Ajith
On October 12th, Auroville architect
Ajit Koujalgi, aged 66, passed away in Apollo hospital in Chennai. He
succumbed to the severe injuries he had sustained ten days earlier in
a fall from the roof of his house in Samasti community. Initially
admitted to PIMS hospital in Pondicherry, he was later moved to
Chennai in the hope of better treatment.
Ajit’s death came as a shock to many
Aurovilians. They, as well as his colleagues at INTACH, the Indian
National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage Conservation, his
friends and associates expressed a deep sense of loss.
Ajit graduated from the School of
Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, in 1970 and joined Auroville in
1971. Initially, he worked with Roger Anger and was passionate about
the Galaxy plan. But after eight years, when not much had
materialised, he left to work in Germany. It was here that he came
to appreciate the values of heritage buildings. When he returned to
Auroville in 1987, he saw Pondicherry with n...
>> More
>> More
1 Comments
It is really sad to read this… he was one of the brightest minds I ever met. In 2011 he invited me for 3 days to come to Pondi, gave me a bicycle and just asked me to ride around and see if I had any ideas on the traffic in this city. It was a surprising sign of trust and openness. I had some ideas, and then he supplied me with two assistants to work with them so that they could draw my ideas. A week later he organised a meeting in which we showed it to the Pondi authorities and had some fascinating discussions about Shared Space and traffic in India and Pondi. He understood very well what would be good for the city. I was especially amazed at the questions he asked me: so clever, so to the point… Rest in peace, Ajit, and my best wishes to all he left behind, especially to Ratna.
Karl-Heinz