IIM AHEMDABAD

, INDIA
Architects: Louis Kahn

Collaborators: Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi & Anant Raje

Year: 1974

Area: 67 acres

Building Type: institutional

As your eye moves through the heavy brick walls, course
by course, brick by brick, one observes how some of the
bricks shine with pride under the strong Ahmedabad sun,
while some shy away in dark, in the shadows cast by the
niches. Each of these bricks have a story to tell. While some
of the bricks tell a story of how their corners got chipped
with overuse, some tell a story of how beautifully they have
weathered. As you stand there, piecing each of these
stories together, you suddenly feel like this building has
been here forever.
 DESIGN PROCESS
• Louis Kahn - designed Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
(IIMA) is internationally known for its architectural vocabulary defined
by the exposed brickwork, and concrete used for slabs, lintels, and
beams

• . Louis Kahn designed a building where several hallways and a plaza

(appropriately named ‘Kahn’s Plaza’) act as new centres for learning,
allowing students to engage in continuous discussions and debates

• incorporated local materials and large geometrical façade

extractions as homage to Indian vernacular architecture. .

• The large facade omissions are abstracted patterns found within the
Indian culture that were positioned to act as light wells and a natural
cooling system protecting the interior from India’s harsh desert
climate. Even though the porous, geometric façade acts as filters for
sunlight and ventilation, the porosity allowed for the creation of new
spaces of gathering for the students and faculty to come together .
 hexagonal shape and the
LIBRARY sitting arrangement in a
Large windows for natural light
classrooms is in horseshoe
and ventilation
pattern with rows of seat at
different levels

Exposed brick façade to

keep the rooms cool

Reading Lounge
Group Study Space
Silent space
Group Discussion Area CLASSROOM
Light Reading Zone
Children's Section
 • brick has been used as primary building material for
the entire complex walls.
CONSTRUCTION • brick arches have been used for wider spans.
DETAILS • concrete has been restricted to floor slabs,
foundations and ties for arches.
 • The individual houses: The houses of
Ahmedabad were traditionally built of carved
wood and brickwork

Socio-Cultural- • there are many Hindu and Jain temples, the

Gaekwad’s Haveli enclave of Maratha period

Economic Context
and several other institutional buildings and
bungalows of the Colonial period.
ARCHITECTS IDEOLOGY
Architects ideologies
• Born February 20, 1901 on Saaremmaa Island in
Kuressaare. Kahn's Jewish parents immigrated to the
United States in 1906.
• BUILDING = HUMAN
• WILL TO BE DESIRE TO BE WILL TO EXPRESS
• Kahn's architecture is notable for its simple, forms and
compositions.
• Kahn design of buildings, characterized by powerful,
massive forms.
• Through the use of brick and poured-in place concrete
masonry, he developed a contemporary and
monumental architecture that maintained sympathy for
the site and did not lose its proportion.
• Louis Kahn's work infused International style with a
highly personal taste, poetry of light and exposing the
materials without altering.
 Design Influences
• louis Kahn believed that it was in monumentality,
solidity, and timelessness, laid the true meaning
of architecture. He often said, “Architecture was
reaching out for the truth.” For him, the truth was in
something that had stood the test of time. That which
existed sometime in the past and continues to exist to
date was the truth for him.
• He found the architecture of Rome and Greece to be
timeless. He found that to have stood the test of time.
Hence, he found that to be true. He got highly
inspired by it.
• Kahn was inspired by the work of many modern
architects, including Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd
Wright, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and was
equally drawn to classical and ancient forms of
building.
Repetition of the similar styles

layered facades that do

not only serve to make
the building look
impressive. The
perforated walls also
protect the interiors
from direct sunlight and
provide passive
ventilation

National Assembly Building

Dhaka by Louis Kahn. Phillips Exeter Academy Library exterior by
Louis Kahn
a sense of the monumental in his designs
Darpana academy
of Performing Arts

• Client- Dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai

• Location- Usmanpura, Ahmedabad,
Gujarat
• Architect- A.P Kanvinde
• Dated- 1965
• Building type- cultural center
DESIGN PROCESS
SPACES- (1). Entrance
(2) Classroom
(3) Store
(4) Service Quarters
(5) Washroom
(6) Courtyard
(7) Existing Building
(8) Office
(9) Bedroom
(10) Dining Hall
(11) Kitchen
(12) Living Room
(13) Terrace
eSite characteristics & constraints: The building takes advantage of its
setting next to the Sabarmati river by orienting a linear, semi-covered terrace
toward it, with the classrooms clustered around it
.Design description: The design is created in response to the site and its
orientation.
In response to the sun direction which is always in the southern hemisphere in
this location, the spaces are arranged sequentially in a curvilinear volume with
a central north facing open courtyard
Circulation: The circulation spine within the office skirts the perimeter of this
open courtyard with a shallow reflecting pool of water, allowing its users to
experience the outdoor space while moving within the office.
CONSTRUCTION
TECHNIQUE

VISTAS TOWARDS
RIVER

EXPOSED BRICK
AND CONCRETE

USE OF OLDER
MATERIAL

KOTA STONES IN
FLOOR
 • The individual houses: The houses of
Ahmedabad were traditionally built of carved
wood and brickwork

Socio-Cultural- • there are many Hindu and Jain temples, the

Gaekwad’s Haveli enclave of Maratha period

Economic Context
and several other institutional buildings and
bungalows of the Colonial period.
 ARCHITECTS IDEOLOGY
• Played with space and form. His designs are slender,
balanced, proportionate, neat and well crafted.
2. The porch and staircase were given emphasis in his
buildings.
3. Natural light was given utmost priority. The form of the
building solved the problem of ventilation as well as
excessive heat through covered verandahs, walkways and
staircases.
4. He believed in Vernacular Architecture. He was of the
opinion that values and historic influences bestowed upon
good architecture..
• logic of lightness the complete focus on the materials to be
used in construction kanvinde always try to develop such an
asthestic for a havey mass construction that looks light.
• He treated his building with “VASTUSHASTRA”
• THE BAUHAUS STYLE: Studying under Walter Gropius,
kanvind developed a whole new outlook towards
architecture. He was greatly influenced by the Bauhaus style,
which later on was adopted in his various buildings.
Repetition of the similar styles

A Splash of Brutalism, National Science

Centre