Charles Correa started blending of the old architecture with the modern one. He designed the new building of museum in 1964 of ‘Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya’, keeping in mind Gandhiji’s residence ‘Hridaykunj’ and other buildings. After the death of Louis Kahn, the new building in IIM campus like Ravi Mathai Centre etc have been designed by Anant Raje by blending the new style and the old one. He has also designed the beautiful building of MICA.
Among the contemporary architectures, our attention is drawn to Balkrishna Doshi’s office studio (1981) and Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute designed by him. Its semicircular ceiling and elevation look impressive at the first sight. Mandela Architects has designed the building of Centre for Environment Education (CEE-1988) conducive to environment, preserving the trees intact. Recently, extension of IIM building is designed by Bimal Patel.
Amdavad-ni-Gufa (1992) is a creation of well known painter M.F. Hussain and architect Padmashri Balkrishna Doshi collaboratively. It is an underground ferrocement structure with optimally structured roof shells in china mosaic protruding over ground.
A 200 feet high sky scrapper, revolving Patang Hotel is a phenomenal and milestone building of Ahmedabad. It is a pride of Ashram Road. Its architect Hasmukh Patel has designed other remarkable buildings like Reserve Bank at the end of Gandhi Bridge, St.Xaviers’ Loyola High School, Dena Bank on Ashram Road and High Court on S.G. Highway.
The architectural structure of Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI-1992) designed by Bimal Patel fetched Agakhan Award. Bimal Patel is actively engaged in the Riverfront Development Project.
The structures of Tagore Hall and Premabhai Hall draw our attention for their unique architectural design. The wall column outside the building appears unique. The institutional architecture of Prathama Blood Centre and Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA-1991) is modern. Prathama Blood Centre is designed by architech Gurjit Singh.Gujarat Univercity Convention Centre is the recently developed latest architecture of the city.
The architecture of Torrent Research Centre (TRC) is wonderful as it gives feeling of winter in summer. Its special system is developed for cooling by architects-Nimesh Patel and Parul Zaveri. Again, Nirma University Campus is very different in architecture, designed by Bakul Amin.
The newly constructed pavilions of Science City are unique and they have novel design by architect Rajeev Kathapalia. The I-max 3-D theatre is the first of its kind in India. It gives an appearance of a step well. There are steps leading to basement, and there is a large screen to project films.
The symbolic figures carved on Vinod Kinariwala’s memorial are remarkable. The memorial erected to commemorate Maha Gujarat movement- Shahid Smarak is a fine piece of architecture. Morarji Desai’s Samadhi ‘Abhayghat’ reminds visitors of Rajghat at Delhi.
