The essays in this volume, so far unpublished, offer an overview of the cultural, social and architectural Indian complexity, observed and described by Balkrishna Doshi over the centuries, in the changing forms and permanence of meanings. Each text develops from a specific occasion - a conference, a lesson, a project - to immediately expand its horizons to universal, timeless issues, which, in Doshi's opinion, the best architecture of all times have been able to accept and interpret. Texts deal with issues such as the spatial peculiarities of Indian cities, the relevance of the time factor as an agent conforming architecture, the relationship between people, things and nature, the implications of Hindu culture on the notions of space, memory, place. The essays collected here are in this sense also an attempt to clarify the reasons for the distance that is still, thankfully, separating the West and the Indian Subcontinent. References used by Doshi range from Mughal architecture to the work of Le Corbusier, from traditional dance to modern art, from Hindu temples to nowadays metropolis, all of them presented as a succession of different but complementary images. India, and its architecture included, as narrated by Doshi is a complex, changing, contradictory and fascinating mosaic. The book ends with an essay by Bruno Melotto which depicts the figure of the author with reference to its role in Indian contemporary architectural debate and the many and remarkable architecture that has built.

Bruno Melotto
Bruno Melotto Graduated in 2002 and in 2008 earned the title of Doctor of Philosophy at the Polytechnic University of Milan. In 2011 he published Ars domestica. Riflessioni sugli spazi del quotidiano, in which housing is studied in relation to contemporary art. Housing in contemporary cities is studied in the book, published in 2012 and co-written with Orsina Simona Pierini, Housing Primer. He is also the editor of another book on Balkrishna Doshi: Sangath. Indian Architecture between Tradition and Modernity, published in 2012. Lecturer at the Polytechnic University of Milan since 2008, in 2013 he moved to India, where he is currently involved in teaching and research at CEPT, Ahmedabad. His work as an architect includes projects, proposals, participations and prizes in competitions.