20 JUNE - JULY 2019
TRUPTI DOSHI
O
ddly enough, her fascination with lines and
design began with shoes — her father is a
product designer and shoemaker and her
mother, an interior designer. The Mumbai-born,
Trupti Doshi, who is currently based in Puducherry
(Pondicherry), recalls, “As children, both my brother
and I were either learning the science of shoemaking
or the craft of woodworking.” She was also a top-
ranking student at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s A. H.
Wadia High School and “excelled in several things”,
successfully representing her school nationally in
public speaking, creative writing, science exhibitions
and Sanskrit recitation. She later received a bachelor’s
degree in architecture, with honours, from Mumbai
University’s Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for
Architecture and Environmental Studies (KRVIA).
When very young, she had learnt about her
maternal grand-uncle, architect Vanu Bhuta, who
was invited by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru to design and build Rajghat, the memorial
at Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation site. Doshi
rewinds, “I believe this occurred after the samadhi
was built. Nehru wished to surround it with
expansive lawns, like a monument in the colonial
style, whereas my grand-uncle firmly believed
that it should be a true representation of Gandhi
— austere, with the black granite cuboid simply
rising out of bare earth. It was a fight between two
architects: one, the architect of modern India and
the other, a master builder of India. Nehru stuck to
his views while my grand-uncle stormed out. Years
later, as the story goes, he refused Indira Gandhi’s
proposal to design Nehru’s samadhi saying, ‘You
want his soul to rest in peace’.Her first date with design and technology
In front of my Seven Bungalows home, on Versova
beach, Mumbai, is one of architect Nari Gandhi’s
masterpieces — The Moon Dust House. The first
time I saw it, I was mesmerised by the soaring arches
and the way it upheld itself, almost precariously,
every stone differently sized. I wanted to create an
equally magical world.
Soon after my graduation in 2001, I was askedto come up with the master plan for a 43-acre lush
green campus on the banks of one of South India’s
most important wetlands — Ousteri Lake, near
Pondicherry. This is when I started applying all my
learning to creating a mini township.On sustainable engineering and its importance
This is the central focus of my work. One of the ways
I define sustainability is ‘closing the loops’. Imagine a
building like a tree. It harvests the sun, collects water,
cleans the air, makes oxygen, generates soil and
nutrients, facilitates thermal comfort and provides
space for meaningful leisure. Cradle to Cradle
design integrates economic, ecological and social
benefits. Everything is designed to be a nutrient
for something else. Buildings are able to function
as healthy material banks, where materials maintain
their status as resources which can be reused. A
Cradle to Cradle building defines materials as part
of biological and technical cycles to actively improve
the quality of biodiversity, air and water, all the while
being energy-positive.The use of technology to create viable designs
Technology is the only way we can become resource-
efficient. One of the definitions of technology is
‘a capability given by the practical application
of knowledge’. Until a few hundred years ago, we
needed two-foot thick walls to keep interiors cool.
Today, we are able to achieve the same result with
a fraction of the material. The earthen pot which
our grandmothers used to keep drinking water cool
is a brilliant example of technology. I have built
buildings which act as earthen pots and keep the
interiors cool without air conditioning. I learnt the
principles of thermal comfort from the past and
applied them using cutting-edge technology to
create responsible, sustainable and eco-friendly
spaces for the future.Her most challenging project
The giant arched roof — an earthen vault — at
the Sri Aurobindo Society’s Sharanam campus in
Pondicherry. We began work on the project in 2007