project # 11

TITLE: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT-BANGALORE
ARCHITECT: B. V. DOSHI, JOSEPH STEIN
LOCATION: BANGALORE

“the plan is a society of rooms.........the society of rooms is knit together with the elements of connection which have their own characteristics…..”

Louis Kahn

In the early 1960s the government of India decided to establish four national level management institutes at Ahmedabad (designed by Louis Kahn), Calcutta, Lucknow and Bangalore. Prof Doshi was commissioned the project of IIM Bangalore in 1977 on a hilly site to the south of Bangalore. The campus is programmatically divided in two zones; the academic zone, which comprises of offices, classrooms, library and laboratories arranged around a series of courtyards, while the student dormitories placed at a distance. The focus of this post is the academic zone with its streets, squares, courtyards, balconies, and all the other elements that establish the ‘architecture of connection’, referred by Kahn.

Louis Kahn’s Indian institute of Management at Ahmedabad (1962-74) where Doshi worked from the initial stage has been great source of inspiration for this project. Among the many aspects understood from Kahn and employed in this project are the purity of materials, the play of light and shade for which Kahn employs the idea of “wrapping ruins around buildings”, and the most striking is the clear demarcated movement pattern, referred by Prof Doshi, “as covered pedestrian streets”. These covered streets were designed, according to Prof. Doshi.

“to provide innumerable vistas for focal points for generating a dialogue with oneself. These corridors are sometimes open, sometimes with pergolas and sometimes topped with a glazed skylight. To further heighten the spatial experience, the width of the corridors was modulated in many places to allow for casual eating and interaction to take place.”

Soaring up to as much as three storey height at many places, these covered streets in many ways are the main arteries of the plan, linking all the various elements.

IIM-Bangalore......source
IIM-A'bad...........source...


internal court.......source
covered streets......source

sikri.......source

IIM-B...........source

sikri.......source

IIM-Bangalore............source

The IIM-Bangalore draws many parallels with Kahn’s philosophy on one hand and on the other hand it also deviates from it to establish an identity of its own. It contains elements that shift and break strict axiality and draws many principles from the Mughal city of Fatehpur Sikri, built by Emperor Akbar in the sixteenth century. Apart from the organizational principles such as interlocking courts, pavilions, terraced gardens and connections, the IIM-B also employs more subtle lessons about materials and consistency of details from Fatehpur Sikri. The construction of the entire complex is made simple and standardized using exposed concrete, lattices, frames, and wall system using rough blocks of local gray granite.

Reference:

1. William J R Curtis, Balkrishna Doshi. Balkrishna Doshi : An Architecture for India. New York, Rizzoli.

2. James Steele. Rethinking Modernism for the Developing World : The Complete Architecture of Balkrishna Doshi, Watson-Guptill Publications.