Architect, urban planner and professor Balkrishna Doshi has been selected as the 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate. Over the past 70 years, Doshi has been instrumental in shaping the discourse of architecture throughout India and internationally and he has been able to interpret architecture and transform it into built works that respect eastern culture while enhancing the quality of living in the country.

The jury explains, “Over the years, Balkrishna Doshi has always created an architecture that is serious, never flashy or a follower of trends. With a deep sense of responsibility and a desire to contribute to his country and its people through high quality, authentic architecture, he has created projects for public administrations and utilities, educational and cultural institutions, and residences for private clients, among others. Doshi is acutely aware of the context in which his buildings are located His solutions take into account the social, environmental and economic dimensions, and therefore his architecture is totally engaged with sustainability.”

Doshi’s architecture is both poetic and functional. It explores the relationships between fundamental needs of human life, connectivity to self and culture, and understanding of social traditions, within the context of a place and its environment, and through a response to Modernism. He describes architecture as an extension of the body, and his ability to attentively address function while regarding climate, landscape, and urbanization is demonstrated through his choice of materials, overlapping spaces, and utilization of natural and harmonizing elements.