The Fate of Kahn in Ahmedabad?

Two years ago, in December 2020, IIMA announced plans to raze 14 of the 18 dormitory buildings designed by Kahn, setting of reactions from the family of Louis Kahn as well as architects and architectural historians around the world. None were more vocal than historian William J.R. Curtis, who wrote editorials for Architectural Record in the US and the Architectural Review in the UK, the latter creating a petition that has garnered nearly 20,000 signatures. The swift and strong reaction against the school's plans led it to withdraw its expression of interest for new dormitories. The school's January 2021 reversal is now being undone, with reports saying that IIMA "has decided to rebuild those sections where restoration would have been 'technically impractical and ineffective.'" 

In an interview with The Indian Express, IIMA Director Errol D'Souza says that "the supreme point is the safety of people" and there is "nothing you can do to restore," based on studies done over the last two or three years. His reply to whether dorms 1–14, which are currently empty, would be torn down: "Yes, dorms 1-14 would be reconstructed... We would like to keep Louis Kahn’s legacy." These apparent contradictions — demolishing the buildings but reconstructing them in a way that somehow retains Kahn's legacy — is muddied by further comments from D'Souza in the interview: "We would like to keep the legacy... But I am agnostic because suppose a designer comes in and gives us things that actually fits in with the Louis Kahn legacy... it might happen. So no one can say."

A letter sent from the Board of Governors of IIMA to IIMA alumni, and shared by an architect on Twitter, indicates that dorms 1–14 would be "remodeled, in line with the Louis Kahn heritage. It further spells out what the safety issues are: "The reports indicate that most structural elements have insignificant residual life, and thus restoration will be technically impractical [...] therefore, rebuilding these sections is unavoidable." As such, "the Institute will not continue with any further restoration of the faculty blocks, classroom complex, and dorms other than D15," which was previously restored. (Kahn's Vikram Sarabhai Library on campus was also restored, in 2018.) Lastly: "After carefuly consideration, an RFP process will be initiated later for the reconstruction of the faculty blocks, classroom complex, and the peripheral dorms 16 to 18..."

In reaction to the letter to IIMA alumni, William Curtis sent an email to D'Souza, with snippets of it reprinted in The Print: "You have been working with one of the best restoration teams in the world and they are confident that they can continue and complete the good work. Please follow this path rather than the negative and nihilistic path of demolition followed by the construction of lesser, far lesser, buildings… One does not want to fossilize Kahn’s scheme but one does need to respect its essential qualities, attributes and guiding principles. The challenge here is creative reuse, but in a manner that respects the integrity of the original; not the absolutely wasteful destruction of a masterpiece replaced by a third rate pastiche." Curtis said the school's reversal would "[establish] a dangerous precedent of killing off a masterpiece of not just Indian, but also universal significance."