The fourteenth Alvar Aalto Medal has been handed to Bijoy Lain, director of the Indian architectural office Studio Mumbai. The accolade is a lifetime achievement award which has been handed out since 1967 – currently every three years – by the Alvar Aalto Foundation, the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA), the Finnish Architectural Society, and the City of Helsinki. In this latest edition, the jury – chaired by Jan Utzon and also including Enrique Sobejano, Gunnar Haipp, Pia Ilonen, and Anu Puustinen – praised Studio Mumbai’s “skillful synthesis of architecture and craftsmanship” and its understanding of “the geographic, climatic, and social particularities of the environment around the architectures.” Born in Mumbai in 1965, Bijoy Jain studied architecture at Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri) and worked in Los Angeles and London before returning to India in 1995, the year he founded Studio Mumbai Architects. He has taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Yale University, and the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio, among other institutions.
Ganga Maki Textile Studio factory building in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India (2017). Photo: Giovanni Hänninen
Ganga Maki Textile Studio factory building in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India (2017). Photo: Giovanni Hänninen
Copper II House in Chondi, Maharashtra, India (2011). Photo: Studio Mumbai
Palmyra House in Nandgaon, India (2007). Photo: Hélène Binet
Palmyra House in Nandgaon, India (2007). Photo: Hélène Binet
Tara House in Kashid, Maharatra, India. (2005). Photo: Hélène Binet
