The ‘Amdavad-ni-Gufa’, designed by architect Balkrishna Doshi as an art gallery to exhibit the works of the artist M.F. Husain, extends beyond its function, rendering a spiritual experience to its visitors created through experimentation and a pursuit of challenges in the domain of art and architecture. The largest painting ever done by Husain is at the Amdavad-ni-Gufa, located at the Ahmedabad Education Society Campus.
Vastu Shilpa Consultants was given a clear brief demanding a space that was subterranean resembling a cave and one which was not measurable, that is, had no straight lines. The demand of the form soon rationalised the use of a ferro-cement structure derived from the soap bubble analogy.
Strong, geometric, regular and rigid exteriors metamorphose into a continuous, fluid and irregular interior created with many layers of connotations. Illumination in the Gufa is dynamic, several moods are created due to the movement of sun through the day and through the year.
The true revelation however lies in the interlacing of Husain’s paintings and sculptures in the free-form space.
