IIM Bangalore Case Study: Plan, Corridors and Architecture (B V Doshi)

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) campus on Bannerghatta Road was designed by B V Doshi, first built between 1977 and 1983 and extended in phases to 1992. It is a net of tall corridors, courts and pergolas in hand-chipped granite and concrete, modelled in part on Fatehpur Sikri and South Indian temples. Below: the brief, site, plan, section, materials, light, reception and what designers can learn from it.

IIM Bangalore campus: the facts

Architect: Balkrishna V. Doshi (B V Doshi), published under the firm Stein, Doshi and Bhalla (Joseph Allen Stein, B V Doshi and Jai Rattan Bhalla). Doshi worked through his studio Vastu-Shilpa. Later work on the campus by Achyut Kanvinde and Sanjay Mohe.

Client: Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, founded in 1973, on land given free by the Government of Karnataka.

Location: Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru 560076, Karnataka.

Designed and built: from 1977. Sources differ on the end date: IIMB says the campus was completed in 1983; the Pritzker Prize lists 1977 to 1992 in multiple phases; Dezeen says it was built over about 20 years.

Type and size: management school with classrooms, offices, library, hostels and dining. About 54,000 m² of buildings on a 100-acre (about 40 ha) campus, per IIMB. Dezeen gives 60 ha; see Site below.

Status: in use as a working residential campus. Extended (a classroom cluster by Sanjay Mohe, described in 2015 as completed the year before) and adapted for disabled access. Not open as a public monument.

Who designed IIM Bangalore: the architects and the client

The institute came first and the campus later. IIMB's history page records that the Government of Karnataka offered 100 acres free of charge and ₹30 lakh towards the corpus, that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi inaugurated the institute on 28 October 1973, and that it began in rented buildings, including St Joseph's College of Commerce. The IIMB Archives date this city campus to 1973 to 1982.

The institute credits the design of the new campus to B V Doshi, who had worked with Le Corbusier in Paris and later with Louis Kahn on IIM Ahmedabad (see our IIM Ahmedabad case study). The project is also published under Stein, Doshi and Bhalla, the partnership of Doshi with the American architect Joseph Allen Stein and Jai Rattan Bhalla; the firm's own site lists IIM Bangalore among its projects. We found no source that sets out who did what inside that partnership, so we credit the design to Doshi, as IIMB and the Pritzker Prize do.

No published brief is available. What we have is Doshi's own account. Speaking on campus in October 2019, he said the idea was to move away from a corporate image and build something closer to a village, and that "educational institutions should not have any doors" (IIMB, 2021). The institute's architecture page quotes the aim as "to create an atmosphere where you don't see divides and doors". That idea, a school with no hard edges between rooms and outdoors, drives everything below.

Site and context: Bannerghatta Road, the garden city

The campus sits on Bannerghatta Road in south Bengaluru. The NYT text that IIMB reproduces notes the city's nickname, the Garden City, and Doshi made the gardens part of the building: IIMB writes that Fatehpur Sikri's courtyards and "the gardens of Bangalore merged" in his mind, and that he "put them in the courtyards". A line from Doshi quoted in Kiran Keswani's 2023 book for the institute sums it up: "The garden city must have a garden campus" (IIMB, book release).

Sources do not agree on the size of the site, so here are all three figures:

100 acres (about 40 ha) for the whole campus, given by IIMB on its history and architecture pages.
60 ha, given in the exhibition text by Khushnu Panthaki Hoof, Doshi's granddaughter and curator, as published by Dezeen in 2020.
A little over 13 acres for the arrangement of passageways, courtyards and gardens, in the New York Times Style Magazine text that IIMB reproduces. This seems to be the academic core, not the whole site.

Concept: Fatehpur Sikri, temples and music

Doshi named his precedents, and the sources repeat them consistently:

Fatehpur Sikri. IIMB says the complex "is based on the design of the town of Fatehpur Sikri", laid out by Akbar in the 16th century near Agra. IIMB singles out Fatehpur Sikri's courtyards.
South Indian temples. In 2019 Doshi said, "We wanted something that we find in Indian temples" (IIMB). The curator's text names the Meenakshi Temple at Madurai for the paths that link the parts, and the version on ArchitectureLive credits it with "rhythmic sequences of light".
Music. Hoof's text (Dezeen) compares the rhythm of structure and light to thumri, a form of Hindustani classical music, and credits Doshi's understanding of that music.

The Pritzker Prize material puts it plainly: the campus, "inspired by traditional maze-like Indian cities and temples, is organized as interlocking buildings, courts and galleries". If you are documenting the building for a studio, our field checklist for architecture case studies shows how to record precedents like these alongside your own drawings.

IIM Bangalore architecture plan: corridors, spine and courts

The plan is best understood as a net rather than a set of buildings. The 2019 study by Matter (photographs and film by Ruturaj Parikh) calls it "poly-nuclear" and orthogonal, with intersecting corridors as its skeleton. Its points, with what the other sources add:

Corridors carry everything. Access to classrooms and administrative offices is through the corridors (IIMB). Their width is "modulated to allow for casual seating", so they double as places to sit and talk.
A central spine. ArchitectureLive describes a central spine that structures movement, with the visual axis shifting along it.
Courts of different sizes. Academic activities are linked to courtyards of various sizes (ArchitectureLive), and the gardens and spaces between buildings dominate what you see.
No single centre. Matter notes the plan has no clear centre and reads its open and semi-open voids as a code for future additions. It also notes deliberate asymmetry and diagonal movement, and a sequence from open campus to semi-open corridor to enclosed room.
Stairs as lookouts. Staircases link the corridors to lecture halls and meeting rooms and double as raised viewing points over the landscape (Matter).

An Aga Khan Visual Archive record at MIT Libraries describes a 1986 photograph of the "teaching and administrative blocks" facing an external court on the main road; the hostel and dining blocks sit beyond the academic core. MOA's diagram below shows the principle, not the real layout.

Schematic plan principle of IIM Bangalore: a grey block of rooms cut through by a horizontal central spine and several perpendicular corridors in pale red, with six green courts of different sizes between them, small squares marking stairs and pause spaces, and a dashed later addition joining the spine at the right; a strip below orders the zones from the main road through an external court and the teaching and administrative blocks to the hostel and dining blocks — The campus is read as a net: corridors and a central spine link rooms and courts of many sizes, so new buildings can plug into it. Schematic, not to scale. Diagram: MOA, from published descriptions.

Section and structure: the three-storey corridor street

In section, the main idea is a tall street. IIMB lists "three-storied hallways, open quadrangles", pergolas and "geometrical roofs" among the features, and says the high corridors are "sometimes open; sometimes partly covered with skylights and sometimes with only pergolas". So the same corridor changes its roof along its length, and with it the light, the shade and whether rain reaches the floor.

The structure is plain. ArchitectureLive, publishing the architects' text, describes buildings of local stone with concrete structural frames, and concrete pergolas and trellises now covered in creepers. The stone walls face the corridors; the concrete frames, beams and pergolas carry the floors and roofs. Published sources do not give storey heights, spans or corridor widths, so MOA's section shows no dimensions.

Three schematic cross-sections through a three-storey corridor at IIM Bangalore with rooms on both sides behind grey granite walls: in the first the corridor is open to the sky with sun arrows falling to planting at the base; in the second a skylight covers part of the corridor and a seat sits on the floor; in the third a row of concrete pergola beams with creepers covers the top, throwing dappled light, and a stair rises from the floor — The same corridor street is treated three ways along its length: open, partly skylit or shaded by a pergola. Schematic, not to scale. Diagram: MOA, from published descriptions.

Materials and construction: granite, concrete and Kota stone

The palette is short, and every source agrees on it:

Granite. Matter describes hand-chipped granite as the main material, and the NYT text quoted by IIMB calls the campus "grey stone and concrete". The 2023 book, IIMB says, tells how "a campus built entirely in stone came about". Granite is the local stone of the Bengaluru plateau, as our guide to building materials in Bangalore explains.
Concrete. Frames, beams and pergolas, left exposed (ArchitectureLive). The archive record lists the medium simply as granite.
Floors. Rough and polished Kota stone, per Matter. Our comparison of Kota, sandstone, granite and marble covers why Kota is a practical, low-cost floor.

IIMB describes the finish as "a rough texture" and says the design "uses alternative materials" and "innovative ways of building", without saying which. We found no published account of the construction method, the contractor or the cost, so we leave those out.

A long corridor at IIM Bangalore: walls of rough grey granite blocks on the left, round concrete columns on the right, a concrete pergola of thin beams overhead letting sunlight through, steps down the middle and dense potted and bedded plants along both sides — A pergola-covered corridor in the academic block in 2006: granite walls, concrete columns and beams, and planting along the edges. Photo: Sanyam Bahga, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Light, climate and planting

The campus is built to use the local climate rather than seal it out. ArchitectureLive calls the climate tropical and cool, the curator's text calls the courtyards suited to the city's "tropical climate", and the Pritzker material says the campus gives "a variety of spaces protected from the hot climate". In practice that means:

Layered shade. Pergolas and skylights cut the sun on the corridors while letting air move through them. ArchitectureLive describes patterned light from the pergolas shifting through the day.
Light on stone. Matter writes that the granite walls receive and release light gently and that the monsoon sends mist through the corridors.
Planting as a material. IIMB says the stone architecture "is now complemented by the greenery, just as B V Doshi had intended", and that the design lets people "see and feel nature even when inside the classroom". Today creepers cover many walls and pergolas.

IIMB also says the design "conserves energy" by relying on daylight and open circulation. We found no measured study of its energy use or comfort, so treat that as the institute's claim.

View from an upper level into a garden court at IIM Bangalore: granite block piers and walls with creepers, a covered passage with benches on the left, paved stone paths and lawn, flowering shrubs, and more stone wings with upper walkways across the court — The central pergola and a garden court in 2015, seen from above: corridors, courts and planting are woven together. Photo: Burhan.nameer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

IIM Bangalore architecture style: is it brutalist?

Students often search for "IIM Bangalore brutalist architecture". None of the sources we read uses that label. They describe modernist structure in exposed concrete and rough local stone, organised on Indian precedents. The NYT text reads Doshi's "structural rigor and material honesty" as a nod to Le Corbusier, and the modulation of light and shadow as close to Kahn's work at IIM Ahmedabad. If you use "brutalist" in a jury, say why: exposed concrete and unfinished stone, yes; massive, closed blocks, no.

Reception, changes and additions

The campus has been praised steadily, and it has also changed:

Pritzker Prize, 2018. The jury citation names "the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore (1992)" among Doshi's buildings with patios, courtyards and covered walkways.
New York Times Style Magazine, 2021. According to IIMB's release of 3 August 2021, a panel of architects, designers and critics placed the campus 17th among the 25 most significant works of post-war architecture, saying it synthesizes "centuries of architectural history with rare subtlety".
Matter, 2019. The study argues the campus avoids a single image; its in-between spaces let the institute absorb new functions over time.
Additions. The 2023 book traces work by "Chief Architect Dr. Balkrishna Doshi, Architect Achyut Kanvinde and Architect Sanjay Mohe" (IIMB). Mohe's account in Tekton (September 2015) describes a new classroom cluster completed the previous year. His JK AYA entry says it sits above an existing building on the main movement axis, with eight classrooms, stone-clad columns on the ground floor and exposed concrete above.
Access. IIMB says the 2023 book covers how the campus "was adapted to be a disabled-friendly campus". Mohe's block has ramps and lifts to all levels.

We found no dated, published report of leaks, structural problems or demolition proposals for the Doshi buildings. IIMB has since opened a second campus at Jigani, which is outside this case study.

What designers in India can take from IIM Bangalore

Our reading, for practice today:

Size circulation as usable space. Widening a corridor in places for seating, as IIMB does, turns the most-used space into a room. On a school or office brief, count those widenings as programme, not waste.
Change the roof, not the corridor. Open, skylit and pergola sections along one route give shade, daylight and variety at low cost. This suits Bengaluru, Pune and other mild, warm cities; in hot-dry or very wet climates, cover more of the route.
Let a local stone be the finish. Hand-chipped granite needs no plaster or paint, and planting softens it. Budget for the upkeep that creepers and open courts need; that cost is not in any source, but it is real.
Leave the grid open for growth. A plan with no single centre lets later buildings plug in. Mohe's block shows the method: match the original at ground level (stone) and be honest above (exposed concrete).

The campus is a good thesis reference for institutional and education typologies; see our B.Arch thesis topics by typology.

Visiting IIM Bangalore and seeing the drawings

IIMB is a working residential campus at Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru 560076, not a public monument. The institute's Life at IIMB page mentions campus tours, and its site has a Campus Tour section, but we found no published visiting hours or rules, so write to the institute before you go, ideally through your college.

For drawings, do not rely on redrawn plans online. The original drawings belong to Doshi's office and the Vastu-Shilpa Foundation; drawings published by Matter are credited to Khushnu Panthaki Hoof. The IIMB Archives hold 1980s construction photographs and the 2023 book The Making of a Campus: IIM Bangalore by Kiran Keswani.

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

FAQ

Who designed IIM Bangalore?

B V Doshi (Balkrishna Doshi), the 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate. The project is also published under his partnership Stein, Doshi and Bhalla. Achyut Kanvinde and Sanjay Mohe later worked on the campus.

When was IIM Bangalore campus built?

Design began in 1977. IIMB says the campus was completed in 1983; the Pritzker Prize lists 1977 to 1992 in multiple phases. The institute itself was founded in 1973 and used rented premises in the city until the early 1980s.

What is IIM Bangalore campus made of?

Hand-chipped local granite walls with exposed concrete frames, beams and pergolas, and Kota stone floors, according to Matter and ArchitectureLive.

What inspired the architecture of IIM Bangalore?

Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's 16th-century city near Agra, and South Indian temples, especially the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, combined with Bengaluru's gardens.

Is IIM Bangalore brutalist architecture?

The sources we read do not call it brutalist. It uses exposed concrete and rough stone, but its plan of open corridors, courts and gardens is very different from the closed concrete blocks the label usually means.

Sources

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore: Architecture, read via the Internet Archive copy of 2025 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore: History, read via the Internet Archive copy of 2025 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore: IIM Bangalore campus ranked among 25 Most Significant Works of Post-War Architecture: NYT Style Magazine, 3 August 2021, read via the Internet Archive copy (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore: Release of the book The Making of a Campus: IIM Bangalore, 29 September 2023, read via the Internet Archive copy (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore: Life at IIMB, read via the Internet Archive copy (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
IIMB Archives: Photographs and The Making of a Campus: IIM Bangalore, read via the Internet Archive copies (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
The Pritzker Architecture Prize: Balkrishna Doshi, 2018 Laureate, works list, announcement and jury citation (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
Dezeen, Eleanor Gibson: Four Balkrishna Doshi projects exploring Hindu philosophy, 13 November 2020, with text by curator Khushnu Panthaki Hoof (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
Matter (Studio Matter), photographs and film by Ruturaj Parikh: Modern Heritage: IIM, Bangalore, 14 November 2019 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
ArchitectureLive: Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, by Stein, Doshi and Bhalla, 16 January 2024, text as provided by the architects (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
Stein Doshi Bhalla: About (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
MIT Libraries, Aga Khan Visual Archive: Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, record, photograph 1986 by Meenu Tewari and Vineet Gupta (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
Tekton, Sanjay Mohe: Iterations and Evolution: New Classroom Cluster at IIM-B, Volume 2, Issue 2, September 2015 (accessed 3 Nov 2026)
JK AYA: Ar. Sanjay Mohe, IIM Classroom Complex (accessed 3 Nov 2026)