Plans to demolish 14 of the 18 dormitories designed by architect Louis Kahn for the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, which sparked international protests, were canceled on Friday.
The school’s board of directors said in a letter on Friday that, in response to feedback, it was “withdrawing the Expression of Interest” to demolish the dormitories, which were built in the 1960s and 70s, and would assemble its construction committee to find a solution that honors the legacy of the campus while meeting the university’s future needs.
Student dormitories in Ahmedabad exemplify Kahn’s ability to design buildings in “response to the cultures, climates and traditions of their respective places,” said historian William JR Curtis, who wrote articles for the Architectural Record and The Architectural Review in support of preservation of dormitories.
In a statement on Wednesday, the World Monuments Fund called for the demolition to be reconsidered.
The director of the management institute, Errol D’Souza, had already defended the plans in a letter of 23 December to alumni, calling the structures “impossible to live” because of issues such as “concrete and slabs falling from the roofs. ”; brick deterioration causing cracks and water infiltration; and structural problems resulting from a 2001 earthquake.