Balkrishna Doshi awarded with Royal Gold Medal for 2022

According to a report, Balkrishna Doshi, an Indian architect, won the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Royal Gold Medal for 2022 in recognition of his 70 years of career and influence on architecture in India. Awarded by RIBA and approved by the Queen, the Royal Gold Medal celebrated the advancement of architecture. In 1955, he founded his studio, Vastu Shilpa Consultants. The award brought back reminiscience of working with Le Corbusier in 1953 when he received the news of getting the Royal Gold Medal, he said. Doshi was the first Indian architect to have won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2018, with a portfolio of over 100 projects, including the collaboration with Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. His major projects are Atira Guest House in 1958, the CEPT University in 1966 and the Amdavad ni Gufa art gallery in 1994. He created the Aranya Low-Cost Housing complex for 80,000 households in Indore and was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1995. This year the Royal Gold Medal architects include David Adjaye, Alison Brooks and Kate Cheyne, and Gus Casely-Hayford. It was chaired by the president of RIBA, Simon Allford. The committee of the Royal Gold Medal said that Doshi has helped to define the direction of architecture in India and adjoining regions through his teachings and practices. It said that his architectures celebrate the local technology, crafts and natural habitat to create an environment that is legible, hard-working and joyful, accommodating the theatre of daily life. He had founded the Vastu Shilpa Foundation to help evolve the indigenous design and planning standards in India. He has worked as an educator at many universities. The Shreyas Comprehensive School Campus, Tagore Hall and Memorial Theatre and the Sangath studio are some of his other works. The Royal Gold Medal will be awarded to him at a ceremony in 2022. Image Source