IIM Ahmedabad Case Study: Louis Kahn's Plan, Brick Arches and Climate

The old campus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) was designed by Louis I. Kahn from 1962 and built from 1964, with B V Doshi as the Indian consulting architect and Anant Raje as Kahn's architect on site, who completed the campus after Kahn died in 1974. It is a residential school in load-bearing brick: a school around one court, dormitories and houses on the diagonal, and brick arches held by concrete ties. Below: who did what, the plan, the structure, climate, the dormitory dispute and lessons for Indian designers.

Who designed IIM Ahmedabad: Kahn, Doshi and Raje

IIMA was set up in 1961 by the central and state governments, Ahmedabad industrialists, the Ford Foundation and the Harvard Business School, according to Brinda Somaya's paper in Docomomo Journal 58 (2018). The roles are easy to blur, so here is what the sources say:

• B V Doshi brought Kahn in. Somaya writes that the founders first offered the commission to Doshi, who recommended Kahn and arranged it so that NID's students could work with him. The IIMA Archives say the founders were put in touch with Kahn in 1962 through NID and Doshi, who knew him from teaching at the University of Pennsylvania.
• The appointment. On 3 August 1962 Kasturbhai Lalbhai told the Board that NID would handle the design work, with Kahn as "foreign consultant and principal architect" and Doshi as "Indian consulting architect" (IIMA Archives). Kahn first visited in November 1962.
• Anant Raje on site. Raje worked in Kahn's Philadelphia office from 1964 to 1969, then returned as Kahn's on-site architect, overseeing the main complex, dormitories and housing additions (Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania).
• After Kahn. Kahn died in March 1974. Raje led the completion, including the dining halls and the Management Development Centre, both of which he had first designed while working with Kahn (Penn). The heavy timber members in the library's circular openings are also his (Somaya).

Site and context: Ahmedabad in the 1960s

Ahmedabad became the capital of the new Gujarat state on 1 May 1960, and Le Corbusier had already built the Mill Owners' Association building and Villa Sarabhai there; Doshi had worked for him in Paris from 1951 to 1954 (Somaya). An October 1969 article in the IIMA Alumnus by M. K. Subramaniam (IIMA Archives PDF) lists the programme: school complex, dormitories, staff houses, a shopping area, a sports club and a service tower.

IIM Ahmedabad design concept: "the plan comes from my feelings of the monastery"

IIMA taught by the case method, and the 1969 article describes students discussing cases in their dormitory lounges at night. Kahn's words, quoted by the IIMA Archives, sum up how he turned that into a plan:

• "The plan comes from my feelings of the monastery."
• "The idea of the seminar classroom and its meaning of 'To Learn' extended to the dormitories comes from the Harvard Business School."
• "The lake between student and teacher is one way of distance with little dimension."

In his Complete Work, quoted by Somaya, Kahn says the school and dormitories "are a unit, like a monastery", with deep porches in place of corridors: "Everything here is planned around the idea of meeting."

IIM Ahmedabad Louis Kahn plan: school, plaza, dormitories and housing

The 1969 article describes four parts:

1. The school complex: teaching wing and faculty offices on two sides of an open court, the library at one end and the kitchen and dining hall at the other, "an organization of courts, light wells, and services". Six classrooms with horseshoe seating, ten seminar rooms and a library for 100,000 volumes.
2. The dormitories: close to the school, joined to it by arched corridors and "placed diagonally in rows of three around courtyards".
3. A lake between the dormitories and the faculty houses. The IIMA Archives say this proposed lake "did not eventually work out".
4. Faculty houses "oriented to the wind, all the walls parallel to its direction", set diagonally around courts.

"All the buildings face southwest for the maximum advantage of light and air and are placed diagonally with the exception of the main school complex," the article adds, which explains the campus's two grids.

This is a schematic from published descriptions, not a copy of Kahn's plan; the real drawings are listed under Visiting below.

The dormitories

Somaya describes D1 to D15 as triangular in plan: two sides of student rooms around a communal space, the main stair projecting into it as a semicircular block, and pantry and baths in an attached service block. Kahn, quoted in 1969: rooms "in groups of ten, are arranged around a stairway and tea-room hall. In this way, corridors are avoided". D15 has ground and two upper floors with 10 rooms on each upper floor, about 1,090 m² in all (IIMA restoration page). The double-height ground-floor arcades were later turned into rooms, and D16 to D18 (1971) have service blocks at both ends.

Louis Kahn Plaza

The plaza is the court of the school. Somaya writes that Kahn meant a dining hall to close one end, served by a circular kitchen so that cooking smells would not reach the court. After 1974 Raje placed the dining hall elsewhere, leaving the court open; it is now used for convocation. The library stands almost freestanding at the head of the court, its position adjusted for a mango tree at the entrance.

Section and structure: brick arches with concrete ties

Kahn's own account, quoted by Somaya, explains the structure: brick bearing walls and piers with concrete floors; larger spans "giving rise to arches and buttresses"; smaller rooms simply slabs on walls. Then: "In the houses, where there is not sufficient dimensional expanse to use a full arch, concrete restraining tension beams are introduced to counter the thrust of the flat arches."

A shallow arch pushes outward at its ends. Instead of a thick wall or buttress, a concrete beam across the springing ties the ends together in tension. Brick works in compression, concrete in tension, and both stay visible.

Not every opening is tied. The library's large circular opening sits on a brick ring beam with no concrete ties, and the classroom block's rear walls step outward as buttresses (Somaya). A Japanese journal in 1967, quoted in the 1969 article, noted "the tense brick arches with their concrete ties".

Materials and construction

The 1969 article credits "the free availability of good bricks and the mild monsoon" for building in brick "unadorned by plaster and paint", with Kotah stone floors, wooden panels in doors and windows and concrete floor slabs. From Somaya:

• Kahn had used brick as a veneer before; here it is structural. Mock-ups tested the arches, and bricks were hand-moulded and cut to shape on site.
• The first dormitories (1964) are in English bond, probably because it was strong and easy to supervise. The school complex is in Flemish bond, which looks better exposed; the switch may have been decided during the experimental arch.
• Tests classed the bricks as second class under IS 3102-1971, averaging 4.89 N/mm², made from local soil and kiln-fired, with built-in efflorescence.

Somaya dates the experimental arch to 1964 in her text and 1970 in a caption. For today's wall choices in the city, see our building materials guide for Ahmedabad and Gujarat.

Light, climate and services

• Orientation. All buildings but the school face south-west "for the maximum advantage of light and air" (1969).
• Dormitories. "The tea-room entrance, the positioning of the stairway and the wash room, serve to protect the room from the sun and glare without obstructing the essential through-breeze" (1969).
• Daylight. The library's triple-height reading hall is lit through large circular openings, and the classroom corridor ends in two-storey porches each lit by a large oculus (Somaya).
• Shade and services. Neem trees were planted along roads and brick paths for shade; a service tower held tanks and an air-conditioning plant (1969).

Reception, problems and the dormitory proposal

The 1967 review found the forms "almost shocking" in photographs but "achieved in the cheapest and most available materials". The condition survey by SNK (Somaya & Kalappa Consultants) from 2014 to 2015 found, per Somaya:

• missing or undersized cover blocks, so slabs had carbonated through their full depth;
• steel bars in brickwork without concrete cover had rusted and cracked the brick;
• cement pointing had sealed the brick face, and new waterproofing had been laid over old;
• the 2001 earthquake brought down dormitory stair drum roofs and damaged a classroom parapet.

The IIMA restoration page dates D15's restoration from July 2016 to 31 August 2017 and the library's to 25 November 2018, with seismic analysis by IIT Madras. The restored library was inaugurated on 11 March 2019 and won an Award of Distinction in the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation 2019.

The dormitories, in dated facts:

• December 2020: IIMA issued an Expression of Interest for new student housing on land occupied by 14 of the 18 dormitories (ICOMOS Heritage Alert). IIMA cited damage from age, water seepage and the 2001 earthquake; the new housing was for at least 800 students against 500 (Scroll, 2 January 2021).
• 1 January 2021: after objections, including an open letter from 669 architects and academics, IIMA said it was "withdrawing the Expression of Interest" and would consult conservation structural experts (Scroll).
• September 2021: IIT Roorkee reported on testing of the restored library and D15 (IIMA).
• 3 November 2022: the IIMA board decided to rebuild the dormitories, citing safety and saying restorations "had been attempted but were not as effective" (Dezeen, 14 November 2022).
• 16 May 2023: the Society of Architectural Historians issued a statement on the plan to demolish 14 of 18 blocks.

We did not find a later official IIMA statement; check with IIMA for the current position.

What designers in India can take from IIM Ahmedabad

These are our reading, not claims from the sources.

1. Let the structure follow the span. A flat brick arch with a cast concrete tie is still a cheap way to open a wall wider than a lintel comfortably allows, if an engineer designs the tie and it is drawn on the elevations.
2. Cover every bar. The worst damage came from steel without concrete cover. Specify cover blocks and check them before casting. Our red brick versus AAC and block comparison covers the wall choice itself.
3. Plan the repairs. Exposed brick needs repointing in a mortar softer than the brick, and new waterproofing should replace old layers, not pile on them. Put this in the handover manual.
4. Turn the corridor into the room. A shared lounge for every ten rooms, placed to shade them, suits hostels and co-living in hot Indian cities.

For a studio documentation, our case study method guide sets out the sheets, and campuses appear in our B.Arch thesis topics by typology. Kahn's Salk Institute and National Assembly of Bangladesh have their own case studies in our world series.

Visiting IIM Ahmedabad and seeing the drawings

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's heritage page says that "prior permission is required to visit and tour the IIM-A campus", that not all parts are open, and that visitors can attend the institute's events, workshops and seminars. Ask the institute before you go.

Kahn's drawings for IIMA are in the Louis I. Kahn Collection at the Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania, and Raje's drawings, models and files in the Anant D. Raje Collection there. The IIMA Archives hold construction photographs and the 1969 article.

See how Indian studios work with brick, courts and shade today: browse projects by MOA members.

FAQ

Who designed IIM Ahmedabad?

Louis I. Kahn designed the old campus as principal architect, with B V Doshi as the Indian consulting architect and NID's architects and engineers. Anant Raje was Kahn's on-site architect and completed the campus after Kahn's death in 1974. The new campus, built after 2000, was largely designed by Bimal Patel.

When was IIM Ahmedabad built?

Kahn was appointed in 1962 and construction began on 9 September 1964. The first dormitories were built from 1964 to 1969, three more in 1971, and the school complex and library from 1968 to 1975.

What was B V Doshi's role at IIM Ahmedabad?

The founders first offered Doshi the commission; he recommended Kahn and served as the Indian consulting architect, with NID providing the design and site team. Doshi later designed IIM Bangalore in the 1970s.

Is IIM Ahmedabad brutalist architecture?

It is often searched that way because of its large, unplastered walls. The sources here describe it as modern Indian heritage built in load-bearing exposed brick with concrete slabs and ties, not the exposed concrete usually meant by brutalism. Our reading: call it modern brick architecture and describe the materials.

What is the Louis Kahn Plaza?

The central court of the school, with classrooms and faculty offices along its sides and the Vikram Sarabhai Library at its head. Kahn meant a dining hall to close the far end; it was never built there, and the court is now used for convocation.

Sources

• IIMA Archives: Louis Kahn and the IIMA Campus (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• IIMA Archives: The Heritage Campus Architecture, monthly snippet, March 2021 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• IIMA Archives, M. K. Subramaniam: The IIMA Campus, IIMA Alumnus, October 1969 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• IIMA: IIMA Restoration (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• IIMA Wimwian: VSL awarded at UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage, 14 November 2019 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• Docomomo Journal, Brinda Somaya: Preservation, Restoration and Upgrade of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India, No. 58, 2018, pages 66 to 70 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania: Anant D. Raje Collection (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania: Louis I. Kahn Collection (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• ICOMOS: ICOMOS Heritage Alert: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) Old Campus, 15 January 2021, updated 2 December 2025 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• Scroll: IIM Ahmedabad cancels plan to demolish 14 dorms designed by Louis Kahn, 2 January 2021 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• Dezeen, Lizzie Crook: IIMA renews plans to demolish Louis Kahn dormitories, 14 November 2022 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• Society of Architectural Historians: Statement on Proposed Demolition of Most of the Dormitory Blocks of IIM-A, 16 May 2023 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
• Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation: Heritage site: IIM Ahmedabad (accessed 3 Nov 2026)