Blast from the Past. In my recent (and ongoing trip in South Asia) I have been visiting many places. Ahmedabad, in Gujarat is one of them. It is the only city in India that can boast to having the works of two of the three Great Masters of Modern Architecture. Louis I Kahn and Le Corbusier. It is rumored that Frank Lloyd Wright was also supposed to have a commission here but that project fell through…Otherwise it would have been the ONLY city in the WORLD that has projects designed and built by all 3 great masters of Modern Architecture.

A bit about A’bad. It is HOT. Brutally. Even in the winter, the sun and glare is merciless. So Kahn has a peculiar challenge. How to make the buildings cool and stay cool without using power. And of course how to let the brick be itself!

(I’m sure you know that anecdote about Kahn. When asked for his inspiration for IIM and other marvelous brick buildings he built here and elsewhere, he has said, “I asked the brick what it wanted to be, and it said it wanted to be an arch.or something like that!!)

Without further ado. here is Indian Institute of Management (IIM), old and new campus. Fascinating sun protection, deep seated classrooms to keep them cool, marvelous brickwork- then and now of modern architecture and the best of Louis Kahn!

Sunshade (New campus. Not Kahn but very good all the same)

Sunshade Detail with concrete

Walk to the old campus

I am an arch today

LKP: Louis Khan Plaza

Deep windows mean less sunlight

A building in a building

Corridor

For more goodness visit my flickr photostream