Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Saturday, August 18, 2007When i went to Ahmedabad - IIM A was on my to-see list. So we trooped off dutifully. But no one had prepared me for the stillness, the bigness, the austerity or the sheer magnificence of the place. Thankfully it was during the new year weekend & there wasn't a soul around. Standing in the Louis Kahn Plaza and walking the corridors of the place I could see the space inspiring in a person the need to grow, to be better and higher than his/her present self. It was a very quietening experience. The sun shining down on the unrelenting lines and gracious circles and curves was a sight I will not forget in a hurry.
"IIM-A was established in 1961 as an autonomous institution by the Government of India in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat and the Indian Industry. In its formative years, it collaborated with the Harvard Business School. Largely as a consequence of this collaboration, IIM-A pioneered the case method of teaching in India. And since then, it has remained the last word in management education in the country."
green and brown, originally uploaded by nairvee.
"Designed by Louis Kahn, a well known American architect, the 60-acre campus of the Institute has it all: a blend of austerity and majesty; spaces for casual interaction; frequently changing perspectives; and a balance between modernity and tradition that captures the spirit of contemporary India. It stimulates the imagination and creativity of the students, who are clearly the best in the country, coming as they do after one of the most rigorous selection process."
One could sit and watch all day, the constant playing with and reinterpretation of light with every line and every curve
"A work of art is the making of a life. The architect chooses and arranges to express in spaces environment and in relationships man's institutions. There is art if the desire for and the beauty of the institution is filled."
"The fullness of light, protected, the fullness of air, so welcome, are always present as the basis for architectureal shapes. I was impressed with the need for air when I happened, with twenty other people, in the palace in Lahore, where the guide showed us the ingenuity of craftsmen who had covered an entire room with milticolored mirrored mosaics. To demonstrate the mystery of the reflections, he closed all the doors and lit a match. The light of the single match gave multiple reflections and unpredictably shut off the breeze. In that time, in that room, you felt that nothing is more interesting than air."
—Louis I. Kahn.
"The fullness of light, protected, the fullness of air, so welcome, are always present as the basis for architectureal shapes. I was impressed with the need for air when I happened, with twenty other people, in the palace in Lahore, where the guide showed us the ingenuity of craftsmen who had covered an entire room with milticolored mirrored mosaics. To demonstrate the mystery of the reflections, he closed all the doors and lit a match. The light of the single match gave multiple reflections and unpredictably shut off the breeze. In that time, in that room, you felt that nothing is more interesting than air."
—Louis I. Kahn.
"Kahn's architecture is notable for its simple, platonic forms and compositions. Kahn design of buildings, characterized by powerful, massive forms, made him one of the most discussed architects to emerge after World War II. Through the use of brick and poured-in place concrete masonry, he developed a contemporary and monumental architecture that maintained sympathy for the site. While rooted in the International Style, Kahn's architecture was a blend of his Beaux Arts education and a personal aesthetic impulse to develop his own architectural forms"
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