Meet Balkrishna Doshi, the Pritzker Prize winner and humane architect

Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman of the Ambuja Neotia Group, recounts how he met Doshi and how the path-breaking architect continues to be an influence on his projects

I got in touch with B V Doshi in 1994 for some housing projects, but initially he did not show much interest. For one, there wasn’t any direct flight between Ahmedabad and Kolkata and he would have had to travel via Mumbai. I also think he had some reservations about how a commercial real estate developer like me would be able to understand his mind.
 
A few months after this initial setback, I learnt that he would be visiting Kolkata to attend an architectural event. I decided to meet him there — my heart was set on winning him over