Balkrishna Doshi wins RIBA 2022 Royal Gold Medal

Renowned Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi has been announced as the recipient of the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the RIBA, one of the highest architectural honors in the world. By receiving the award, Doshi joins past winners including David Adjaye (2021), Grafton Architects (2020), and Nicholas Grimshaw (2019). Doshi is also the 2018 recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

RIBA President Simon Allford described Doshi as an individual who was “influenced generations of architects through his delightfully purposeful architecture.” The ninety-four-year-old architect has seen over 100 built projects throughout his 70-year career, influencing the direction of architecture in India and adjacent regions through both his practice and teaching.

Born in 1927 in Pune, India, Doshi studied at the J J School of Architecture, Bombay, before working for four years with Le Corbusier as Senior Designer in Paris from 1951 to 1954. Along with a decade-long collaboration with Louis Kahn, Doshi founded his own practice, Vastushilpa, in 1956. He has since become internationally known for his visionary urban planning and social housing projects, as well as his work in education, both in India and as a visiting professor at universities around the world.

His work combines a pioneering modernism with the local vernacular, embodying a deep appreciation for the traditions of India’s architecture, climate, culture, and craft. He has become internationally renowned for projects such as the Atira Guest House (1958), the Indian Institute of Management campus (1977-1992), and the Aranya Low-Cost Housing project (1989).