Cornell AAP

fall 2017

Under the hand of Balkrishna V. Doshi, modem architecture theory is grounded on concrete parameters of the body, be it as a physical being, a cultured mind, or a spiritual entity. As one inhabits Sangath architecture studio, constructed in 1980 on the fringes of Ahmedabad city in India, the (hi)stories narrated trough sequence speak about an architecture of humility and harmony with place, climate and centuries-old tradition. Also, in the aftermath of the first oil energy crisis of 1973, Sangath approaches an eloquent conversation about sustainability, technology and the role of these complex bodily identities in the crowded crevices of a world obsessed with progress.

Doshi's philosophy establishes a critique to Modern discourse in various ways. His work contributed to erode individuality and the equation techno-science=progress =common good, proposing instead a refocus of the rural context, collectivity, the periphery, and the Indian vernacular as the source of architecture at its purest. The building serves as his office, but it also includes community spaces and houses the V ashtu Shilpa Foundation. He applied the methods he learned during his work with Le Corbusier - designed for a European context - to the hot/dry Indian climate and what he calls the Indian "temperament" (Doshi 1985).

As a result, spaces in Sangath bleed and breathe into each other through openings both in plan and section, as it happens between the Guest House, the Display Area, and Conference Room in the West wing. The tympanum in the vaulted spaces serves to channel natural light to the interior and to flat­roofed spaces, while in some cases their position at eye-level responds to the fact that they are buried beneath ground level to take advantage of the moderate temperatures of the earth.