03.19.18 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS Pritzker Prize to Doshi, Designer for Humanity The 2018 Pritzker Prize, universally considered the highest honor for an architect, will be conferred this year on the 90-year- old Balkrishna Doshi, the first Indian so honored. The citation from the Pritzker jury recognizes his particular strengths by stating that he “has always created architecture that is serious, never flashy or a follower of trends.” The never-flashy-or-trendy message is another indication from these arbiters of design that our infatuation with exotic three-dimensional configurations initiated by Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid – and emulated by numerous others – may have run its course. FULL STORY ON PAGE 3… In Search of a Win-Win: The Value Engineering Process When most design professionals hear the term value engineering, a dreaded sinking feeling deep in the pit of their stomach ensues. Both the design firm and the contractor are at a disadvantage in preserving the look and design intent of the project, keeping construction costs to a minimum, and delivering the entire package on time. officeinsight contributorPeter Carey searches for solutions that make it all possible. FULL STORY ON PAGE 14… Concurrents – Environmental Psychology: Swedish Death Cleaning First, Chunking Second Swedish death cleaning has replaced hygge as the hottest Scandinavian life management tool in the U.S. Margareta CITED: Magnussen’s system for de-cluttering, detailed in her book, The “OUR FATE ONLY SEEMS Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Make Your Loved HORRIBLE WHEN WE PLACE Ines’ Lives Easier and Your Own Life More Pleasant, is a little IT IN CONTRAST WITH more straightforward than Marie Kondo’s more sentimental tact, SOMETHING THAT WOULD SEEM PREFERABLE.” described in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Magnussen —ALBERT CAMUS, admonishes people to cut, cut, cut and winnow their stuff down THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS to essentials, and her method for de-cluttering seems like the best option for work areas. FULL STORY ON PAGE 17… 03.19.18 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 2 OF 32 NASH™ COMFORT AND CLASS, IN AN ENDEARING FORM. KIMBALL.COM / WORK YOUR WAY 03.19.18 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 3 OF 32 a&d Pritzker Prize to Doshi, Designer for Humanity by John Morris Dixon The 2018 Pritzker Prize, universally considered the high- practice and teaching. His three-year term as a Pritzker est honor for an architect, will be conferred this year on the juror, 2005-2007, was an earlier reflection of his worldwide 90-year-old Balkrishna Doshi, the first Indian so honored. respect. He has served on other international juries and The citation from the Pritzker jury recognizes “the outstand- been named an honorary fellow of both the American Insti- ing example he has set for professionals and students tute of Architects and its British counterpart. around the world,” then focuses on his particular strengths by stating that he “has always created architecture that is serious, never flashy or a follower of trends.” The never-flashy-or-trendy message is another indication from these arbiters of design that our infatuation with exotic three-dimensional configurations initiated by Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid – and emulated by numerous others – may have run its course. They are saying that in this seemingly ever more chaotic world, we should be serving humanity with environments that acknowledge our need for order, stability and reassurance. Unlike some Pritzker laureates, such as last year’s Spanish partnership of Aranda, Pigem and Vilalta (whose work was also rather restrained and context-sensitive), the 90-year-old Doshi will not be suddenly rocketed out of obscurity by the prize. He has been earning well-deserved respect internationally for much of his 60-plus years of Balkrishna Doshi, winner of the 2018 Pritzker Prize. Photo: courtesy of VSF and the Sangath Architect’s Studio: Site plan as miniature, by Doshi. Drawing: Pritzker Architecture Prize courtesy of VSF and the Pritzker Architecture Prize 03.19.18 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 4 OF 32 a&d Sangath Architect’s Studio, 1980, Ahmedabad, India. “Sangath fuses images and associations of Indian lifestyles. Memories of places visited collide, evoking and connecting forgotten episodes. Sangath is an ongoing school where one learns, unlearns and relearns. It has become a sanc- tuary of culture, art and sustainability where research, institutional facilities and maximum sustainability are emphasized.” Photo: courtesy of VSF and the Pritzker Architecture Prize Sangath Architect’s Studio: Lateral (east-west) section. Photo: courtesy of VSF and the Pritzker Architecture Prize 03.19.18 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 5 OF 32 a&d Sangath Architect’s Studio: Study model for vaults. Photo: courtesy of VSF and the Pritzker Architecture Prize Through both the influences on his work and his influ- atively applied that knowledge to the specific situations he ence on others, Doshi illustrates the international scope of addressed in India, extending those achievements into a Modern architecture. As a young, aspiring architect he was vision of what architects worldwide could accomplish. privileged to work for four years, 1951-1954, in the Paris Doshi’s output of over 100 buildings – all in India – covers studio of the revered Modernist pioneer Le Corbusier, where a wide range, including educational and cultural institu- he contributed to the design of the key buildings in India’s tions, government-sponsored and cooperative housing new provincial capital at Chandigarh. He then returned to developments, and elegant private homes. All of his work his homeland to supervise construction of that architect’s demonstrates an acute awareness of its context, cultural, projects in Ahmedabad. economical and environmental. His own studio in Ahmed- In 1962 Doshi invited the American master Louis Kahn to abad, known as Sangath, illustrates this local response, design the new Indian Institute of Management in Ahmed- with its garden, amphitheater, and other communal spaces, abad. The two collaborated for over a decade on its exten- its vaulted roofs and sunken planted areas responding to sive and inventive campus, reconciling Kahn’s concepts of the area’s notorious heat. The campus he designed for the architectural form with established Indian building tech- institute of management in Bangalore reflects age-old In- niques. dian traditions with a maze-like organization of interlocking The influences of those close associations with his buildings, galleries and courtyards. His Amdavad Ni Gufa, “gurus,” Le Corbusier and Kahn, can be seen in the robust largely an underground gallery in Ahmedabad, suggests concrete construction Doshi often employs. But he didn’t even prehistoric precedents, with its tilting columns and simply absorb the profound lessons they offered. He cre- undulating vaults. 03.19.18 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 6 OF 32 a&d CEPT buildings respond to the distinct needs of each discipline, and the evolving campus allows space for continued expansion. Crisscross Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology, 1966–2012 (Multiple movements of faculty and students maintain physical and environmen- Phases), Ahmedabad, India. Doshi blurs the definitions of interior and tal interconnectedness. Double height space for multifunctional activi- exterior, creating covered open spaces that seamlessly unite the two. ties overlooking the landscape and the studio spaces. Photo: courtesy Photo: courtesy of VSF and the Pritzker Architecture Prize of VSF and the Pritzker Architecture Prize Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology. Spaces for interaction below the studios. Photo: courtesy of VSF and the Pritzker Architecture Prize 03.19.18 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 7 OF 32 a&d Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology. A funnel shaped entrance is designed to direct the breeze through the building. Photo: courtesy of VSF and the Pritzker Architecture Prize The honoree has shared his cumula- We should wish Doshi many more environments and sharing his insights tive design wisdom with a career-long years of designing place-sensitive with the world. n commitment to education. He de- signed the Ahmedabad campus of the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (now known as CEPT Uni- versity) and taught there for decades. And he has carried his design wisdom to other parts of the world, having taught architecture in the U.S. at MIT, the Universities of Pennsylvania and Illinois, and Rice University, in Canada at McGill in Montreal, and at the Uni- versity of Hong Kong. The prize will be awarded in a cer- emony commemorating the Pritzker’s 40th anniversary, taking place at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto this Aranya Low Cost Housing. The community is composed of over 6,500 residences, amongst six May. sectors – each of which features a range of housing options, from modest one-room units to spacious houses, to accommodate a range of incomes. Photo: courtesy of VSA and the Pritzker Architecture Prize 03.19.18 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 8 OF 32 a&d Aranya Low Cost Housing, 1989, Indore, India. Aranya Low Cost Housing accommo- dates over 80,000 individuals through a system of houses, courtyards and a labyrinth of internal pathways. “They are not houses but homes where a happy community lives. That is what finally matters.” Photo: courtesy of VSA and the Pritzker Architecture Prize Aranya Low Cost Housing: Perspective of a street as a miniature, by Doshi. Drawing: courtesy of VSA and the Aranya Low Cost Housing: Façade studies for volumes and colors. Sketch: courtesy of Pritzker Architecture Prize VSA and the Pritzker Architecture Prize 03.19.18 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 9 OF 32 a&d Inside the Gufa.