balkrishna doshi’s final project unfolds in spiraling steel forms on the vitra campus, germany

Balkrishna Doshi’s final work opens on the Vitra Campus

The Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany, welcomes a deeply personal and spiritual addition with the completion of the Doshi Retreat, a contemplative space designed by Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi together with Studio Sangath, led by his granddaughter Khushnu Panthaki Hoof and her husband, Sönke Hoof. The project marks both Doshi’s first built work outside of India and the last he conceived before his passing in 2023.

Designed as a winding subterranean path, the steel retreat guides visitors beneath the surface of the Vitra Campus, bringing together Indian philosophy with meditative spatial rhythm. Along its curving walls, soft tones of gong and ceramic flute echo through hidden recesses. ‘This architecture was born from a dream Doshi had of two interweaving cobras,’ explains Khushnu Panthaki Hoof, a poetic image that finds form in the spiraling movement of the structure and symbolic reference to Kundalini, the coiled energy said to lie dormant at the base of the spine in yogic tradition.

all images by Julien Lanoo, courtesy of Vitra, unless stated otherwise

brass mandala sits in the center of the steel retreat

An audio system, embedded into concave cavities in the ground, diffuses layers of gong and flute tones that accompany one’s passage through the space. The soundscape is not composed as music but experienced as vibration. ‘It is sound, resonating through the visitor’s body, that erases the boundary between self and structure,’ observes Hoof.

At the culmination of the path, visitors encounter a contemplation chamber illuminated by a hand-hammered brass mandala crafted in India. Its reflective surface scatters light across the interior, suggesting an inner cosmos of still movement, a fitting metaphor for Doshi’s lifelong search for harmony between material and spirit.

The Doshi Retreat is built from forged and formed XCarb® steel, a low-carbon-emissions material made from recycled steel and produced with renewable energy, donated by ArcelorMittal. Over time, its surface will weather to a natural patina through controlled corrosion, merging with the earthbound tones of the surrounding landscape.

Following Doshi’s passing, Studio Sangath in Ahmedabad continued shaping the retreat in close dialogue with his vision. Together, they translated its conceptual rhythm into physical form, weaving it into the fabric of the Vitra Campus.

the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany, welcomes the Doshi Retreat

a contemplative space designed by Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi

Doshi’s first built work outside of India and the last he conceived before his passing in 2023

designed as a winding subterranean path | image by Marek Iwicki

the steel retreat guides visitors beneath the surface of the Vitra Campus

bringing together Indian philosophy with meditative spatial rhythm

a poetic image of two intertwining snakes that appeared in the late architect’s dream takes form

at the culmination of the path, visitors encounter a contemplation chamber

along its curving walls, soft tones of gong and ceramic flute echo through hidden recesses

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the Doshi Retreat is built from forged and formed XCarb® steel

this low-carbon-emissions material is made from recycled steel and produced with renewable energy | image by Marek Iwicki

through time, its surface will weather to a natural patina through controlled corrosion | image by Marek Iwicki

following Doshi’s passing, Studio Sangath in Ahmedabad continued shaping the retreat in close dialogue with his vision

merging with the earthbound tones of the surrounding landscape

 

 

 

image by Marek Iwicki

project info:

name: Doshi Retreat

architects: Balkrishna Doshi with Khushnu Panthaki Hoof and Sönke Hoof of Studio Sangath | @studio_sangath

location: Vitra Campus | @vitracampus, Weil am Rhein, Germany