Doshi Retreat

The Doshi Retreat is a contemplative space designed by Pritzker Prize winner Balkrishna Doshi with his granddaughter Khushnu Panthaki Hoof and her husband Sönke Hoof. Inspired by Indian spirituality, it offers a sensory journey of sound and serenity.It is the first project by Balkrishna Doshi to be completed outside of India – as well as the last design he worked on prior to his passing in 2023.

The Doshi Retreat unfolds as a winding path, inviting both physical and metaphorical exploration. Visitors move below ground level along walls that resonate with the gentle tones of gong and flute. In kinship with the sensory environments found in Eastern temples or Christian sacred spaces, sound plays an integral role in the Doshi Retreat. A subtle audio system – embedded within concave recesses in the ground – diffuses a sequence of gong and ceramic flute music along the path. At the end of the walkway, a hand-hammered brass mandala crafted in India adorns the ceiling of the contemplation chamber, casting refracted light into the space.

The structure of the Doshi Retreat consists of steel sheets with a thickness of 10 mm for the paths and 20 mm for the sound room. The XCarb® steel used by Arcelor Mittal has reduced CO2 emissions, as it is largely produced from steel scrap and entirely with renewable energy. The weather-resistant steel naturally develops a warm patina over time through controlled corrosion. The sheets were cold-formed by Ostseestaal. The sound chamber was pre-assembled at the workshop. All sheets were then assembled, welded and subsequently blasted on site by Jehnich. The cut from the original sheet dimensions of 12 m x 2.5 m mediates between the requirements of design, transport and statics and minimises cut-offs.

The dome in the sound space has a diameter of 5 m, a pitch of 260 mm and a sheet thickness of 20 mm. It is suspended from three stainless steel cables with a diameter of 14.5 mm. The stability of the dome was tested with trial loads.

The consumption of CO2-intensive cement was minimised by only punctually founding the steel support walls of the paths on screw foundations. Only the sound space is founded on a 30 cm thick foundation slab made of in-situ concrete.

PROJECTTEAM

Client: Vitra represented by LOGAD GmbH, Weil am Rhein

Concept, Design and Architecture: Balkrishna Doshi mit Khushnu Panthaki Hoof und Sönke Hoof

Engineering (structural design and analysis, 3D modelling and segmentation): Jan Knippers Ingenieure, Stuttgart

Weathering Steel: ArcelorMittal Germany Holding GmbH

Sheet metal forming: Ostseestaal GmbH & Co. KG, Stralsund

On-site construction: Jehnich Metall- & Messebau, Weil am Rhein

PROJECTINFORMATION

Site: Vitra Campus, Charles-Eames-Str. 2, D-79576 Weil am Rhein

Completion: October 2025

Weathering steel: sheet 20mm: 205 m² equals 32.2 to; sheet 10mm: 1075 m² equals 84.4 to