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Achyut Kanvinde

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Achyut Kanvinde
Born(1916-02-09)9 February 1916
Achra,Bombay Presidency
Died28 December 2002(2002-12-28)(aged 86)
Alma materSir J. J. College of Architecture
OccupationArchitect
AwardsPadma Shri(1974)
PracticeKanvinde, Rai and Chowdhury
BuildingsCampus ofIndian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Campus ofMalaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur
PK Kelkar Library,IIT Kanpur,designed by Achyut Kanvinde

Achyut Purushottam Kanvinde(9 February 1916 – 28 December 2002) was an Indian architect who worked in functionalist approaches with elements ofBrutalist architecture.He received thePadma Shriin 1974.[1]

Early life and education

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Achyut Kanvinde at CSIR

He was born on 9 February 1916 inAchra,in the Konkan region ofMaharashtra,in a large family. His mother died when he was two and his father was an arts teacher in Mumbai. Kanvinde, influenced by his father, a portrait and landscape painter, took up art and graduated in architecture from Sir J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai in 1942. He was then sent by the Government of India to study at Harvard where he worked underWalter Gropiusand was influenced by his thinking and teaching. The European masters of theBauhaus– Albert Bayer, László Moholy-Nagy, Marcel Breuer, and the Swiss-American architectural historian Siegfried Giedion also had a great impact. Some of his famous batchmates werePaul Rudolph,I. M. Peiand John Perkins.

Career

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When he returned to India he joined the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. In 1985, he was the winner of the IIA "Baburao Mhatre Gold Medal".[2]

TheUniversity of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalorecampus designed by Kanvinde and Rai

Along with his partner Shaukat Rai, he opened the firm Kanvinde, Rai and Chowdhury inNew Delhi(which is currently run by Sanjay Kanvinde, B.K. Tanuja and Murad Chowdhury). The firm has been responsible forIIT Kanpur,National Science Centre, Delhi,The National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi, NII Pune, numerous dairy buildings under NDDB (such as Dudhsagar Dairy plant inMehsana[3]) and many other buildings.[4]

Philosophy

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Kanvinde played with space and forms. A famous example is the ISKCON Temple at New Delhi. He gave great importance to natural light. The form of the building is such that the problem of ventilation as well as excessive heat is beautifully solved. He championed the cause of vernacular architecture. He believed that values and historical influences contributed towards good architecture.[citation needed]"Over the years I have come to believe it is imperative that an architect develop a sensitivity to human nature and a respect for human values. This, after all, is at the very core of his work. In India the search for a new architectural expression must continue – and this must go beyond the satisfaction of matter of fact functional needs. I think the designer’s sensibility here must become aware of the accumulated wisdom of generations, but this should go together with the idea of progress reflected in the evolution of technology. In my own case, I must acknowledge my tremendous debt to Gropius – it was he who really exposed me to the power of technology on the one hand and the psychological dimensions of spatial organisation on the other. Actually my present concerns and realisations are all reflections of my earlier preoccupations: as a student at the J. J. School in Bombay my thesis was on “Architectural Composition and its Application to Indian Architecture."[5]

Design concepts

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He believed that a grid of columns forming a matrix giving structural and spatial aspect would turn a design more sophisticated and faceted.[citation needed]

Selected buildings

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References

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  1. ^Jon T. Lang 2002 A Concise History of Modern Architecture in India. Orient Blackswan.
  2. ^"IIA Awards".Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2017.Retrieved29 January2017.
  3. ^ab"Mehsana, North Gujarat, Tourism Hubs, Gujarat, India".Archivedfrom the original on 23 February 2017.Retrieved23 February2017.
  4. ^An Architecture of Independence: The Making of Modern South AsiaArchived2009-06-03 at theWayback MachineUniversity of Pennsylvania.
  5. ^Kanvinde, Achyut; Ganju, MN Ashish; Ananthakrishna, K. S.; Asnani, Hareesh; Balan, Arun; Bhalla, Arunjot Singh; Chandavarkar, Prem; Demello, Edgar; Dube, Anil; George, Tony Kunnel; Ghosh, Nisha Mathew; Ghosh, Soumitro; Jaisim, K.; Kumar, Ravindra; Ladhad, Manoj; Mohe, Sanjay; Nagaria, Akthar; Naik, Anup; Narasimhan, Venkataramanan; Reddy, Janardhan; Sandeep, J.; Shetty, Rajmohan; Thimmaiah, Kavya; Thimmaiah, H. C.; Varanashi, Sathya Prakash; Vastarey, Nagaraj; Venkataramanan, P. K.; Venkatesh, Kiran; Yalavigi, Sudheendra; Balan, Tharunya (1986)."Achyut P. Kanvinde - an interview with M.N. Ashish Ganju".Vistāra - the Architecture of India, Catalogue of the Exhibition.
  6. ^"Achyut Kanvinde: The man behind sustainable designs".The Hindu.18 April 2019.ISSN0971-751X.Retrieved23 May2023.
  7. ^abcdWilliamson, Daniel (2016)."Modern Architecture and Capitalist Patronage in Ahmedabad, India 1947-1969".ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.New York University. p. 91.Retrieved18 February2020– via ProQuest.
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