The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has withdrawn an Expression of Interest (EoI) submitted on 4 December inviting for tenders reconstruction of student dormitories on the main campus, designed by the legendary American architect Louis Kahn.
The decision follows strong protests from many quarters, including architects, designers, historians, students and Kahn’s children, to the plan in the past two weeks.
An official statement from the President and members of the IIM-A Board of Governors to all ‘stakeholders’ at the institute said they were being “sensitive to comments from some stakeholders who disagree with this approach.” “Therefore, we withdraw the Expression of Interest that was issued.” The statement, which added that the institute was trying to find an alternative, came two days after Kahn’s children made another call not to tear down the buildings.
However, Governing Council member and Senior Secretary for Education Anju Sharma told The Indian Express that she had no information about it. “I have no communication or information of such a statement issued on behalf of all the members of the Board of Governors,” Sharma said.
The IIM-A statement said the board would try to “find the best answer to the problems of how to meet our responsibility with a meaningful legacy, the safety of those who use the buildings, and be in tune with the needs of the future.” It added that a decision would be made after taking into consideration the comments received, including those of “the world’s best experts on conservation and structures.”
In a letter addressed to the director of IIM-A, Professor Errol D’Souza, on December 30, Kahn’s children, Sue Ann Kahn, Alexandra Tyng and Nathaniel Kahn, had appealed that he “reconsider this dire and irreversible decision” Saying that many people in India and abroad could help the institute found a solution that was beneficial to it, yet preserved “timeless architecture.”
Kahn’s sons had questioned the conclusion that the bedrooms were “a lost cause” given that one of them, D-15, had been successfully restored. They had also requested that a seismic technical evaluation report of the building be made public.
They had previously written to the director on December 22, expressing “shock and dismay” at the EoI issued to replace the dormitories, saying that “the buildings in question are the heart of our father’s universally recognized masterpiece at IIM-A.”
The EoI had cited multiple problems in the dormitories (D-1 to 18), built between 1968 and 1978, from leaky roofs and damp walls to major structural damage caused by the 2001 earthquake.
On Thursday, more than 600 architects and academics from 118 universities in more than 30 countries launched a petition saying that the demolition of the dormitories “will seriously damage the global reputation of IIM-A” and will be “an act of cultural vandalism.”
In a statement issued on Friday, IIM-A President Kumar Mangalam Birla and the Board of Governors set out the reasons for the decision, taken after “deep deliberations.” “The institute recognizes that it has a cultural legacy to nurture. At the same time, the safety of dorm residents cannot be compromised… (therefore) a combined approach was considered appropriate. The core of the Louis Kahn buildings – the library, the faculty wings and the classroom complex – and the dormitories on the periphery of the complex (Bedrooms 16-18) would be restored, while the other dormitories would be rebuilt, ”he said. the statement, adding that there were instances of flagstones falling from the ceiling, endangering students.
Speaking to The Indian Express on December 28, Professor D’Souza had said that they might consider restoration “if nothing comes out of the proposals submitted for the reconstruction of dormitories according to the requirements of preserving Kahn’s cultural and heritage aesthetic, complying with the budget and required use of space ”.
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