The influence of traditional Indian architecture in Balkrishna Doshi’s iim complex at Bangalore: A comparative analysis using fractal dimensions and lacunarity

Abstract

Initiated in 1977 and completed in 1992, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Complex at Bangalore is generally accepted as one of the most significant turning points in the career of the Indian architect Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, as well as one of the key works in the history of contemporary Indian architecture. As declared by the architect himself and interpreted by scholars, the complex’s design, in particular its sophisticated spatial order, was significantly influenced by and closely resembles some key specimens of the traditional Indian architecture: the Royal Complex of Fatehpur Sikri (a specimen of Mughal architecture), the Meenakshi-Sundereshwara Temple Complex, and possibly the Sri Ranganatha-Swamy Temple Complex (both are examples of Hindu architecture). However, these qualitative claims and commentaries have remained mostly unverified in a quantitatively measurable manner. Thus, the present paper uses comparative fractal dimension and lacunarity analysis to mathematically calculate the visual complexity and spatial heterogeneity of these architectural works, focusing on the site plans as the best device to efficiently and comprehensively represent the spatial orders two-dimensionally. While the lacunarity analysis shows a relatively low heterogeneity of the IIM Complex compared to the traditional counterparts, the fractal dimension analysis indicates a relatively high concurrence between the visual complexities of the spatial orders of the IIM Complex and both the Hindu temple compounds. This finding confirms Doshi’s preference for a more unorthodox spatial fabric of Hindu architecture compared to the more straightforward order of Mughal architecture.