In news– Recently, Balkrishna Doshi received the Royal Gold Medal for architecture 2022.
About Balkrishna Doshi-
- Born in 1927 in Pune, to an extended family of furniture makers, Mr Doshi studied at the JJ School of Architecture.
- He is considered to be an important figure of Indian architecture and noted for his contributions to the evolution of architectural discourse in India.
- Having worked under Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, he is a pioneer of modernist and brutalist architecture in India.
- His more noteworthy designs include the IIM Bangalore, IIM Udaipur, NIFT Delhi, Amdavad ni Gufa, CEPT University, and the Aranya Low Cost Housing development in Indore which was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
- He 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 for Architecture. He is also a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects.
- Doshi’s work on the reunification of Indian and English heritages through his practice was awarded a Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2007, award’s first edition.
- In 2018, he became the first Indian architect to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which is considered one of the most prestigious prizes in architecture.
- He has also been awarded the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.
About the award-
- It is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual’s or group’s substantial contribution to international architecture.
- It is given for a distinguished body of work rather than for one building, and is therefore not awarded for merely being currently fashionable.
- It was first awarded in 1848 to Charles Robert Cockerell, and its second recipient was the Italian Luigi Canina in 1849.
- Candidates of all nationalities are eligible to receive the award.
Source: PIB
