The 'Haveli' on Campus: Anant Raje and the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Management Development Centre

STORIES THE ARCHITECTURE TELLS US

The 'Haveli' on Campus: Anant Raje and the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Management Development Centre

"The building is basically an enlarged house, like a haveli or a mahal. A central courtyard, flanked by two rows of rooms with a corridor that serves the rooms, connects on the front side with the classrooms, dining halls and lounge."

Kasturbhai Lalbhai Management Development Centre (KLMDC), designed by Anant Raje and formally inaugurated in 1981.
Entrance hall; bust of Kasturbhai Lalbhai is on the left, 1982. Photograph by Pranlal Patel.

Architect Anant D. Raje (1929-2009) contributed significantly to the development of the Main Campus of IIMA, first as the on-site architect representing Louis Kahn, the principal architect of the Main Campus, and later, with his own creations. Notable among the latter are the students' mess and kitchens, the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Management Development Centre, and the Ravi J. Matthai Auditorium. A graduate of the Sir J.J. School of Art (1954), Raje moved to Ahmedabad in 1957 and worked in partnership with the noted architect and his school-mate Balkrishna V. Doshi (b. 1927). Raje then worked with Louis Kahn (1901-1974) at his Philadelphia office from 1964 to 1969, before returning to India to oversee the design and construction of the IIMA campus. After Kahn's death in March 1974, Raje became IIMA's lead architect, and was associated with IIMA till 2003. In addition to his work at IIMA, Raje designed a number of other buildings through his independent practice. He also taught at the School of Architecture at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad and at various universities in Europe, the United States and India. He was the recipient of the Indian Institute of Architects' Baburao Mhatre Gold Medal (1994) and CEPT's Architecture Distinguished Professor Award. In this article we highlight the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Management Development Centre (KLMDC), named after one of the founders of IIMA, the industrialist Kasturbhai Lalbhai (1894-1980).

***KLMDC, view of lawns between the room wings, 1982. Photograph by Pranlal Patel.***

'Management development' refers to the in-service training of working management professionals from the private, public or non-profit sectors. The residential programmes these executives attended were of varying durations; some lasted just a few days, others went on for a few weeks. IIMA, in fact, began with such a programme in January 1964, a few months before it launched its long-duration postgraduate programme. Since it did not have residential facilities at that time, IIMA held its programmes in hotels in cities like Agra and Srinagar. The initial plans for IIMA do not show a separate hostel for the executives, though at one point of time, some of the dormitories were meant to house executive development (a synonym for management development) programme participants. Later, a plan for a 'management development block' was developed and approved by the IIMA Board in July 1973.

Raje developed the initial ideas for this block and discussed them with Louis Kahn--as he notes in Anant Raje, Architect, Selected Works 1971-2009, edited by Shubhra Raje and Amita Raje, Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2012 (AR-SW), "The early concepts were discussed with Kahn, but the later design and development were done by me" (p.31). As the Management Development Centre was nearing completion, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, who had played a key role in establishing and nurturing the institute passed away on January 20, 1980. The IIMA Board, in its meeting of April 8, 1980, decided to "rename the Management Development Centre at the Institute which is at present under construction, in memory of late Sheth Kasturbhai Lalbhai." The KLMDC was formally inaugurated in 1981. This complex has a built-up area of 80,000 square feet, and accommodates 64 rooms to house executive education participants, a classroom, a kitchen and dining area, syndicate rooms, and lounges. An annexe, with a built-up area of 18,000 square feet was added in 1987-89. The annexe has a classroom, two conference halls, four syndicate rooms, and office spaces. The main complex was also the temporary premises for the Vikram Sarabhai Library when it was being renovated in 2016-18.

Raje visualized the management development centre as an entity that would conform to the idiom that Louis Kahn employed. As he notes in AR-SW (p.31), "The making of openings in brick masonry follows the previous order in Kahn buildings. The exposed brick masonry bearing wall is the predominant architectural decision." However, he drew on local imagery to describe the structure: "The building is basically an enlarged house, like a haveli or a mahal. A central courtyard, flanked by two rows of rooms with a corridor that serves the rooms, connects on the front side with the classrooms, dining halls and lounge" (p.31). With the passage of time, the locus of executive education has shifted to the New Campus and the International Management Development Centre. The maintenance of the KLMDC has also demanded more attention. Yet, it remains an important stage in the evolution of the Main Campus, signalling the transition from Louis Kahn to his successors.

This article is based on Chapter 3 of the monograph 'Not Yet 25: IIMA in Louis Kahn's Designs and Pranlal Patel's Images', by Vijaya Sherry Chand, IIMA Archives, January 2023.