This sketch was done on digital media, at a time when we were trying to get familiar with sketching on a screen. Apple Pencil wasn’t yet available and we would use some crude stylus to try and put together a stroke. This randomness can be seen in this sketch but looking back, the process was fun.

We were designing a classroom complex at IIM, off Dr Doshi’s famous pergola spine. It was not an easy task to design this in such close proximity to the Master’s work. This extension was being done about 25 years after Dr Doshi’s work, on top of an existing basement equally old.

We had to be extremely sensitive and not deviate from the established language; however, we had to make a point that this extension is done much later, hence there had to be a subtle change.

We were looking at complementing the long stretch of pergola with a wide flight of steps linking all the class room floors. Also, the magical play of light and shade happening under the pergola had to be addressed in our design; hence the idea of light cubes came in, bringing different quality of light from different sources, from the ceiling, walls and the floor and through different layers.

One of the cubes was positioned as a prism to bring in western light. This sketch depicts the development of that idea.