In 2009, when Ranchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad’s adventures in the blockbuster “3 Idiots” caught the fancy of many an Indian moviegoer, there was another standout in the movie — the college campus. That added another feather to Bangalore’s cap with the city increasingly finding space on the silver screen.
Cut to the present and in a noisy corner at the cafeteria in the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) recently, a crowd curiously gathered around a table. Photographs were being taken with the man behind the architectural marvel that is the IIM-B campus — B.V. Doshi. He simply shrugged when asked if he thought the campus would be featuring in a movie some day.
Basking in the glory of the campus that took nearly two decades for completion, the celebrated architect, recipient of Padmashri award, said the campus was more sustainable than any he had known. “Local craftsmen worked on it with local material; it is low on maintenance; the building is cool and light is controlled,” he explained. Though this 87-year-old architect has designed several educational institutions, Mr. Doshi admitted that IIM-B holds a special place. Built in over 18 years during the tenures of four directors and several engineers, the campus, he said, was designed so as not to overpower.
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The concept of “indoor and outdoor classrooms” was also kept in mind while designing for the 100-acre campus. The inspiration for the architecture — South Indian temples with their courtyards, where “people spend time and come out cured” — also fulfilled his understanding of education. “An educational institution should not have boundaries — curriculum, time or ideology-wise. A campus should be meandering and connecting. Why should we always have regulated and closed classrooms? A place of learning should be like a temple; not overpowering but constantly surprising,” he said.