Achyut Kanvinde was an Indian architect born in 1916 who made significant contributions to architecture in India. Some of his major works included the IIT Kanpur campus built from 1961-1965 and the Doodhsagar Dairy complex in Gujarat from 1973. Kanvinde was influenced by modernist architects like Claude Batley and Walter Gropius. He emphasized functionalism, modern architecture, and regionalism in his designs. Notable features of his works included exposed concrete structure, use of local materials like brick, and optimizing building functions. Kanvinde received several prestigious awards over his career and made lasting contributions to institutional and industrial architecture in India.
2. INTRODUCTION
• Born in 1916, Achara,
Maharashtra
• 1935 Sir J.J. School of Art Studied
architecture under Claude Batley
• 1945 in Harvard for Master
degree, with a thesis on science
laboratories
• 1947 appointed as the Chief
Architect of CSIR.
• Formed Kanvinde and Rai in
1955.
3. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENTS
• Awarded Padma Shree in 1976.
• President IIA (1974-75)
• Co-Authored book “Campus Design in India”.
• IIA’s Babu Rao Mhatre Gold Medal for life time
achievement in 1985
• Great Masters Award from JK Industries Ltd. in
1993.
• Was also a part of the jury on the competition for
the Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts, along
with B.V. Doshi.
4. INFLUENCES
Claude Batley -1941
Avoided the loud, revolutionary éclat of the
machine-age
Follower of functionalism
Walter Gropius-1945
Gropius’s insistence for using space as a tool for
expressing universal human values was what left
most lasting influence on his mind.
5. PHILOSOPHIES
All his creations were in strict conformity with
these three principles:-
• FUNCTIONALISM
• MODERN ARCHITECTURE AND BRUTALISM
• REGIONALISM
6. FUNCTIONALISM
• There buildings were always conceived with
first priority given to its functions, and the
social values when designing spaces.
• He rejected symmetry.
7. MODERN ARCHITECTURE AND
BRUTALISM
• Simplification of form and creation of ornament
from the structure
• Elimination of unnecessary detail
• Visual expression of structure, as opposed to
the hiding of structural elements
Salk Institute, California
Louis Kahn
Bauhaus,Germany
Walter Gropius
8. • Brutalism is a child of modern architecture
• Typically very linear, fortress like and blockish,
often with a predominance of concrete
construction
• Developed to create functional structures at a
low cost, but eventually designers adopted
the look for other uses such as college
buildings
Boston city hall, USA
Gerhardt Kallmann
9. REGIONALISM
Inevitably based on the exigencies of
• local climate,
• building materials and
• social conditions
• sound climatological principles.
11. Physical Research
Laboratory,Ahmdabad
Institute of Rural
Management,
anand (1979)
Nehru Science
Center, Mumbai
(1985)
National Science Center,
New Delhi (1991)
CBRI Roorkee
ISKCON Temple, East of
Kailash, Delhi (1998)
16. FEATURES
• Monstrous and raw
• The form is very rough and blocky
• Cold character
• Fortress like structure
• One of the first outburts of kanvinde’s
brutalism
17. • The natural slope of the
site utilized to advantage
of a multi level
processing system
• Milk receiving is done at
the roof
• Processing is done at the
second level
• The third and the lower
most level accommodate
the worker’s amenities
18.
19. • ventilation points are expressed as large shafts
that rise above the roof level
• They evacuate the hot air by natural convection
eliminating the need for mechanical exhaust
system
20. • Walls and structure are more theatrical than
technical in their function of containing and
supporting the process within
• Banding of
the exterior
finish helps
articulate the
muscular
feature of the
building
22. • Central deemed University located in Uttar Pradesh,
about 15 km north-west of the city of Kanpur in the
Kalyanpur suburb
• Constructed during 1960-1965
23. • Total area 1000 acres
• Academic buildings: 13 departments, PK
Kelkar Library, Computer Centres faculty
offices, laboratories and administrative
buildings
• 10 boys hostel and 2 girls hostel
• Sports complex
• Housing for faculty
FEATURES
24.
25. FEATURES
• The residential campus is planned
and landscaped with a hope for environmental
freedom.
• Halls of residence, faculty and staff houses
and community buildings surround the central
academic area to provide flexibility in
movement and communication.
27. • Core Pedestrian island which consist of lecture
halls surrounded by landscaping and water
body forming the main focus of the campus.
• The academic area is well connected by a long
corridor which links all the major buildings
• The academic area is set up in vicinity of
Hostels to provide quick accessibility to
students
28. SPLIT LEVEL CORRIDOR SYSTEM
• Minimize the walking distance, improving connectivity
• Create spatial expansion
• Give the impression of one large space hence space is used as a tool
29. • Conventional type of buildings were designed
as isolated islands of departments
• Activities which students and faculties share
are designed to encourage meeting and
interaction
30. Hostels Quiet and private hostels
Hostels to create some sort of family
feeling in the students living in them.
32. • In Kanpur, the local availability of high quality
brick and the prevalent labour and
construction practices made Kanvinde go for
reinforced concrete for structural frames and
brick as infills .
• reinforced-concrete post-and-slab
construction,with a series of flat slab-floors
and a flat roof-slab carried on concrete
columns or posts
36. In retrospect, that style shows a remarkable similarity
with the brute morphology of vernacular architecture
in parts of India.
37. CONCLUSION
• His works are generally raw and unemotional.
Yet he managed to make his designs appealing
and welcoming.
• His designs were distinct and unique yet
having one thing similar- functionalism.
• His designs appear to be built with a large
amount of thought having been given to
making them functionally efficient and
practically feasible.
In Kanpur, the local availability of high quality brick and the prevalent labour and construction practices made Kanvinde go for reinforced concrete for structural frames and brick as infills