BALKRISHNA DOSHI:

ARCHITECTURE FOR THE PEOPLE

Opens September 9th

Photograph of interior of Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore)

Pergolas and cut-outs allow light into the greenery-fringed corridors of the Indian Institute of Management. Photo: Vinay Panjwani 2014

Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People (September 9 – December 12, 2020). Wrightwood 659 is honored to be the first North American venue to present this important retrospective of the work of the seminal Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi. Despite winning the Pritzker Prize—one of the most prestigious awards in the field of architecture—in 2018, Doshi is not as well known in the United States as he deserves to be. This exhibition brings to a wider audience his extensive contributions as an architect, educator, social scientist, city planner, artist, author, and founder of numerous institutions. In his nearly 70 years of practice, Doshi has fundamentally altered the built environment of India, celebrating its architectural heritage while creating new forms.

Doshi’s work displays his core belief in the power of architecture as a radical and profound act, one that can create lasting positive change in the ways people relate to one another and live collectively. He believes architecture in and of itself is incomplete, and it is only in its interaction with the inhabitant (whether an individual or a community) that its potential is fully realized. This philosophy is evident in his approach to design. Doshi speaks of and seeks a “living” architecture; in his work, people, nature, and the built environment are melded in active dialogue, and all evolving together.

He remains one of the last living links to two of the great masters of Modernism—Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. It is particularly fitting that his work be shown here at Wrightwood 659, cradled within the remarkable design of yet another virtuoso, Tadao Ando, who also draws inspiration from those two pioneers.

More about Balkrishna Doshi

More about the Pritzker Prize

Sneak Peak: Listen to a soundscape of the exhibition

Composer and Doshi grandson Kabeer Kathpalia has written four soundtracks that work to further an immersive exhibition experience. The music represents various dimensions of Doshi's work, such as the time during which a building was built, the location and surroundings of a building, the music Doshi listened to during a project, and the atmosphere and mood of the building today. Click the audio icon below to hear one of these soundtracks:

Soundscape of Gufa the Cave.

Listen 🎧 here

Welcome Back

All of us at Wrightwood 659 are excited to welcome you back into the gallery. The following are just some of the now-customary health and cleanliness standards and protocols we've adopted throughout the building:

Visitation has been limited to a restricted number of guests

Admission entry times have been reduced from hourly to three discrete 90-minute blocks

After each session, the gallery will be closed and all high-touch surfaces sanitized

Coat and bag check have been converted to self-serve

All visitors are required to wear face coverings

A keepsake exhibition guide will allow visitors to avoid crowding around wall text panels. All information in the show usually posted on wall labels and graphics is reproduced in its en tirety in the exhibition guide

Purchase the exhibition catalogue

A limited number of catalogs are available for purchase at the gallery. The catalog features Doshi’s most important projects and includes essays by renowned authors such as Kazi Ashraf, Kenneth Frampton, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Samanth Subramanian. Photographs provide fascinating insights into the complex spatial compositions of Doshi’s structures. A detailed chronology outlines the architect’s impressive 69-year career, which has been influenced as much by Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn as by Indian building traditions.

- Hardcover
- 383 pages, 9.5 × 12 × 1 inch
- Illustrated throughout in color
- 2019 by Vitra Design Museum

Purchase Catalogue with Tickets

Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People is on view at Wrightwood 659 from September 9 through December 12, 2020. This international traveling exhibition was organized by Vitra Design Museum and the Wüstenrot Foundation in cooperation with the Vastushilpa Foundation, and presented in Chicago by the Alphawood Foundation Chicago.

Revised Fall 2020 Hours

Thursday: 12p-2:30, 3:30 - 6, 6:30 - 9p

Friday: 12p-2:30, 3:30 - 6, 6:30 - 9p

Saturday: 10a-12:30, 1:30 - 4, 4:30 - 7p

Each block is limited to 24 guests. All guests must be ticketed.

Wrightwood 659

659 W Wrightwood Ave

Chicago, IL 60614

773.437.6601

Info@wrightwood659.org