ABSTRACT
Balkrishna Doshi spent his whole career grappling with how the climate of his native India contributed to the modern language of architecture and the design of the School of Architecture at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), in the city of Ahmedabad, is a particularly persuasive early example of this philosophy. This study looks at how in certain climatic conditions glass is no longer a potent presence and is often not even a requirement. What may be desired are rooms that feel as much part of the outside as in, and the vernacular architecture of Gujarat has dealt with this problem for many centuries through a mix of deep windows and layered facades, called Jharokha. Doshi reinterprets the Jharokha at CEPT, on the south-facing end elevation of the long flanking wing, where all the openings in the central bay are occupied by large wooden pivot shutter doors in double formation. When closed, the studio shutters read as infill panels of timber framed by their individual concrete bays, and then conversely, when fully opened, as thin vertical blades within the void. The subtle variance in the elevation is beguiling to witness.
