BV Doshi becomes first Indian to win UK's top architectural award: 5 things you need to know

Have you ever been to IIM-Bangalore, or CEPT University in Ahmedabad, or Amdavad ni Gufa, where celebrated painter MF Husain's artworks are exhibited, or India’s first planned city, Chandigarh? These are some of India's must-visit places, because the beautiful buildings are literally monuments-in-the-making.

IIM-Bangalore campus was even ranked among 25 significant works in post-war architecture by the New York Times Style magazine. You can catch a glimpse of the campus in the movie 3 Idiots.

The brain behind the modern iconic structures is Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi. Doshi is one of the world’s most celebrated architects and the at the age of 94, his life continues to be replete with achievements and honours.

Why are we talking about the architect now?

BV Doshi was conferred the UK’s highest honour for architecture, the 2022 RIBA Royal Gold Medal, by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. Doshi is the first Indian to win this award.

? BREAKING NEWS: Acclaimed Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi to receive the 2022 #RoyalGoldMedal, the UK’s highest honours for architecture, approved personally by Her Majesty The Queen.  Read more: https://t.co/ji4TKGRY35 pic.twitter.com/K6Sfd5VRQB

— RIBA (@RIBA) December 9, 2021

Doshi is not alien to the world’s most coveted prizes. He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, known as architecture’s Nobel Prize, in 2018.

He also has some of India’s highest civilian awards under his belt. 

Here are 5 facts about BV Doshi that may come as a surprise:

1. DOSHI WORKED AS AN UNPAID ASSISTANT

The journey to success is never all roses. In his youth, BV Doshi worked as an unpaid assistant to Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier (who you might know as the architect of Chandigarh) from 1951 to 1955 in Paris. Le Corbusier is credited as the pioneer of modern architecture.

BV Doshi, till date, is said to keep a portrait of his professional guru in his office cabin, next to the representations of Goddess Durga and Lord Ganesha.

2. DOSHI COULDN’T COMMUNICATE WITH LE CORBUSIER

Do you ever wonder what it would be like if your boss and you had a language barrier? In modern communication, even without a language barrier, we often tend to misread into each other’s words. But back in Doshi’s time, Le Corbusier would communicate with the architect in broken English.

Doshi said that it was a blessing of sorts, because then the conversation became more visual and spatial. In other words, not limited by words!

Perhaps we should try this with our bosses too, to help our out-of-the-box thinking.

3. OLDEST 'ACTOR' TO DEBUT IN MOVIES?

Well, we are not sure if you noticed him or not, but in the Mani Ratnam-directed Tamil movie O Kadhal Kanmani and its Bollywood remake OK Jaanu, BV Doshi has cameo roles, where he plays himself.

One would wonder what made the man in his late-80s (back in 2015 and 2017), accept a cameo role in a film. It’s not as if he didn’t have fame and money; he had plenty of it. But the grapevine has it that when Mani Ratnam, the director of O Kadhal Kanmani went to him with the offer, he accepted it. Because all Doshi had to do was be himself.

BV Doshi played the role of BV Doshi, as a mentor to the female lead (Nithya Menen and Shraddha Kapoor in OK Kanmani and OK Jaanu respectively), who plays an architect. He also reprised his role in the Bollywood remake. This unexpectedly makes him one of the oldest 'actors' to ever debut in Bollywood.

4. ARTISTS HAVE ARTIST FRIENDS

Even before they were big names in the world, BV Doshi and renowned Indian painter SH Raza were friends. SH Raza is known for his modernist-style landscape paintings. The future geniuses first met in Paris, when Doshi was working for Corbusier's Atelier.

SH Raza even gifted one of his paintings as a parting gift to Doshi when the latter left Paris.

5. DOSHI HAS A LESSON FOR US ALL

In a 1989 letter addressed to his three daughters, BV Doshi advised them to keep viewing things as if seeing them for the first time. In an interview, he explained his advice, saying that humans tend to fall into a trap of familiarity. He said that the word ‘architecture’ is in itself a trap.

He still tells people to reinvent and reimagine every aspect to create something of their own, and not just go by the general perception.

This explains why BV Doshi remains relevant to this day. He was born in 1927, but his work has an understanding of the evolving culture, natural terrain and modern machines. And today, UK's RIBA Royal Gold Medal has found a worthy recipient for itself.