● His works display a distinctive character.
● Nari Gandhi ended his life in a tragic car accident near Khopoli
on his way to site on 18 August 1993.

● Quite apart from the original qualities of his work, he was

obviously a man who was greatly loved by those who knew him, as
few people have the fortune to be.

● He has certainly broadened the arena of Indian architecture and

his contribution has been immense though not quantitatively but
qualitatively.
“....the reality of
architecture is not
contained in the roof
and the walls,but in the
space within.It is the
space that is.

- Nari Gandhi
THANK YOU