Vitra Campus presents the new building Doshi Retreat

The Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein is renowned for its iconic buildings designed by world-renowned architects. It now presents a new project, the Doshi Retreat – a unique contemplative space designed by architect Balkrishna Doshi, a Pritzker Prize laureate, in collaboration with his granddaughter Khushnu Panthaki Hoof and her husband Sönke Hoof. The space draws from Indian spirituality and Doshi's dream visions. Architecture, soundscape, and landscape intertwine within the space, creating a unique sensory and spiritual experience for visitors to the Vitra Campus.
In recent decades, the Vitra Campus has undergone an extraordinary transformation. “Although the area remains an industrial site, it has become a public park that attracts 400,000 visitors each year. People come to admire the architecture, explore the collections and exhibitions of the Vitra Design Museum, and enjoy the gardens, restaurants, and shops. Although the expansion of the campus initially burdened the natural environment, in recent years the area has been re-conceived as a biosphere – gardens and forests have been planted, ponds have been created, and the area of paved surfaces has been reduced,” states Rolf Fehlbaum, the emeritus chairman of the Vitra board.
With the opening of the Doshi Retreat, the Vitra Campus gains an architectural addition whose function is entirely unique: it offers a refuge from the world, a place of tranquility, solitude, and contemplation.
Rolf Fehlbaum recalls a visit to the Indian Sun Temple in Modhera, which inspired the entire project: “I showed Balkrishna Doshi a photo of a small chapel I saw there and asked him if he would be willing to design a place for contemplation for our campus.” Balkrishna Doshi accepted this offer, and the final form of the Doshi Retreat was shaped through a dialogue between Doshi, his granddaughter Khushnu, and her husband Sönke Hoof. Together they formed the shape and spatial rhythm of the building in harmony with the surrounding landscape. The Doshi Retreat is the first project of Balkrishna Doshi completed outside India and the last design he worked on before his death in 2023. In 2018, Doshi was awarded the Pritzker Prize for Architecture.
The architecture of the Doshi Retreat lies in a winding path that invites both physical and spiritual exploration. Visitors move along it below the level of the surrounding landscape, beside walls that resonate with soft sounds of gongs and flutes, aiding in inner reflection. Khushnu Panthaki Hoof explains the original intention: “The architectural solution was born from one of Doshi's dreams, in which he saw two intertwined cobras. He transformed this vision, emerging from his subconscious, into a narrative form and followed it with sketches, containing notes and mantras. This process evolved further and represented for us a challenge to embark on a journey into the unknown.”
Sound plays a key role in the Doshi Retreat. A hidden audio system placed in concave recesses in the ground resonates along the paths with a sequence of gongs and ceramic flutes. As visitors approach the central building, the sound reverberates off the metal walls and responds to body movement. This sensory experience culminates in a short arched passage leading to the contemplation room. The organically rounded space contains a rainwater tank along its perimeter, two wide semicircular stone benches, and a gong in the center. The roof partially covers the room, allowing light, air, and rainwater to enter. The ceiling is adorned with a hand-hammered mandala made in India that uniquely reflects light.
The structure of the Doshi Retreat is built from forged and shaped steel material XCarb®, an innovative low-carbon steel with a high proportion of recycled scrap, produced exclusively using renewable energy. The steel for the project was donated by ArcelorMittal, and its surface gradually acquires a unique patina through controlled corrosion. The arched walls guide the visitor along a path filled with unexpected turns and changing vistas, enhancing the experience of discovery.
Doshi and his collaborators drew from the spiritual philosophy of Kundalini, a Sanskrit term meaning “serpent power,” referring to the latent energy at the base of the spine. In yogic and tantric traditions, the awakening and rising of this energy through the chakras are essential for spiritual transformation. A central component of the experience is the sacred sound, which serves as a catalyst for the expansion of consciousness. The space has no specific musical score; however, the architecture allows sounds to resonate within its geometry, thus transforming the visitor's experience.
Khushnu Panthaki Hoof adds: “The sound that resonates through our body blurs the boundary between the visitor and the building itself. The structure reflects sound back, turning the path and the chamber into resonant instruments. In the last decade of his life, Doshi partly shifted from architecture to art, but for this project, he returned to an earlier design process – he first wrote, then guided us in shaping the design. The foundation of the project was the experience of Rolf Fehlbaum and his wife Federica Zanco from their visit to a small Indian shrine near the Sun Temple in Gujarat. Followed were Doshi's dreams and intentions – texts, sketches, and visual materials rich with layers and dualities.”
The Doshi Retreat has no official name; the space presents itself freely – as a place of solitude and contemplation that supports the perception of hidden forces and offers a path on which one can lose oneself and seek new meaning.