Make humans centre of architectural designs: Doshi

Sarika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 26

Architect BV Doshi first came to Chandigarh in 1955. It was early morning, around 4 o’ clock. He asked a rickshaw-puller about his views for the place. The light — coming from a dhaba nearby — was dim. The man told him this was going to be the world’s newest place. Sixty years later, as he comes here to talk about his guru Le Corbusier, he says it feels like a pilgrimage.

Doshi, a celebrated urban planner, is in the city for a series of talks on architecture and Le Corbusier, organised by the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi. As he stood beneath the Open Hand on Wednesday evening, discussing Le Corbusier’s vision of the Capitol Complex, Doshi said he was thrilled that the Capitol Complex had been recognised by UNESCO.

He asks his audience, which mostly comprises architects, students and teachers, what does heritage mean? “Does it mean they are ruins or do they have a message in their art, culture, literature?” He says the latter makes history, which makes heritage.

Doshi, who worked with Corbusier on the Chandigarh project, said he had innumerable memories of the city. The master architect said he was fascinated by the city and its buildings. He talked of the parapet where he stood. “Why is it here? What is happening around it? What is the talk that is going on in the corners here? All these are silent elements that constitute a building,” said Doshi.

Doshi frther said,” When Corbusier would get down to designing, he would look at the sun, shadow, rain and garden. Any drawing begins with a human being. Remember, what we do, we do it for humans.” He, like his guru, wants people to be at the centre of any design.

Himalayas too were a part of Corbusier’s drawings. “Animals, mango tree and people on charpoy… he would say India believes in frugality. Let’s create for this India,” he recalls him saying.

Doshi met Corbusier in 1951 in France. “From him I learned about breaking rules – traditional and new ones. Break a wall and make an opening. It is only then you see something new. Inner awareness begins to take place in architecture,” Doshi said.

He says it is only then that sketches manifest as buildings. “A constant dialogue goes on. Stories come about. Legends, mysteries and tales happen. That is how they become a heritage,” he signs off.