Doshi Retreat, Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, Germany,
The final work of the late Pritzker Prize laureate Balkrishna Doshi and his first project built outside India. Designed with his granddaughter Khushnu Panthaki Hoof and her husband Sönke Hoof, the retreat was conceived as a sanctuary for solitude and reflection, inspired by Doshi’s dream of two interweaving cobras and the sacred geometries of Eastern and Western spiritual spaces.
The underground structure unfolds as a meditative journey shaped by sound, light, and material. Visitors move through winding paths toward a circular chamber with a rainwater basin, stone benches, and a brass mandala filtering daylight from above. Built from low-carbon XCarb steel, the retreat embodies Doshi’s lifelong exploration of space as a vessel for sensory and spiritual experience.
Julien Lanoo Photography
