Charles Correa 1b3k2p

THE WORK OF CHARLES CORREA Kenneth Frampton

a narrow dwelling, twelve feet wide, with sloping roofs and vents situated at the point of their intersection, was focused on an internal patio, which in fact was barely open to the sky at all. Clearly the

Over the last three decades India has gradually seen the emergence

of a contemporary

architectural

caliber, one that bears comparison produced

much of

remains unknown and the names of its practitioners

unfamiliar. Perhaps the most significant exception to this is the architect Charles Correa. Like other Indian architects trained in the West, Correa had to adjust his approach socio-economic

in the late fifties to the

realities of Indian society even if these are now

somewhat less restrictive than they were at the beginning career. Despite the evident drawbacks

this introspective

form was to shield the house down

in the heat of the day, thus protecting while simultaneously

with the finest work being

elsewhere. However, outside the subcontinent

this architecture

raison d'etrefor

culture of exceptional

facilitating

its inner volume from the sun,

cross-ventilation.

This last by virtue

of the venturi effect, would through the tube to be exhausted as hot-air through the broken ridge between overlapping roofs.

Throughout the first twenty years of Correa's independent practice, these two paradigms - the "open-to-sky space" and the .

"tube dwelling" will manifest themselves largely in the field of

of his

housing, although the use of the former as the nexus for the

of working in a Third World

creation of symbolic public space was implicit from the outset,

country, C,.Q!reah~s alwaysmaintained that, like Le Corbusier, he had been privileged to work in an Indian context with its strong

particularly in two works dating from 1958; these were the

sunlight and plentiful labour, two factors that favored the use of reinforced concrete, not to mention a climate that with the exception

Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya Ahmedabad.

he calls "open-to-sky

Handloom Pavilion built in the Pragati Maidan, Delhi and the built at the Sabarmati Ashram in

During the first two decades of his career, "habitat" would

of the monsoon season was usually quite benevolentv This last factor s for Correa's preoccupation

pitched

with what

space," a paradigm that, irrespective

of its

remain the dominant discourse through which Correa would manipulate these forms, engaging

in a combinatorial

game with

many variations, is still a pervasive theme in his architecture.

cellular housing patterns of exceptional

However, this was not the only type-form that Correa would derive

of these projects will remain unrealized, including some squatter

from the exigencies of climate. The second crucial formulation,

housing designed for Bombay in 1973. At the same time Correa will

particularly

apply the tube idea in a number of private houses; including the

suited to hot dry climates, was his so-called "tube

house," a form that was conceived

magnificent

as a means for conserving

ingenuity. Regrettably,

Ramkrishna House, Ahmedabad

(1964), that was a

energy in a society that, in the main, cannot afford air-conditioning. This extruded house type stemmed in part from the Moghul tradition

deluxe version of the original tube-house prototype.

and in part from the megaton form adopted the war. .

and concrete Parekh House, Ahmedabad

Correa's first tube house was developed

by Le Corbusier after

type it was the complete antithesis of the open-to-sky concept.

Here

He would

proceed to apply the same notion to the even more articulate brick related to housing designed

in 1962. As a generic

many

(1968), that in its turn was

in 1967 for Cablenagar

Rajasthan. The Parekh House afforded an opportunity

Township in to render the

tube house concept as two different sections, set side by side.

These sections responded.to

at its most elaborate in the 28-story, Kanchanjunga

different summer and winter

apartments

conditions, while being part of the same continuous dwelling

completed

volume. In effect the house was divided down its length into two

capacity for ingenious cellular planning to the limit, as is evident

in Bombay in the same year. Here Correa pushed his

different pyramidal sections. The first with a wide base and a narrow

from the interlock of the one and a half story, split-level, 3 and 4

top functioned as the summer section, thereby closing the house down at the upper level, while the second served as the winter

bedroom units with the two and a half story 5 and 6 bedroom units.

section, since it was, in effect, an inverted pyramid that in opening

Smaller displacements of level were critical in this work in that they differentiated between the external earth filled terraces and the

the house at the top, provided for a lightly shielded roof terrace

internal elevated living volumes. These subtle shifts enabled Correa

covered with a pergola.

to effectively shield these high rise units from the effects of both the

A section organization employed

of a more traditional character will be

by Correa in the lush tropical vegetation of South-East

India. I am thinking in particular of the Kovalam Beach Resort, completed in Kerala in 1974 and of the equally elegant Bay Island Hotel built at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands in 1982. In this last, timber shade-roofs,

suspended

over public terraces, deflect one's

sun and the m0nS00n rains. This was largely achieved by providing the tower with relatively deep, garden verandahs, suspended

in the

air. Clearly such an arrangement had its precedent in the cross-over units of Le Corbusier's Unit habitation built at Marseilles in 1952, although here in Bombay the sectional provision was achieved without resorting to the extreme of differentiating

between up- and

of the earlier Kovalam Beach Resort will descend the slope in a

down-going units. Not all of Correa's high rise apartments were so elaborate, however, as one may judge from his earlier and much

similar way, deflecting

simpler Sonmarg Apartments

vision downward towards the ocean. The stepped

interlocking

roofs

the prospect down towards the sea.

However, the Kovalam Beach building also calls our attention to another feature of Correa's architecture, manipulating

namely his habit of

floor levels so as to create different domesticsettings

at the scale of the micro-space.

Apart from their incidental debt to

Adolph Loos, these displacements

remind one of Jorn Utzon's

perception that in the West one gravitates towards the wall, whereas in the East one turns towards the floor. Thus one may find in Correa's work subtle level changes having a certain oriental . character that simultaneously

serve to articulate different living

housing completed

of 1966 or his five-story CIDCO

in Bombay in 1973.

In of the low-rise, high-density throughout

housing, at such a

India, Correa's conc~pt of disaggregating

cellular living space implies the possibility of gradually upgrading the unit with incremental additions. Such an ad hoc strategy is inseparable

from Correa's overall attitude towards planning and

urban development. particularly

Close to the pioneering work of John Turner,

in his self-build,

openly acknowledges

low cost housing proposals, Correa

the crisis of perpetual urbanization

in India

zones in a particular vivacious way. We can see this clearly at Kovalam where the kitchenette of each unit is raised above the living

and the fact that housing for the vast majority will never be met

area so as to provide long views over the sea. Correa's Loosian penchant for sectional displacement,

New Landscape

accompanied

where appropriate

by changes in the floor surface, is

through conventional

methods. As he was to put it in his book The

of 1985:

"For too long have we allowed the densities of our cities to be determined

by individual commercial

developers - higher

densities triggering off higher land values, and vice versa, in

resting on square granite bases, set at the four corners of the

an increasingly own tail."1

square. These columns, needless to say timber trusses

vicious spiral, like a serpent that feeds off its

carrying the impluvium itself with its tiled roofs. This Mediterranean

As Correa continues, this has led to inhuman environments that have stubbornly

ignored the fact that in warm climates space itself is

the primary resource. While recognizing

the punitive constraints

urbanized

class, above all in the prototypical

of the patio perimeter, particularly

in respect of the

studio which is separated from the larger L-plan of the house by a

his ability to design for the housing needs of a newly

lower-middle

running back to Pompei, is at once inflected

by spatial devices of a local origin, above all the ingenious manipulation

attending the realities of urban poverty, Correa would also demonstrate

parti, with antecedents

staggered

housing

corner sequence

reminiscent of the entryways into

Rajasthani havelis. The square micro-stoa that surrounds the central

that he designed for Lima, Peru in 1973. This so-called PREVI two-

open-to-sky

story housing type consisted of an ingenious assembly of T, L, and

its sense of immutable calm is enhanced

S shaped units, although in the final version the built units followed a

displacements

much simpler formation.

studio is extended into the interstices of the enclosed volumes,

Over the last two decades a great deal of Correa's low-rise, high-density

space is not disturbed by this inflection. On the contrary particularly

by these subtle

because the "Iabyrinthic"

wall of the

especially where tiled stairways with stepped balustrades serve the bedrooms at the first floor.

housing has in fact been realized for India's urban'

middle class as in the Tara Housing settlement built on the outskirts

rise up to

The broader implication of Correa's thinking about dwelling

of New Delhi in 1978. Four stories high and clustered about a central

cannot be separated from his activity as an urban planner which is a

community space, the Tara project comprised

crucial aspect of his work. In the company of his colleagues Pravina Mehta and Shirish Patel, Correa first entered the lists as an urban

120 narrow-fronted,

two-story duplexes stacked on top of one another. Accessed

either

at the ground or at the second floor, these relatively standard

planner in the second half of the sixties with extremely pertinent

megaton dwellings all confirmed to the same module; three meters

proposals for the expansion of Bombay; plans which have lost

wide and six meters high.

nothing of their relevance during the thirty years that have elapsed since their initial formulation.

As he has matured Correa has drawn closer to the primordial traditton of the patio house, a type that is as much Mediterranean it is Indian. This reinterpreted

classic paradigm is clearly the basis

for his own house and studio recently completed so-called Koramangala

in Bangalore, the

House. Here an uncanny charm derives

from the simplest of conjunctions. ying-yang

as

In first instance there is the subtle

assembly of the.house and the studio spiraling around a

central square court containing a single tree. In the second instance, there is a reinforcement import of this "open-to-sky"

of the symbolic and practical

space by virtue of cylindrical

columns,

Given the vast commuter-cum-squatter

implosion into and

around the built-up area of Bombay that was already beginning to escalate out of control from the mid-fifties onwards, with workers commuting as much as four hours each way, in order to work in the center, Correa and his colleagues

proposed the creation of a New

Bombay across the harbour. The State Government put this plan into action, and between 1970 and 1974 Correa served as chief architect to then newly created City and Industrial Development Corporation

(CIDCO). The acquisition of some 55,000 hectares of

some two million

the central business district of New Bombay. Once again a future

people by 1985, gave Correa the opportunity of addressing the housing needs of the poorest sector of the population, through the hierarchical articulation of "open-to-sky" spaces within a single story

rapid transit line is to be the central axis of the entire scheme with

land by CIDCO, for the purpose of accommodating

and hence to the city center. Between the villages and the rapid

urban fabric. As he put it: ""...Living

in an Asian city involves much more than the use

transit line lie large maidans to either side, and these spaces are

of a small room. Such a cell is only one element in a whole

further articulated as communal squares, one for each village. The

system of spaces people need in order to live. This system

overall plan is designed to accommodate

is generally hierarchical

population

consisting of four major elements:

seventy percent of the

not more than ten minutes walk from either a tram stop or

a railway station.

space needed by the family for exclusively private use

Unlike the rest of New Bombay, Ulwe is structured as an

such as cooking and sleeping; areas of intimate i.e. the front doorstep where children play, you meet your

ecological,

neighbour,

series of retention and holding ponds and the further provision of an

etc.; neighbourhood

places e.g. the city water tap

,where you bec;ome part of your community; and finally, the principal urban area e.g. the maidan (open space) used by Arguing that at least three quarters of the essential activities,

cooking, sleeping, and entertaining,

etc. can take place in private

land-management

elaborate system of drainage

system involving the creation of a and flood control. It is envisaged that

this hydraulic landscape would provide for all sorts of incidental economic

the whole city."2 .

"swags" of train lines picking up the village traffic to either side of the rapid transit and thus bringing the commuters to the rail stations

activities from the cultivation of vegetables

and fruit, to

fish farming and garbage treatment, this last being geared to the production

of bio-gas. Correa envisages all this as an urban

courtyards for seventy percent of the year, Correa proposed a single

equivalent of Gandhi's rural economy program. Brilliantly worked out

story, mud brick, thatched roof residential fabric, interspersed

in many of its details, the Ulwe plan also allows for its phased

with

realization and one only hopes that within a few years it will still be

courtyards of various scales and character. As far as Bombay was concerned,

the second most crucial

factor was the provision of a transportation

network capable of

affording cheap and rapid access to employment

in the center. To

this end Correa projected a complex infrastructure

running out at its

possible to bring it to fruition. Aside from the six story stepped terrace middle-class

.

apartments that Correa built while he was chief arc1litect of CIDCO, the only housing stock that he has so far realized in New Bombay is

extremities to the villages of Taloja, Panvel and Uran and comprising

in the Belapur district. Distancing himself from any particular class

a linear net of looped bus routes, feeding the settlements through a series of short "necklaces" that in their turn would be linked back to

image, Correa designed his Belapur prototype as a combination

a future rapid transit spine feeding directly into the center of

spaces within low bounding walls. Such a cluster formation

Bombay. As a further and more recent development

of the same

plan Correa projected the so-called Ulwe node, comprising 1580 hectares, descending

some

from the hills to the Waghivali Lake, in

of

several "L" shaped pitched roof units enclosing private open-to-sky spontaneously

produced a larger "open center/open

settlement pattern which when combined squares produced

corner" square

with three other such

a further level of aggregation;

a 12 x 12 meter

11

square linking 21 houses. This larger pattern generated a serpentine

Mauritius, built some two years later, also adheres to the same.

Radburn layout, in which the clusters were pulled back from the

principle, although in this instance, the oversailing shade roof and

outer perimeter of the block to provide inset parking, while the

the seven story portico serve to establish the building on its corner

jagged inner open space form was irrigated by a small stream or

site as a classic batiment d'ang/e.

na//ah, provided to drain away storm water. By walling-in the site of each house, Correa was able to cross class and economic

lines by

In his 1986 paradoxical

LlC Center in New Delhi, Correa will

create the parasol as an enormous space frame, running along the

offering units of different size and cost within the same cluster. At

northern side of a long block. Regrettably this is an office building

the same time the house allowed for its subsequent

that in attempting to mediate between two totally conflicting

for the modification

expansion and

of its cellular form. Needless to say, we will find

variations of this same patterning principle, with contiguous walls, in

forces

fails to serve either. On the one hand it is patently not of the same

many other housing schemes including the ACC Township in

order as the high rise development rising behind it, on the other hand it fails to relate to the scale and form of the classical colonnade

Andhra Pradesh of 1986 and the HUDCO Housing project for

running around the perimeter of the nearby Connaught Circle.

Jodhpur of 1986.

Patently influenced by Louis Kahn in its play between the "served"

Among the various typologies that Correa has entertained.

status of the curtain-walled

office space and the "servant" character

during his practice none is more general and partial in its

of masonry shafts, faced in red sandstone, the LlC Center abandons

implications than the large oversailing shade roof or parasol which, while it has assumed different forms in different works, is

the quasi-Loosian,

pierced-window

aesthetic that Correa had

adopted for almost all of his office buildings, up to that point

nonetheless always associated with the various bureaucratic

including the Indian Mission to the United Nations in New York faced

institutions that he has designed during the course of his career.

in red enameled steel and the more recent Alameda Park building,

This element first appears at a large scale in an office complex for

projected in 1996 for Mexico City, as part of a large piece of urban

the Electronic Corporation

renewal area, now in the process of being realized according

Hyderabad

of India Limited (ECIL), built in

in 1968. In this instance a three story complex is made

up of three linked but independent

T-shaped office clusters that

to

Legoretta's eight block master plan. In this instance Correa's cubic office block will be faced throughout in black tufa, with 2 three-story

would fail to attain any kind of corporate unity were it not for the

roof top loggias facing out over the park. It is intended that each of

parasol that envelops them at roof level and runs around the

these monumental volumes will be decorated

perimeter of the building, as a deep overhang, from the southwest to the northeast elevations.

painted by a local artist within the Mexican mural tradition. As with

Much the same formal strategy will be employed for the MRF Headquarters

at Madras of 1991, although here the building is

shielded by a shade roof extending

across the north western arc,

by a full height mural

Correa's other office structures, these crowning loggias will be covered by louvred parasols. Correa first broached what he refers to as a "ritualistic pathway along a shifting axis" in 1958., with his Delhi Handloom Pavilion

from due west to due north. Here as in the ECIL building, the parasol

which consisted of a square, multi-leveled,

L:ontinues across the top of the central/entry

out of sun-dried bricks, open terraces shielded from the sun by

patio. The LlC center in

labyrinthic

podium, built

fifteen cable-ed

canvas parasols (chatri), each covering one

of the sixteen squares into which the podium had been divided. The sole square that remained open in the asymmetrical

"center"

consisted of a garden court around which the spiraling itinerary of the exhibit revolved, doubling back on itself over four different levels that were interconnected

by either ramps or stairs.

whole structure rests on a brick podium that in this instance houses a small museum, Correa will return to the same form in a series of works that

follow in rapid succession, the partially realized Gandhi Darshan,

Correa would take a more strictly tectonic approach to the same theme in his commemorative museum for Mahatma Gandhi that he completed

defined by a series of brick walls leading down as an undulating labyrinth to the samadhi itself. As in the Handloom Museum, the

in 1963 for the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.

This

.

Ragighat (1969), the unrealized Indian Pavilion for the Expo '70, Osaka (1969), the Cochin Waterfront project (1974), and finally, the magnificently expansive Bharat Bhavan Arts Center built on the lake

consisted of a strictly gridded space elevated above the ground.

at Bhopal in 1981. Here the natural contours of the site were used to

Rendered in a fair-face brick and concrete syntax but strongly

create an irregular "acropolis"

influenced by Moghul architecture

courts, around which a number of cultural facilities were organized

at its most abstract, (c.f. Fatehpur

Sikri), the Gandhi Museum remains one of the most compelling

comprising

national monuments erected anywhere in this century. As Correa was to put it in 1989:'

and open amphitheater,

", . . the great Islamic mosques of Delhi and lahore

residence.

are at the

of terraced gardens and sunken

galleries, a museum of tribal art, a library, an enclosed workshops and studios for artists in

Following the Cochin Waterfront project, this is the first

occasion on which Correa will make extensive use of stepped

other end of the spectrum: they consist mainly of large areas

terraces in the manner of the traditional stone bathing ghats.

of open space surrounded

Thereafter he will return to this motif repeatedly, first in a small,

by just enough built form to make

one feel 'inside' a piece.of architecture. relationship

(open-to-sky-space

. , . This ying-yang

surrounded

collective meditation space, the so-called Surya Kund built in Delhi

by solid built

in 1986, and then in the Jawahar Kala Kendra, built in Jaipur in 1992

forms, and vice versa) generates figure/ground patterns in which the open spaces can act as areas of visual rest

between enclosed volumes - a principle of enormous

as a Rajasthani crafts museum, dedicated Jawaharlal Nehru.

to the memory of

This last is a complex symbolic work which represents'a

potential for museums. For not only does this pattern create

condensation

the opportunity to provide a combination

a synthesis which he has always sought between popular culture

of concentration

and

of Correa's thought to date and is a demonstration

relaxation, it also opens up the possibility of offering the visitor

and archaic cosmology.

alternate paths through various sections of the museum."3

symbolic central square is left empty and bounded with ghat-like stepped terraces on four sides to create a kund which in this

After the Gandhi Museum, Correa's symbolic "open-to-sky" space assumed a more organic and topographic

character,

As with the Indian Handloom Museum, the

one that

instance is dedicated

was less determined by an overriding architectonic structure. This is at once evident in the memorial that he realised for Mahatma

The visitor's itinerary

Gandhi's wife in Poona, in 1965, where the commemorative

meant to recall the Vedic ritual route of the pradakshina which is

space is

of

to the sun (Surya). The other eight squares or

mahals are each dedicated

to a different planet and its attributes.

weaving its way through these squares is

effected here through openings on the central axis of each mahal.

vaguely recalls Schinkel's loggia in the Altes museum, Berlin; a

However this seemingly "circular" route does not have to be

feature that is backed up by the central courtyard of charbagh on to

slavishly adhered to and the visitor is free to explore the different

which it opens, together with an ornamental garden situated to the

sectors of the compound

rear of an elongated site.

at will.

The most surprising and refreshing aspect of this entire complex is the way in which a radiant, popular architecture, icons, is combined

replete with

with antique lore, while at the same time

retaining the vitality of contemporary

.

Like the Mexican architect Recardo Legoretta, to whom he may

be compared,

Correa seems to be torn at times between pursuing

colorful abstract compositions,

craft activity. The implicitly

regional character of this institution finds expression in the red

vaguely referential to popular culture,

as in his extremely scenographic Cidade de Goa of 1982, and a more direct evocation of an actual vernacular as we find this in the

Rajasthan sandstone with which it is faced, topped by copings in

National Crafts Museum that he finally realized in New Delhi in 1991.

beige Dholpur stone. These are the same materials that were used

Closer in spirit to the Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal than to Jawahar Kala

for the Jantar Mantar Observatory

at Fatehpur Sikri and in the Red

Kendra, this museum is not organized about a strict mandala pattern

Fort at Agra. In each mahal this revetment is enlivened by

and while it is graced by a number of square courtyards,

appropriate

not treated as analogies of the Vedic kund, despite the fact that they

icons inlaid in white marble, black granite, and grey

these are

mica stone. At the same time the interior of the whole is enriched by

are occasionally

local artists who have painted images of Krishna and other cosmic

various courts give access to different exhibits opening off a

figures, together with Jain cosmological

diagrams on the internal

pathway in an informal manner; Village Court, Temple

Court, Darbar Court, etc. As in Bharat Bhavan, the podium is

vaults and walls of the compound. A similar mandala parti, structured

meandering

stepped to create informal arenas. Instead, the

about a central kund, will

elaborated at two levels; on the ground floor through a series of

again appear in Correa's work in the late '80's, first in the new British

courts and above through a set of roof terraces. At the same time

Council at New Delhi and then in the premises of the Jawaharlal

most of the single story accommodation

Nehru Institute of Development buildings

being completed

Banking at Hyderabad

(JNIDB), both

in 1992. Of these two works, the building

provided is totally enclosed.

What is key here, as Jyotindra Jain has written, is that the whole museum is conceived

after the timeless world of the Indian village

for the British Council has the strongest initial impact, largely

where otherwise incompatible

because of its portico which is decorated

how the unofficial folk culture of India has always maintained its

with a striking mural in

crafts exist side by side. Jain shows

white marble and black Kudappah stone, designed by the British artist Howard Hodgkin. This is one of those rare instances in which

anarchic autonomy despite colonialising

the artwork makes the building rather than the other way around. It is

Museum as helping to maintain some resistance to the

a demonstration

homogenizing

dimensions paradoxically

of the way in which a figurative abstraction

can be used to activate a three dimensional emphasizing

in two

space by

its spatial depth. And indee.d the most

rhetorical aspect of this building is its "open-to-sky"

portico,which

character of its production.

efforts tQ regularize the

Jain sees the value of the National Crafts

forces of the late modern world.4

The last in the line of Correa's nine-square mandalas to date is his design for the hew State Assembly in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. Although this work was put in hand in 1983, only

now, after twelve years, is it finally nearing completion;

a delay that

is modified by a diagonal of granite slabs, embedded

is rather typical of the rate at which buildings come to be realized in

conducting

in grass,

the pedestrian to two adjacent courts situated at the

India. Inspired in both plan and section by the hemispherical

extremities of the central space. This landscaped

Buddha stupa at Sanchi and $ituated some fifty kilometers from the

disrupting

city, this building partially represents the mythical mountain of Meru.

centrifuge of energy extending

However, within its circular perimeter the plan is orthogonally

the concept of the kund is totally transformed,

subdivided

plan, arising out of the collegiate typology and the shape of the site

into nine compartments,

matrix being occupied

with the four corners of the

by the circular Legislative Assembly, the

Upper House, the so-called Combined Hall and the Library. For security reasons the mode of circulation contained

independent

in each sector is a self

system. Thus VIPs enter the building via an

diagonal,

the tranquility of the square, is also meant to represent a out towards the limits of space. Thus

no longer conforms to the mandala concept.

just as the organic In many respects this

assembly depends for its cultural legibility on the presence of literal icons, such as statues of Galileo, Newton, Einstein and the Indian Sage Aryabhatta,

who more than fifteen centuries ago established

axis coming from the southeast, while the general public enters from

that the world was round. The two peripheral courts are also

the southwest. These two axial approaches

landscaped

culminate in a central

square which unlike the kund, as this appears in other mandala

in such a way as to represent scientific paradigms;

hostel quad being paved according

the

to a fractal diagram known as

schemes, is covered by a pergola. After ing through a

Serpenski's gasket, while the computer court is structured about a

checkpoint

figure representing

the public may gain access to viewing galleries

overlooking the three main halls through a complex system of ramps and elevated circulation. This promenade

architecturale,

to coin the

Lagrange's

Lobes.

Needless to say, Correa's architecture

is a product of his

formation; that is to say he has been influenced to an equal degree

Corbusian phrase, as being analogous to the ritualistic

by both the lateral thinking of Richard Buckminster

circumambulation Sanchi.

one of his teachers in the United States, and Le Corbusier, whose

that takes place around the sacred stupa at

The Inter-University

Fuller, who was

stature both as an urbanist and an architect left an indelible mark on Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics

contemporary

Indian architecture.

This last is still evident today in

completed on the campus of the Pune University, near Pune City in 1992, is a much more somber work than the Jawahar Kala Kendra,

the work of Correa, even if today he rarely makes any direct

in the main because the architect attempted to express overtly the

related back to the presence of a similar geometry as this appears

dedication of the work to the exploration of outer space. Hence the "black on black" aesthetic, reminiscent of the American artist Ad Reinhardt, with walls faced in black basalt, capped by dark Kuddapah

stone and a final course of glossy black granite. This

Corbusian reference. However, even the mandala form may be in Le Corbusier's

last work of consequence:

his regrettably unbuilt

project for the Venice Hospital made in 1965. The other ethos that Correa shares with Le Corbusier is his faith in the presence of what Sigfried Gideon called the Eternal Present.

dark masonry revetment, symbolizing astral space, brackets the main entrance, which in its turn frames two concrete columns that

This is the deep source that links Correa not only to his own youth in

imply the axis leading to the central kund. In this instance, the kund

subcontinent

Goa but also tQ the absolutely inexhaustible

history of a

where past, present and future co-exist in an all but

continuum. "We live in countries of great cultural

indistinguishable

heritage," he says, "countries which wear their past as easily as a

sustenance

was for Le Corbusier; the source of a spiritual

that is as universal in its implications

rooted in the geo-physical

conditions

must re-invent the expression of the

mythic images and values on which it is based."6 These two extremely succinct paragraphs

woman drapes her sari"5. Thus India for Correa is like the Mediterranean

happens, architecture

effectively sum up

the full scope of Correa's activities over the past three decades and

as it is deeply

the fact that changes in the technique of building have been far less

and mores of a particular

dramatic in India than in other parts of the world may go some way

place. Like other Indian intellectuals of his generation, Correa will

towards explaining the apparent ease with which Correa has been

find inspirational depth in the mythic and cosmological

able to reinterpret and reintegrate the past into an extraordinary

beliefs of the

body of work.

past. In this way he has been able to elaborate partis that were initially somewhat schematic into works of poetic consequence. In opposition to the stylistic superficiality

of Post Modern

pastiche, Correa postulates three separate levels at which the environment

may be conceptualized

and perceived today;'first,

as

an everyday pragmatic given, second, as a domain where fashionable imagery of one kind or other will inevitably be present and, third, as an all but invisible cultural sub-stratum that rises, from time to time into the architectural

unconscious

Correa argues that this triadic interplay way architecture

of a particular region.

is further modified by the

evolves over time through the dynamic interaction

of climate, technology,

and the emerging aspirations of the society.

Thus of the forces shaping architecture World Correa writes:

in the modernizing

Third

". . . at the deep structure level, climatic conditions, culture and its expression,

its rites and ritual. In itself, climate is the

source of myth: thus the metaphysical open-to-sky

quantities attributed to

space in the cultures of India and Mexico are

concomitants

of the warm climate in which they exist: just as

the films of Ingmar Bergman would be inconceivable

without

the dark brooding Swedish winter. "The fourth force acting on Architecture other art feels its influence so decisively. technology

is Technology.

No

. . the prevailing

changes every few decades. And each time this

References: 1. Charles Correa: "The New Landscape," Book Society of India, 1985, p.46. 2. Ibid, p. 38. 3. Museum Quarterly, UNESCO Review, No. 164, N:4, 1989, p. 223. 4. Dr. Jyotindra Jain: "Metaphor of an Indian Street," Architecture + design, Delhi, Vol. VIII, N:5, Sept-Oct 1991, p. 39-43. 5. "Charles Correa," Concept Media, Singapore, 1st Edition, 1984, p. 9. 6. MASS, Journal of the University of New Mexico, Vol. IX,Spring 1992, p.4-5.

THE BLESSINGS OF THE SKY Charles Correa

Rajasthani chattris

In India, the sky has profoundly affected our relationship to builtform, and to open space. For in a warm climate, the best place to be in the late evenings and in the early mornings, is outdoors, under the open sky. Such spaces have an infinite number of variations: one steps out of a room. . . into a verandah. thence on to a terrace. courtyard, Throughout

human history, the sky has carried a profound and

sacred meaning. Man intuitively perceived Supernatural.

it'as the abode of the

Hence to climb a path to the top of the hill, where the

Gods dwell, is a paradigm of such mythic power that it has been central to the beliefs of almost every society, since the beginning time.

of

Thus the great Hindu temples of South India are not just a collection of shrines and gopurams, open-to-sky

but a movement through the

pathways that lie between them. Such a path is the

essence of our experience

-

it represents a sacred journey, a

pradakhshina, a pilgrimage. And this sense of the sky extends to the architectonic vocabulary as well: as witness the walls around

. . and

. . from which one proceeds to an open

perhaps shaded by a tree. . . or by a large_~9.2!§,

overhead..61.eachQ1oment, subJI§ c.hange2 in ttle qua~ity of light and ambient-.ail:.gepeJ:ateJe..elings within us.- feeliQ.gs_~hi~h are

--

-

'"central to our beings. Hence to us i~ A'sTa,the symbol of Education has never been the Little Red Schoolhouse of North America, but

the guru sitting under the tree. True Enlightenment cannot be

'

achievedwithintheclosedbox of a room- one needsmustbe outdoors, under the open sky. These open-to-sky

spaces have very practical implications

as

well. To the poor in their cramped dwellings, the roof terrace and the courtyard represent an additional

room, used in many different ways

during the course of a day: for cooking, for talking to friends, for sleeping at night, and so forth. And for the rich, at the other end of

Rajasthan palaces and Moghul forts, crowned with patterns that

the income spectrum, the lawn is as precious as the bungalow itself.

interlock builtform with sky - and the wonderfully

Thus in traditional villages and towns all over India, such open-to-

evocative ~is

(umbrellas) along the roofscape, capturing fragments~,?f the infinite heavens above.

sky 1spaces are an essential element in the lives of the people. Examine, for instance, the village of Banni in Kutch, where the

The Red Fort at Agra

The Lord Buddha at Borabudhur

~

AQ~

Diagrammatic section of Red Fort

0 Guru under the tree

House in Banni village

houses consist of a series of circular huts around a central courtyard.

Each hut has a specialised

function: one for visitors,

another for storing grain, a third for sleeping, and so forth. The family moves from one hut to the next, depending

on their need, the time of

day, etc, in a nomadic pattern of astonishing sophistication.

Then again, consider the Moghul Emperors in their magnificent Red Forts at Agra and Delhi, living in a similarp?ly-centric typolog~i: On the roof terraces of these forts, we find truly elegant patterns of free-standing

Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya

.

style and natural

pavilions, placed in immaculate gardens, inlaid with

the this pattern is -.'" terrace - -"'- level. .. In the cold ~, but sunny -. -. winters, ---_. reversible: the terrace gardens Qi3Lng used during t~_eday, and the

10w!~~~;I~~rn~-~t night. The result is a brilliant re-inventio~;fthe desert tents of Central Asia from whence the Moghu1scame. These Moghuls generated a life-style as royal as Versailles

..

but

fountains and channels of running water. As in the village of Banni,

with truly aristocratic finesse, their palaces are built on the. scale Qf a

these pavilions are differentiated

tennis court, not a parking lot.

as to use: the Diwan-I-Am for

The typologies

receiving visitors, the Moti Masjid for prayerS, the hamams for

l

bathing, and so forth. Given the cold winters of North India and the annihilating

"-

revealed in these examples are astonishing:

flexible and incremental, achieving great spatial richness through heat of

minimalist means. They exercise a seminal influence on many of the

its summers, how did the Moghuls manage to live in such a

projects in these pages - starting with one of the earliest, the

disaggregated

Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya (1958-63) at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad. This memorial to the Mahatma is a museum and

pattern of pavilions? The answillJie~[n

the sunken

sourtyardE,-.WbiGl:i give.accesS-tG-aJowBLleyeLof rQQJJ1s.Jn the early morning of the summer months, a velvet shamiana (canopy) is

research centre where scholars come to study his letters, books and

~tretched over the rim of the c.2.ldrtyards-,JrapQing the cold overnight air in the lower level of. rooms. This is where the Moghul Emperor

photographs. --rThese aLe.housed in- a disaggregated ----plan connected by covered and open areas a pattern which not only allows for ~--'--

'Spends~his da;.in

mc:re flexible .growth but also gives to tFi~ s-_areas ~-visu?1 q~iet ~e the-eye can rest and the mind meditate. ~ .. -

Em~er~~ ~d

th;even~n§L ~ami.§.n;js

removed, ~ndthe

his co~r:!..~:::.~eup on to th~ g,a!:ge~and

pavilions of

Instruction, Enlightenme-n

v

Salvacao Church

Jama Masjid, Delhi

Another example is the Salvacao Church (1974-77) in Bombay which speculates on what church typology might have been if Christianity had not been headquartered

in Europe, but had stayed

Kapur Think Tank

in Asia - where it originated, Yet another is the Sen Farmhouse (1972, unbuilt) outside Calcutta which has four caves (living,

.

This concept has also generated the Museld-Olof Archaeology.

sleeping, cooking and washing) placed around a ~QQI2.:fo~ courtyard; at different times of the day, this courtyard can be used in

(1985, unbuilt) Bhopal, wh5're the system of courtyards

conjunction

galleries are built separately and incrementally

with any particular cave, depending

on the activity. The

is first clearly

defined by a continuous masonry wall, and then the exhibition on the other side of

same principle also generates the Patwardhan Houses (1967-69) in

it. This typology of the inside-out sock can also cope more easily

Poona, where the sleeping and cooking functions are housed in

with the constantly fluctuating

square masonry boxes, grouped

economy like India's, since the basic architectural statement - the

in.a pattern which creates breeze-

wall - is completed

ways for the living areas. These typologies were further developed

into a pattern which

budgets and time-tables of an

in the first instance. It places the highest

emphasis on open-to-sky

space - as do the great Islamic mosques,

might be termed the In..§.ide-OutSock. An example is the project for

like the Jama Masjid in Delhi, which is really just a large open

a mud Farmhouse for Mrs. Indira Gandhi (1972, unbuilt) - a concept

courtyard with enough builtform around the periphery to make one

which re-surfaces again in the Kapur Guesthouse (1978, unbuilt) to

feel one is within a piece of architecture.

accommodate

participants

in a high-powered

think-tank discussing

COURTYARDS & TERRACES

India's future. Here the main arena is a square courtyard made of

earth, defined by a high mud wall - with the rooms for each of the visitors as appendages

on the other side of this wall. Each suite of

Open-to-sky space is also of vital importance in housing where it can make a decisive difference between livable habitat and

rooms has a door opening on to the courtyard, in the centre of which the discussions take place - surely a configuration which should

claustrophobia

serve to wonderfully

each family can be provided

focus the mind! What is crucial here are not the

formless rooms that lie on the other side of the wall, but the clarity of the central core - hence the analogy of the sock turned inside-out.

- particularly so for the lowest income groups. Even

in reasonably dense housing, individual terraces and/or gardens for -

as in the Jeevan Bima townships

(1969-72) in Borivli and Bangalore (1972-74), and the low-income ho.using (1971-72) for the Gujarat Housing Board in Ahmedabad.

Kanchanjunga

Low-income housing, Gujarat Housing Board

,\

/

-0::,c'/ \

Masterspaces

'~'<~~i'~~

~..I ~ -

Colonial Bungalow Rallis Apartments

)t,

Porch

\d

Verandah

Jeevan Bima Nagar, Borivili

Such open-to-sky --- - -- spaces-- not only - improve- living conditions, .

~

-

--.

-

r-r--T-' blJt

~e~LiVing ~ed-: I Bed Dining Bed I

cEil also hia'ieCQDsigeCable economievalue-in a de..veloping ~conomy like India, ,where families augment their income by keeping chickens, or goats (or even a buffalo!). Usually such activities are not encouraged

in company-owned

Bath

!

- - ! .,.....

Verandah Bath

townships, but the Malabar

Cements Corporation township (1978-82) was an exception. All the

Plan

families, including those at first floor levels, connect directly to a Another variation that this buffer zone can take is to turn the

small piece of land for their exclusive use. These principles are viable also in the high-rise buildings of Bombay, where the issue is compounded

by the hot humid climate.

An east-west orientation c~che...§ ttt~ prevailing bre;s~ and al1so the best views in the city,. but it also exposes the building to the

verandahintoa garden- preferablyof double-height.Thiswasthe genesis of the Cosmopolis Apartments

the opportunity to actually construct this concept:

blistering sun -- and the monS.OOnrains. The old colonial bungalows

(1970-83), a condominium

solved this problem intelligently by locating the main living areas in

the large terrace-garden

the centre, protected

whole apartment. Double-height

~

periphery

-

by a continuous verandah running along the

a concept used in the Sonmarg Apartments (1962), the

Rallis Apartment~ and later in the DCM Apartments, where a belt of verandahs, studies and bathrooms forms a protective zone around the main living areas.

(1958, unbuilt) in Bombay,

and later of the Boyce Houses (1962, unbuilt) in Pune. Finally came Kanchanjunga

of luxury apartments in Bombay where in the corner forms the central focus for the terrace gardens are also the focus

for each family in Tara Group Housing (1975-78), a high-density complex of maisonettes in Delhi. Here the terraces a!:..~covered bY a ~~ht pergola, since sleeping under the night sky is an age-old ,-custom

in the hot dry climate of North India.

Planning for Bombay

Be)apur Housing, New Bombay

Ulwe.. The CBD of New Bombay URBANIZATION Such open-to-sky

spaces are of course of crucial importance to

the poorest inhabitants: the squatters. For the great wave of distress migration that is engulfing our cities in the Third World poses not just the issue of poverty (in actual fact of course, rural poverty is worse); it is really the brutal and de-humanizing

patterns that this poverty

take.son in the urban context. Obviously there is an appalling

Squatter Housing

mismatch between the way our cities have been built and the way we use them today. For a whole family forced to live in a small all-purpose

room, open-to-sky

space is truly essential for all the (1973, unbuilt) in Bombay, in which

4 units are clustered together under one roof in a pattern which t~

in Third World cities where occupancy

per room

is extremely high), the overall land needed by the city does not

activities for which they cannot find place indoors. Hence the Squatter-Housing

Because such patterns of low-rise housing can be reasonably dense (particularly

Jenerates such a continuum (ranging from the most private to the most public) of open spaces. This was further developed in the

increase very much. In any case, since only about one-third of a city's land is devoted to housing, even doubling this area necessitates only a marginal increase in the overall size of the city but it can make a decisive difference to the lives of the people,

housing units are closely packed (at a density, including open

particularly of the poorest. How do we increase the supply of urban land? The section

spaces and schools, of 500 persons per hectare). Yet each unit is

Planning for Bombay, outlines some possible strategies for

separate, so that it can grow, quite independently

restructuring

incremental

housing at Belapur, New Bombay (1983-86). Here the

Though the housing typologies

of its neighbours.

provided here cover the entire range

the city. Also discussed

is the development

establish affordable housing typologies

introducing

the entire spectrum of our urban population,

significanceto principles,

the Third World) - as well as other equally crucial

such as: people's participation,

identity, pluralism, and so forth.

income ger"ieration,

of Ulwe

(1990), the Central Business District of New Bombay, which seeks to

of income groups, the plot sizes differ only marginally - thus the principle of Equity (an issue of the greatest political

-

and coherent urban form for including the poorest.

In short: by opening up the supply of urban land, one is using Space as a Resource - a principle of fundamental importance to our urban centres.

-~ Resting Writing

\\ Windscoop

Parekh House Tube

Eating House

Patio

houses, Sind

Correa House I

j

mechanism for dealing with the elements (truly, a machine for Ramkrishna House

living!)

-

this is the great challenge and opportunity of the

. developing

world.

In this, the old architecture

-

especially the vernacular - has

much to teach us, as it always develops a typology of fundamental sense. For instance, in the hot dry climate of North India, most Hindustan Lever Pavilion

houses are narrow units with common party walls. The two long sides have no heat input, all ventilation and light enters from the

tHE MACHINE FOR LIVING

short ends and via interior courts. An interesting variation of this

Another equally critical parameter: Energy. In this century, architects

have depended

more and more on the mechanical

engineer to provide light and air within the building.

But in India, we

pattern can be used to develop a section which modulates temperatures through convection currents: as the h~eated air rises, it moves along the sloping surface of the ceiling, slipping out through

---

cannot afford to squander resources in this manner - which is of

a vent at the top, thus drawing in new air from the lower level to

course actually an advantage, for it means that the buildingjtself must, through , its very form, create which the . ~ the "controls" " .'

replace it. This principle, first developed

needs. Such a !:espon~e necessita!et~ much more than just sunangles and louvres; it must involve the section, the plan, the shape,

(1961) and the Ramkrishna House (1962-64).

in short, the very heart of the buildin~.

township near Kota, Rajasthan, fbr which we devel9P'ed two pyramidal sections, Summer and Winter, to be used at different

Thus the-wonderfully

inventive wind-scoop

houses of Iran, or th~

in the Tube House

(1961-62) also forms the basis for the Hindustan Lever Pavilion The idea progresses further in Cablenagar

(1967, unbuilt), a

Alhambra in Granada - where the courtyards and water pools are

times of the day and seasons of the year. The Summer section (for

not just arbitrary ornamental decorations,

the daytime) entraps and humidifies the dry air, thus cooling it; the

but crucial ive-energy

devices, serving to make this exquisite palace at least 10 degrees cooler than the surrounding

countryside.

In such examples indeed,

Winter Section (for early morning, and at night) opens up to the sky above. These formed the basis of the Parekh House (1966-68) and

the challenges of a difficult climate have triggered off architectural

the Correa House (1968, unbuilt). In order t6 "open-up" the narrow

responses that are not wilful and trivial, but are generated

spaces usually generated between the parallel walls of row-housing,

deep

in the wellspring of the human imagination. Consider that

we developed

fundamental

desert and enter even the humblest such abode is a pleasure

interlocking units which create varying dimensions - internal dimensions - an idea later expanded in the Previ Project (1969-73)

beyond mere photogenic

in Lima, Peru. .

typology: the house around a courtyard. To cross a image-making.

Architecture

as a

for the Gujarat Housing Board (1961, unbuilt)

ECIL Offices, Hyderabad

Section through Panabhapuram

istration Offices, Val/abh Vidyanagar

}

I MRF Headquarters,

Madras

Bay Island Hotel, Andamans WORK SPACES Are these concepts relevant to other building typologies,

as for

instance, work spaces? Earlier attempts to deal with solar prorction involved various forms of brise-soleil- as in the istratio~ Offices (1958-60) for Vallabh Vidyanagar University at Anand. One soon discovered

that this kind of concrete louvre, while'providing

LEISURE Another marvellously

inventive example of natural ventilation is

the Panabhapuram Palace in Trivandrum - the oldest wooden

powerful visual imagery for the builtform, can be counter-productive.

building in India. Here, in the hot and humid c,limate of southern India where cross-ventilation is essential, we-find a truly remarkable

The concrete heats up during the long hot day and then acts as an

sec~on where the pyramidal form of the plinth ri~es parallel to the

enormous radiator in the evening, rendering the rooms unbearable.

slope of the tiled roof above - th~ minimising the need for enclosing walls to keep out the sun and rain. From within the

So the ECIL Offices (1965-68) in Hyderabad, workspace

tries to develop a

in which the very pattern of the builtform itse~ cremes a

sp~ rnigo-climate. Through this and other similar efforts, gradually a kit-of-parts came into existence: the section which facilitates convection currents,. the internal zone of micro-climate,

pavilion, one'sJl0e of vi~onis

deflected_sharply

downwards

to the

\1.I!.~s-arouQ9. (a cool fresh green, blissfully therapeutic on a hot day). This principle formed the genesis of the Bay Island Hotel the

(Andamans,

1979-82) and the Dona Sylvia Beach Resort (Goa,

stepped terraces, the pergola roof. Variations of this kit-of-parts

1988-91). The inner spaces in both these projects are protected not

were used in the MPSC Office Building (1980-92) in Bhopal and the

by enclosing walls but by very large sloping roofs. For centuries,

LlC Centre (1975-86) in Delhi. Other examples are the MRF

sloping tiled roofs have been part of the indigenous architecture

Headquarters

most of South-India - in fact, in most of South-east Asia. And they

in Madras (1987-92), the Nuclear-Power

Corporation

in Bombay (1988, unbuilt) and the LlC Centre (1988-92) in Port

occur throughout these projects, from the Sadiq Futehally House

Louis, Mauritius, where the pergola .pecomes a huge urban gesture,

(1959, unbuilt) in Bombay, the Mascarenhas

protecting

the builtform within and at the same time creating a

much-needed crowded city.

sense of public space in the very heart't)f a

in

House (1964-65) in

Bangalore, and the Kovalam Beach Resort (1969-74) in Trivandrum, to the L&T Township (1982-88) at Awarpur and the houses along the Mandovi riv r at Verem (1982-89).

/

Services

Handloom Pavilion, Delhi

Indip Pavilion, Osaka

understanding

of the subtleties and ambiguities

of such spaces. The

irony is that the very same cultures, which produced the original The Acropolis

at Athens

typologies,

are now happily importing the closed box model

(complete with wallpaper) from the "advanced" THE RITUALISTIC Panabhapuram typologies

PATHWAY

north, to fill up their towns and cities - from Athens to Singar?°re to

is important because it is the key to

(and to architectural

countries of the

Tokyo to Sao Paulo.

syntax) quite different from those

developed in the cold climates of Europe and North America

Fortunately, in India one cannot build a closed box (unless one can also afford the air-conditioning

that will make it haqitable). Thus

where life must be protected throughout the long winter by a

this issue was intuitively addressed

head-on, righttrom

sealable weather-resistant

travelers visiting the Parthenon in the 17th and 18th Centuries must

~roject undertaken, the Handloom Pavilion (1958) in Delhi. Though generated by a precise and disciplined plan of sixteen squares, it

-

box. Thus though the wealthy English

the first

have been profoundly moved by the sacred pathway up to the top of

actually creates a highly ambiguous

the Acropolis, they soon realised that the only thing they could really

nor quite uncovered, containing a series of platforms in an

take back and re-cycle within the hostile environment

ascending

in which they

- and then descending

space, neither quite covered - spiral. At some distance above

li~ed Werethe marble columns and pediments - which were rapidly

is a "sky" of hand loom cloth, separated from the peripheral walls by

turned into surface tattooing (mere wallpaper!)

a gap all around. So also the K,asturba Gandhi Samadhi (1962-65) in

to decorate the

outside of the sealed boxes they had to build. Now a box generates a very simplistic architectural

Poona, where the memorial consists of a gently descending equation.

One is either inside this box - or outside it. The transition from one condition to the other is through a precise and clearly defined

path

defined by a series of parallel brick walls, on a shifting axis,

.

c;Jlminating in the Samadhi itself. Other variations on this theme of pedestrian

path, shifting axis

boundary: the~.9oUnsid.e allcLoutside co-exist as opposites, in a'" s~duali1y. How very different from the pluralistic and subtle

and low-key builtform are the Gandhi Darshan (1968-69) in Delhi

variations of air and light conditions

pathway is extended to also cover the roof surfaces. Architecturally,

spaces we have been discussing!

climates of this globe

-

generated by the open-to-sky The old architecture

of the warm

from the acropolis of Athens to the pyramids

of Teotihuacan to the temples of Kyoto were generated

by an

and the India Pavilion (1969, unbuilt) at Osaka, Japan. Here the the form is a kind of "non-building",

given scale principally

the flights of external stairs (echoing the bathing ghats of Benares).

by

l'

",:~--.:;1 Gandhi

Darshan

Darbar Crafts

at Rajghat

. ~. ~/

"4 ~ "

F

Village Crafts National

r

.",. -'!

~

Crafts

Museum,

Temple Crafts

Delhi

Corb and Mies at the Kala Akademi

Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal

This processional open-to-sky,

is also further developed

Bhopal - which is a re-interpretation /

Urban Windows, Mexico City

unfolding of spaces, some enclosed, some in Bharat Bhavan (1975-81),

Cidade de Goa

of the old Pleasure Gardens

which are still the most popular spot for Indian families in the cool

of Kanchanjunga,

hours of sunset and in the early dawn, In the JNIDB in Hyderabad

"urban windows" framing the city, Another, example is the office

(1986-91), the pathway moves like a river through the building,

building in the Alameda Park project in Mexico (1994 - to date) which

connecting

the teaching areas to the Library and Faculty Offices,

and up to the hostel rooms on the sloping site, while in the National

suspended

high above Bombay, which act as

uses these urban windows (floating just above the tree tops of the historic park) to recall th~ great tradition of public art in Mexico City,

Crafts Museum (1975-85), it becomes a continuous pedestrian spine METAPHORS

running through the heart of the museum - a metaphor for the Indian street, taking the visitor from village to temple to palace, In the British Council Headquarters

The relationship of architecture

and Library in Delhi

to the other arts is a crucial one,

In the Hotel Cidade de Goa (1978-82) at Dona Paula, for instance,

(1987-92), this pathway becomes a formal axis, running down the

murals and sculpture are used not just to provide references to local

centre of the site, from the entrance gate right up to the rear

traditions and events, but really to bring back into balance the

boundary, Along it are located three mythic paradigms that have

spatial tensions generated

generated the history of this sub-continent,

the Kala Akademi (1973-83) in Panaji, These projects, both sited in

recalling the historic

by the builtform, This is also attempted

interfaces that have existed between India and England over the

Goa, use elements from the kit-of-parts developed

centuries, The large square cut-outs on the street facade not only encase the Hodgkin mural like a proscenium but also, from within

with abstractcolour

the building, act as, "urban windows" framing views of the city

can adds layers of metaphorical architecture,

outside - a visual and gesture that recalls the double-height

terraces

in

together earlier

and realistic images, setting up a dialectic

between builtform and virtual imagery

-

a complex interaction which

and metaphysical

dimensions to

Vidhan Bhavan

New Baga/kat

by its proximity to the Buddhist Stupa at Sanchi nearby, and by form of the Parliament in New Delhi. Vastu-purush-manda/as

The second is the town of New Bagalkot in the State of Such dimensions

are an essential part of the old architecture

we

Karnataka. Here the principles of equity, affordability, job generation

see around us. These buildLngs possess not only an extraordinary

etc., (discussed

in the section on Ulwe) are developed

within an

beauty of proportion, mate"rials, etc., but they also project, with

overall urban form which has deeper cultural relevance, recalling

astonishing force, polemic ideas about Qurselves and our

Srirangam - the ancient temple town on the river Cauv@ry,built as

relationship with the Non-manifest

set of concentric

the beginning

World. Strange indeed that since

of time, Man has always used the most inert of

materials, like brick and stone, steel and concrete, to express the invisibilia that so ionately

move him. Today our architecture

is

banal - partly because our contemporary existence is so, but also

rectangles,

in the form of a Vedic mandala

-depicting the non-Manifest World. The third is the IN Centre for Advanced

Scientific Research at

Bangalore (1990-94), the new campus for the Indian Institute of Science. Here the centre of the site is occupied

by a forest, with the

perhaps because we do not seek to express anything profound (or

scientists' laboratories, seminar rooms and living quarters on the

deeply felt) about ourselves, or the society in which we live.

other side of the stone wall encircling this forest. Scientists (truly the

The next few projects are really but faltering steps in that direction, metaphors for ounelationship

to something outside (and

new rishis!) crossing through the stone wall to enter the open-to-sky

space in the grove of trees, recall metaphorically

the

beyond) ourselves. The first is the Vidhan Bhavan (1980 - to date), a

withdrawal of the ancient sages into the forest in search of wisdom

highly complex interlock of pathways, builtform and open-to-sky

and enlightenment.

spaces for the new State Assembly of the Government of Madhya

Pradesh. It is a citadel of democracy determined

-

built in a circular form

by its location (on top of a hill in the centre of Bhopal),

Metaphysical

aspects of the sky are also addressed

in the next

two examples:'the Jawahar Kala Kendra (1986-92) in Jaipur and IUCAA (1988-93) in Pune. These two projects, seemingly so different

.

- ---

.

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Navgraha:

the symbols and colours of the nine planets

Galaxy in an Expanding

in form and function (one is an art centre, the other an academic

the central paradigms

Universe

through which the ancient vastu-purush-

institution), are not so dissimilar after all. Both seek to project.

mandalas (with their emphasis on the centrality at the vortex) are not

Architecture as a Model of the Cosmos - each expressing a

so different from contemporary

transcendental

Holes of Outer Space. Is this mere coincidence?

programme

reality, beyond the pragmatic

requirements

of the

more fundamental

that caused them to be built. In this sense, they are

quite symmetrical. (like the plan of Jaipur city itself), a contemporary the vastu-purush-mandalas

pleasurable in

- those sacred Vedic diagrams that

have been of seminal importance to Hindu, Buddhist and Jain over many many centuries.

The second, IUCAA (the Inter-University and Astrophysics)

. . which, over all these

centuries, has not changed. And just as the pragmatic

construct based

on an ancient perception of the non-Manifest World, as expressed

Or is there a far

explanation? After all, both theories have been

generated from the same human mind.

The first, the Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur, is double-coded

architecture

scientists' notions about the Black

qualities of open-to-sky

seem to have remained undiminished,

so also its metaphysical

earlier and

mythic qualities as well. Perhaps the reason is not so hard to fathom. The sky, all said and done, is the source of light

Centre for Astronomy

and

space that we discussed

-

which is the most primordial of

stimuli acting on our senses. And across its face, every day, es

at Pune, seeks to express a totally different mind-

the sun - the origin of Life itself! . . . Small wonder then that man

set, viz., our own 20th century notions of the Expanding Universe in

has always perceived the sky above to be the abode of the gods,

which we live - an understanding generated by the extraordinary

and that down all these many millennia, it has exerted such

scientists (Einstein, Rutherford, Hoyle, and others) who in making

extraordinary

the Universe comprehensible, contemporary

power on us and on the architecture

we build.

have helped generate our own

sensibilities.

The Cosmos - as it was comprehended thousands of years ago and as it is perceived

today. These two projects seem to be based

on two very different mind-sets.

. . or are they? For astonishingly,

Bombay, January 1996

11

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This memorial museum is erected.in the Sabarmati Ashram where Mahatma Gandhi resided from 1917 to 1930, and from which he started on his historic Salt March to Dandi. Built in homage to the Mahatma, and to propagate his ideas, it houses letters, photographs,

and other documents which trace the freedom

movement launched by GaC1.dhiji. The materials used in the construction

are similar to the other

buildings in the ashram: tiled roofs, brick walls, stone floors and wooden dqors. The only additions are the RCC channels which act as beams and as rainfall conduits - and which permit additional conWuction

to be added in future. No glass windows are used

anywhere in the building; light and ventilation being provided by operable wooden louvres. These elements combine to form a pattern of tiled roofs, in a typology analogous to the villages so central to Gandhiji's thinking. They are grouped in a casual meandering

pattern, creating a

pathway along which the visitor progresses towards the centrality of the water court.

The last possessions

Prayer Platform u

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Section showing channels for carrying rainwater, and for adding new units, Since the collection will, by its very nature, be augmented from time to time, the Sangrahalaya is a "living" structure which can grow and modulate, Recently, some more units were added, extending the pattern, This process will continue, as more photographs, letters and other documents are

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collected - each generation of Indiansmaking its contribution, and paying its homage, to the Mahatma,

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Air gap Tiles Battens

The tiled roofs, ed on brick piers, 6 m on centre, are layered for heat control, Wooden boarding fixed to the bottom of the joists (which run parallel to the slope of the roof), is covered with waterproofing and then finished silver-white to reflect back incident heat. Along the top of the joists, lightweight battens roof-tiles - thus creating between the two layers of the sandwich an air gap (which provides insulation from solar radiation).

Boarding Joists "Channel

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"I do not want my house to be walled on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any of them." - Mahatma Gandhi

NATIONAL CRAFTS MUSEUM Delhi 1975-90

This Crafts Museum, casual and accepting vernacular, is organised

of the artisan's

around a central pathway, going from

village to temple to palace, a metaphor for the Indian street - in fact, for India herself, where all these different kinds of crafts have always co-existed down the centuries. Walking alongthis

spine, one

catches glimpses of the principal exhibits that lie on either side (the Village Court. Darbar Court, etc.). One can visit any particular exhibit, or alternately, progress through all the various sections in a continuous sequence. Towards the end of the sequence,

the exhibits get larger and

include fragments of actual buildings - since the crafts of India nave always been an essential element of her architecture. exits via the roof terraces - which form an amphitheatre

Finally, one for folk

dances, as well as an open-air display for large terracotta horses and other handicrafts. There are more than 25,000 items of folk and tribal arts, crafts and textiles in the permanent collection.

Less than half of the total

floor area of 5500 sq. metres is open to the public; the rest of the collection is stored in special areas for the use of the very finest craftsmen who are selected from allover

India to come and study

;;.

these archives. In this manner, a potter from Bengal has the opportunity to examine at first hand the best work of his counterparts in Kerala, at the other end of the country, or for that matter, what his own forebears in Bengal had produced

;;;;

two or three hundred years

previously. This is a perspective which has hitherto never been available to traditional Indian craftsmen.

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As the Director of the Museum, Or. Jyotindra Jain has stated: "We call it a museum because it has been dubbed so for a long time, but in reality it does not behave like one, and while hesitating to assume a conventional nature and role, it asks many questions of itse/~ eventually emerging as an institution that strives for identity, but in no hurry to find a slotted definition of itself.

t

'The core collection of the Crafts Museum was put together to serve as reference material for the craftsmen who are increasingly losing touch with their own traditions in of materials, techniques, designs and aesthetics of their arts and crafts due to the sudden changes caused by modern industrialisation. Thus, it was primarily addressed to the craftsmen who have now been brought into a close and integral relationship the Museum.

with

"As the traditional social, economic and cultural institutions rapidly disintegrate, 7t is difficult for the craftsmen to be able to themselves by selling their products regionally. Their visits to the Museum provide them opportunities to meet their new urban patrons. Such patronage is necessary, for the level and potential skill of the millions of craftsmen and handloom weavers in the country is so formidable that if lost, even thousands of formal technical institutions and universities will not be

Kalamkari

worker

Amphitheatre

able to resurrect it at the cost of unlimited money, over many centuries. "Over the last decade, this Museum has been altered time and again - it is being continuously improvised. It has an unconcluded air about it in the sense that it does not appear to be 'finished'so as to make a pretty picture postcard. It is a flexible building in the same sense as an Indian village street would be flexible - affable, accommodative, informal and active. "

Diorama Section showing relationship

Rajasthani

wall paintings

of central spine and courtyards tal

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OARBAR CRAFTS

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TEMPLE CRAFTS

,l VILLAGE , CRAFTS

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Roof tiles of mythic animals from traditional houses of Bastaar tribals

The street as metaphor - from village to temple to palace

BRARAT BRA VAN Bhopal 1975-81

The site for this Art Centre is on a gently sloping hill overlooking the lake in Bhopal. The natural contour2...Qilhe sJte b.?v~J2.een-used

-

--

- - - --

- -,-

.

to createa seriesof terracedgardensand sunkencour~ds

-

off

which are located a number of cultural facilities, including a museum of Tribal Art, a library of Indian poetry (in all the 17 major languages), galleries for Contemporary lithography and sculpture,

Art, workshops for

and a studio for an artist-in-residence,

In

addition, the 8000 sqm of Bharat Bhavan houses a full-fledged theatrical repertoire company and facilities for the performing including the Antarang (indoor auditorium), air amphitheatre),

overlooking

arts,

,

and the Bhairang (open-

the lake,

Lighting and ventilation within the building are provided

by top

lightS(from the concrete sheli's- and from slots along the terraceparapets),

In addition, the openings to the courtyards

have two sets of shutters: the inner ones consisting

and terraces

of ? combination

of fixed glass and operable s for light and ventilation; the outer ones consisting of large wooden doors, closed at night for security,

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museum of TribalArt

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The open-to-sky pathway is structured around three courtyards - from which one enters the various facilities. This feeling of open space is an essential part of the experience of visiting Bharat '11liavan. Progressing through the terraced gardens and courtyards, one comes Rem"" A)(hibitiofJ. spaces, workshops- and dance theatres, in an easy and casual manner, maKingmem accesST5lefOfhe -ctrtzmJErof Bhopal. -

On On

Every evening, whole families, on cycles and scooters, come to stroll around in the terrace

Store

gardens - and perhaps stay on to watch a play, or hear a concert.

On Modern Art {}

Plan

o~~om

The Bhairang

with a performance

in progress

View back towards the main entrance

@

1-

IN CENTRE FOR ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH Bangalore 1990-94

Since time immemori91, holy men and sc~olars inlllcJl?hgW,e renounced the world and gone to live a life of contemplation in forests and high mountains. This age-old pattern was adopted

as a metaphor for g~nerating

the layout of this new campus, an extension of the Indian Institute of Science (the oldest and still the premier Institute of Fundamental Research in India), which has been created to provide research fa~ilities and living accommodation for distinguished visiting scientists and scholars. The traditional renunciation of the world by the rishi (holy man) is here symbolised

by a long curving wall, built

of granite blocks, which encircles a forest in the centre of the site. The various facilities provided (research laboratories, library, residential accommodation, wall-

lecture halls,

etc.) are on the other side of the

;", .:'~ " '

so that during the course of their studies and research, the

scientists (truly the new rishis!) can step through the perforated granite wall, into the forest for wisdom and enlightenment. A service road skirts the outer boundary of the site, providing access to the various facilities. In a second phase, an additional

set

of research laboratories has been added, connected to the znain building dome, celeb~ating the "Bucky Balls' '" by a,Buckminster Fuller ' which constitute the structure of carbon atoms,- a geometry intuitively conceptualised by one who must surely be among the greatest rishis of our 20th century.

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Axonometric ENTRANCEGATE

showing the stone wall encircling

the forest

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Looking out through the stone wall into the forest

Looking out from the hostel, towards the forest

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HOSTEL

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Laboratories

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The Buckminster

Fuller dome, representing

the structure of the carbon molecule

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Library: lower level

Library: upper level '--'~ 0 1

The Library - that ancient symbol of knowledge - "breaks through" the granite wall, establishing closer relationship with the forest

Walking past the Hostel entrance, with the Library ahead

,!: Axonometric

of Library

The zone between work area and forest

"---' 35m

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Viewfromthe forest, back towards the work areas I

Thewall,made up of blocks of grey granite, quarried locally, through which one steps intothe forest. . .

JNIDB Hyderabad 1986-91

This Institute is set up to train senior managers from banks in India and South Asia, who come in for various types of courses from two weeks to a full year. One of the key objectives

of the programme

therefore is that informal interaction and discussion

among

management trainees and faculty should be encouraged by the very pattern and layout of the built form itself. Hence the complex system of interdependent organised around a series of landscaped provide the humidified micro-climate

climate of Hyderabad

-

spaces,

courtyards,

so as to

-

necessary in the hot-dry

and very evident in its traditional

architecture. The sequence

of these courtyards

connects the

auditorium to the teaching rooms, and thence on to the faculty offices. Along a cross axis, another sequence the gently ascending

leads one up through

levels of the sloping site, past the lounges and

dining hall to the residential rooms, which are laid out around . smaller courtyards. In the centre of the entire complex is the kund, whose stone steps echo the boulder-strewn

landscape

of

Hyderabad, creating a focus in the centre of the complex - an ideal place for casual conversations, formal occasions.

The landscape

of Hyderabad

as also for concerts and more

Entrance lobby

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teaching

rooms

from

entrance

plaza

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A cluster of residential rooms around a small courtyard

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B

Part plan showing residential rooms around access courtyard To generate interaction between management trainees and faculty, there are two important spatial sequences - the firstleads from the public zones (the teaching rooms, auditorium, etc) to the privacy of the individual hostel rooms. The second continues on from these individual rooms out into the surrounding landscape. Both sequences have been carefully layered, so as to create a series of zones, ranging from the most public to the most private. Thus starting with the monumentality of the entrance hall, the spaces get gradually more casual, so as to encourage the kind of. informal interaction so essential to the programme. From the residential rooms out towards the external landscape, there is an analogous pattern of layering: each room has a small sit-out porch, which in turn relates to the cluster of other such porches,allJocated on terrace gardens, from which one can go out into the surrounding landscape.

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rap-lit lobbies, on way to Dining room

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.ooking out towards the rock-strewn landscape of Hyderabad

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.d~- The outside walls of the complex courtyards glowing from within

are white, with the warm earth colours and the landscaped

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Cluster of faculty houses

The houses for faculty and staff are on the rightI

main plaza, reached through a "darwaza" (or gal which spans over the driveway Besides the Oirf residence (located at the corner), this complex provides accommodation for three categories of houses, from the maintenance staff to the senior faculty, organised around three interlocking COU

Isometric of faculty houses

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Houses for maintenance staff

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' ---', 135m

, Pergola covered

walkway

KALA AKAD EMI Panaji, Goa 1973-83

Located on a site along the Mandovi river in the capital of Goa, this Centre for the Performing Arts provides 10,500 sqm of facilities for visiting artistes and troupes of performers from other cities in India and abroad, as well as for local Konkani and Marathi theatre groups and" musicians who travel around many villages and towns

of Goa - and who constitute a vigorous and essential part of its cultural traditions. The facilities provided are several: they include a 1000-seat auditorium, a 2000-seat open-air amphitheatre, for experimental productions,

.

a special "black box"

and so forth. There are also schools of

Indian Classical Dance, and Indian and European Classical Music, as well as an Exhibition Gallery for Painting and Sculpture. addition, accommodation artistes and musicians. .

In

has been provided for visiting troupes of

The site, which faces the historic Mandovi river, is on the

Campal, a wide tree-lined road running through an old residential area of Panaji. Thus the builtform is low-key and unobtrusive - the main 'event" along the road being the large pergola-covered for the auditorium and the amphitheatre.

foyer

As will be seen from the

plan, this space leads one toward the casuarina trees along the riverfront, so that the building in fact acts as a large breezeway, connecting the Campal to the Mandovi river.

=j Main road

Plan

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The 1O00-seat auditorium has to function u, wide range of conditions, ranging from spe and plays, through sitar and sarod recitals western orchestras. These variations in

acoustical conditions are brought about by manipulating areas of absorbent material a the walls and ceilings of the auditorium. Th, mechanics of these changes are not alway apparent to the audience, since these devi are placed outside a box whose walls are r of materials which are acoustically transpaJ but visually opaque. On the walls and ceilir this inner box is painted the illusion of an 01 Goan theatre, complete with balconies pee with typical locals, drawn by the renowned artist Mario Miranda. To decrease the reverberation time in the auditorium, real CL are pulled behind the figures in the balcom supplemented by other drapes that move (unseen) above the false "ceiling".

The central foyer: a breezeway

that connects

the main entrance to the fylandovi river

At the top left corner of the mural, the stair continuing straight is real - the one turning to the right, an illusion. At the lower right hand Ie Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe come around the corner, to make the world - and Goa, alas! - never the same again.

When the show starts, the house-lights dim gradually, with the illuminated figures in thE balconies fading last of all. At the interval, I process is reversed. However, at the end G performance, just before the balcony-light5 come on, spot-lights illuminate (for a few bl seconds) the ceiling behind the inner box. this surface is painted fragments of the gre jungles of Goa; an experience to remind th audience that all they have witnessed is mt illusion - certainly the play, perhaps also tt own lives - and that the only thing they car sure of is that one day this too will , an jungle will reclaim its own.

uditoriuminterior- a visual construct of acoustically transparent materials

Acoustical voiume

Virtual volume (Acoustically transparent visually opaque)

Structure

Jungle scene

Perforated coffers

' 0 Section through auditorium

"r o' 135m

'

KOVALAM BEACH RESORT Kerala 1969- 74

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The purpose of this project, commissioned

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by the Government

of India, was to initiate one of India's most spectacular (but relatively unknown) beaches as a major beach resort area. Thus the facilities specified in the programme

(accommodation

for over 300 guests,

centres for yoga and ayurvedic massage, water sports, and so forth) had to be deployed in a manner which would create a critical mass

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for each activity - and at the same time open up several strategic points on the site so as to increase future growth options. The master plan therefore does not concentrate all the facilities in one

Entry

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area, but generates a larger number of potential growth points, thus allowing a more flexible response to future demands. The guest rooms come in three configurations.

Firstly, on the

edge of the beach, hidden under the palm trees, are the kudils

-

individual suites for longer stays, with their own cooking facilities, etc. Overlooking the beach is the main hotel with 100 guest rooms. Here, in order to preserve the natural beauty of the site, the facilities are all built into the hill slopes - every room getting its own private sundeck. In between the kudils and the hotel there are clusters of "detached units", offering about the same facilities as the kudils but at slightly higher densities. Throughout the project, the construction is in traditional vernacular of Kerala: viz, white plastered walls with red tiled roofs; other pavilions consist of light bamboo chhatris with coir matting on the floor and local Kerala handicrafts. Plan of hotel on hill slope

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The guest rooms are arranged in clusters of 12, so that each the water all around, Covered made of padauk, connect the central public areas in casual, patterns,

Translucent

around courtyards, has a clear view of verandahs, also guest rooms to the meandering

sliding screens in the restaurant

Upperdeck, overlooking bay

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75

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/ CIDADE DE GOA Dona Paula, Goa 1978-82

Goa, one of .the oldest trading centres along the west coast of India and for 450 years part of Portugal, is a land of rivers and hills and stunning palm-fringed always been traditionally

beaches. Because Goa's economy has land-based,

million is evenly distributed

-

the population

of seven

one lives in a place because one

either owns land there or is a tenant-farmer

working there. Thus

Goa has no single dominant city, but a balanced

polycentric

system of villages and towns - the largest of which has less than 100,000 inhabitants. This hotel, a few minutes drive from Panaji, is built on a sloping site which descends

L

down to a beach on the Zuari river. During

the process of design,

I

the hotel began to emerge as a sort of

I

I

expressionistic hill town - so the search commenced for a name which would describe

it . . . surely there was a mythical city which

the Portuguese had yearned for, in vain? . . . . an EI Dorado? But alas, historians could find nothing. less metaphysical

(Are Portuguese

perhaps

than Spanish?) Finally a phrase surfaced:

"Cidade de Goa" . . . the original name for Panaji, Goa's capital town. City of Goa.

. a marvellously

which is at times a city abstracted,

evocative phrase.

. a city,

and then again a city"of virtual

imagery, and finally a city of real dwellings and balconies and terraces. The main road is up on the barren ridge of a rocky plateau. One es beneath the entrance arch and descends long driveway into a lu,sh green valley, to arrive. surrounded

down the

. . in a plaza,

by key symbols and signs which connote: CITY.

Some of these images are the artifacts of a stage set, others the trompe de l'oeil of the cinema poster artist. These facades are layers, one es through. kaleidoscopic

. . . a highly fragmented,

series of visual sensations and architectural

spaces.

What is real? The object? Or the image? Or the image of the image of the image? Awakening sub-conscious

responses

memory. . . the bitter-sweet saudade of nostalgia. fados of the Alfama, a sardonic art.

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Goa has. always lived at the interface of many cultures. Even before the Portuguese arrived, it was one of Asia's greatest ports - a vital link on the trade routes. In its history were men like the fabled Adil Khan, and the Kadamba Kings whose ancestor, Trilochana Kaba (i.e. the Three-eyed Kadamba) sprang from a drop of Shiva's sweat that fell at the foot of the Kadamba tree. These rich images form the principal themes of the hotel. Beyond the lounge, the pedestrian street begins. As one walks down these covered arcades, past courtyards, one glimpses connecting bridges and short flights of stairs leading to the guest rooms. The shops are not in the main lobby, but along this street (as would occur in a real town), starting with

One of the Oamao guest rooms. The sleeping area consists of a mattress placed on a traditional at/a (raised platform) covered by chattai (rush matting)

the Taverna - a typical Goan bar. The guest rooms reflect the main historic themes. Some of them are 'Casas' based on their prototype in Portugal. Others, called 'Damao', reflect Goa's ancient trading connection with Gujarat - seen in the statues in the Cathedrals of Old Goa, carved by Hindu craftsmen strongly influenced by their own traditional iconography. The metaphor of the city culminates in the Alfama, one of the many restaurants in the hotel, named after the old Moorish quarter of Lisbon. Here we find the city involuted on itself: an indoor city within an outdoor one, with diners seated at various levels in different houses, and at terrace cafes around a miniaturised plaza.

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"house" in the Alfama restaurant ~,

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MRF HEADQUARTERS Madras 1987-92

Madras is a low-rise city, with a quiet and relaxed life-style. These new headquarters for MRF, the leading tyre manufacturer India, gently follows the curve of the road to create a series of terraced gardens,

in

recalling the waves on the seashore of the Marina

along the waterfront in Madras. Rejecting the notion of a high-rise tower to convey the commercial

pre-eminence

monumentality

of the client, this design generates

though a single free-standing

column rising to

the large pergola that floats above the terraces, protecting them from the sun. Within the building, the various levels of the offices open out onto a central atrium, linked through a casual pattern of connecting wonderfully

stairs, creating a focus for the building - and a

casual way to walk from one department

to another, or

to exit and go home at the end of the working day. At the roof terrace level, one emerges on to a large garden, with the trees and buildings of Madras all around.

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jEEV AN BHARATI Delhi 1975-86

This office complex for the Life Insurance Corporation (LlC) is situated on the outer road of Connaught a pivot between the colonnades

of Connaught

of India

Circle, and acts as Place and the new

generation of high-rise towers that now surround it. !hus the building is both proscenium

and backdrop:

stage-set whose faceted glass surfaces trees around Connaught

a twelve-storey

reflect the buildings and

Place, and beyond which the new high-rise

imagery of Delhi can be glimpsed. The two lower levels of the complex consist of shopping

decks

and restaurants, while the upper levels of offices are located in two separate wings, generating metres.

Connecting

long, ed

a total built-up area of 63,000 square

the two wings, is a great pergola, 98 metres

at either end by masonry piers and in the middle by

a single column. A city proposal for an elevated pedestrian walkways (if ever constructed) allowing pedestrians

will between the two blocks,

to traverse the building as a great darwaza, i.e.

gateway, defined by the portico-form.

102

From Connaught

Outer Circle

The red sandstone of the piers wraps around the rear facade, culminating in the twin elevator towers which frame the slot for the pedestrian bridge. On this side of the building, the windows are deeply recessed into the masonry so as to protect them from the heat of the Delhi sun.

Exterior clad in red sandstone

The rear facade, with slot leading through to Connaught

104

Circle

;ross from the open green area in Connaught

Place

Bus Terminal

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PERMANENT MISSION OF INDIA TO THE U.N. ~\

New York

1985-1992 '.', ,~.,.

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The site, just down the road from the UN Headquarter York, consists streets,

of two Manhattan

city-blocks

connecting

ad

forming a narrow strip of land 60 metres long, with

of 12 metres along 43rd 81. and a mere 6.3 metres along L Into this crevice had to be inlaid a complex programme of the Permanent Mission of India and an Exhibition Gallery ( access from 44th 81.) located in the four levels of the radii surmounted by a tower with residential accommodation fa different categories

of staff, ranging from the security pers

(15.5 sq. metres each) to the Dy. Consul. General (200 sq. trIplex apartment with terrace gardens, at the top of the bL This wide range of apartment sizes were all accommodatE

same envelope (a tower 14 metres wide and 15.5 metre~ I wrapped

in a taut metal-led

top are interlocking duplexes

-

skin. The larger apartml somewhat like the Kancha

Apartments in Bombay (1969-83), but with the double-hei! glass-enclosed (so as to remain useable in the North AmE winters).

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B From 44th St. The building fits together like a jigsaw puzzle, not only because of the mix of offices and residences, but also because Government of India regulations specified very precise areas for each apartment, down to the last square metre, for the many

differentcategoriesof staff- and thesecould neither be increased (because of objections from the Ministry of Finance) nor decreased (because of vigorous opposition from the PMI staff).

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mtrance door on 43rd St., which es wide by 6 metres high, opens tions (two upper and two lower). de door on 43rd St. (leading the apartments in the tower) and ce door to the Exhibition Gallery ., it is made in India of wood and raditional

Rajasthani

craftsmen.

Maquette of Husain sculpture

Apart from the many works of art within the PMI, the eminent Indian artist, M. F. Husain, was specially commissioned to create two pieces The first is a large mural in memory of Mahatma Gandhi which covers the surrounding walls of the main lobby. The other, yet to be installed, is a sculpture for the double-height terrace over the main entrance on 43rd St, which pccording to Husain depicts the 7 mythic horses of the Mahabharata, bursting forth

from the Chakra (wheel) - seen in the Emperor Ashoka's Column, the Official Seal of the Government of India.

The double-height

terrace over the main entrance

on 43rd St., with opening for Husain sculpture

"-. ~...

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11

Starting with the lower three floors of the podium (clad in reddish-brown granite from South India), the tower rises to 27 floors, "evaporating" at the top into a cube of pergola-covered terraces - like traditional towers in the hill-towns of Yemen.

Looking " towards

the east river and the UN headquarters

The North facade from 44th SI.

L.I.C. CENTRE Mauritius 1988-92

Mauritius is an Island of Paradise in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Africa. It has an evenly-distributed human settlements,

poly-centric

pattern of

not unlike Goa. The capital is Port Louis, and

this office complex is situated at the intersection streets in the crowded

of two important

centre of the city. While the boundaries

of the

site are defined by the pergola above and its large ing column, the building itself steps back in terraces, opening up precious space at this very busy street intersection - a ges!.Ur~ which creates an --- urban lanai, filled witJ:1 the-exetic fJora-of-Mauritius. Apart from the main entrance to the office floors, the programme called for two other important entrances,

,

each one have its own

identity.Thefirst is for the officeof the ConsulGeneralof India- to be entered from a doorway directly off the main driveway, with the Ashoka Column (symbol of the Government

of India) directly above.

The secondis for the Life InsuranceCorporationof India- which is on the first floor and reached via the bridge which stretches out to the pavement in front.

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Office Office Office Office LlC Office Consulate

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Stairs and bridge leading to entrance of LlC headquarters

at first floor

Pergola over main entranCE

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A terrace along the North facade

openings along the eastern and western faces 1ebuilding are relatively low-key, but along the 'facade, double-height terraces provide ctacular views of Port Louis harbour, Along the th-western boundary of the site is a arcade ~hprovides protection for pedestrians moving /leen the bus terminal (a block away to the ') and the city centre,

The North facade, facing the harbour

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of the site

11

121

ALAMED A PARK PRO }ECT Mexico City 1994 to date

-

by Reichmann

are for offices, with the top three having Executive Suites a

International in the heart of Mexico City, on a site which was largely

This office building is part of a new development

on to terraces with marvellous views of the city through the

destroyed

"urban windows" at the top of the building.

in the earthquake

Plan developed

of 1985. Within the context of a Master

by the noted Mexican architect Riq:!rdo Legoretta,

the design of the buildings national architects

have been entrusted to several inter-

(Caesar Pelli, Aldo Rossi, Fumihiko Maki, etc).

This projeCt is a low-rise building, located along the front of the site, facing the historic Alameda Park. It has the proportions cube

-

of a

the lower two fl.oors of the building contain shops which plug

into the shopping

arcade along the rear of the site. The upper floors

j

From Alameda Park, these openings, floating just aba\ level of the trees, will frame the multi-faceted

work of Deigo Riveira and Orazco. The external walls are c black volcanic rock used in many of Mexico City's oldest t with the mullions of the square windows in a glossy reddisl metallic finish.

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great Mexican tradition of public art, so vividly exemplified

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125

KAN CHANjUN GA APARTMENTS

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Bombay 1970-83

In Bombay a building has to be ~te~ east-west to catchJbe QIevajling sea:b[eezes, and to open up the l2est views in the city: the Arabian Sea on one side and the harbour on the other. But these unfortunately are also the directions of the hot sun and the heavy monsoon rains. The old bungalows solved these problems by wrapping a protective layer of verandahs around the main living areas, thus providingthe occupants with two lines of defence against the elements. . Kanchanjunga, an attempt to apply these principles to a highrise building, is a condominium of 32 luxury apartments of four different types, varying from ~.::.to 6 bedrooms each. The interjock of these variations are expressed externally by the shear end walls that hold up the cantilevers. The tower has a:proportion of 1:4 (being /

7

21 metres square and 84 metres high). Its minimalist unbroken surfaces are cut away to open up the double-height

terrace gardens

at the corners, thus revealing (through the interlocking colour) some hint of the complex spatial organisation spaces that lie within the tower.

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form and of living

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SONMARG APARTMENTS Bombay 1961-66

This is an early attempt to deal with the context and climate of Bombay.

In order to create two lines of defence against the rain

and sun, a belt of auxiliary spaces (verandahs,

studies, dressing

rooms, etc) is arranged to form a zone of protection

around the main

living areas. The apartment

is on two levels with a difference

between the living room and the main bedrooms. only two apartments

per floor, each unit is open on three sides,

creating through-ventilation

and a subtle ambience

Over three decades of occupation apartment

of 75 cm

Since there are of cross-light.

by the same family, the

illustrated has had to deal with many different changes in

the ages and the space requirements of its s - and this is where the cordon of auxiliary spaces along the western and eastern faces have proved extraordinarily

responsive and flexible, combining

with

the main rooms to deal with a large number of spill-over activities in an easy and economical

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The dining room, looking towards zone of protection

along eastern perimeter

Connecting zones of protection: the door (with the faux Matise) opens to connect the Living Room to the Guest Room.

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--=.J "'

jving

room, with protective

zone along western perimeter

/'

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for the Master bedroom

HOUSE AT KORAMANGALA Bangalore 1985-88

The traditional courtyard typology

houses of South India represent a

much older, and really quite different, from that of the

bungalows built by the British - which is usually a long shed (with the Living and Dining rooms down the centre and the Bedrooms on either side), wrapped

around with continuous

result: rooms which are large and generous, light and cross-ventilation. In contrast, the traditional Goa are usually organised

verandahs.

The

but sadly lacking in

old Hindu houses in Tamil Nadu and

around a small central courtyard,

Ji1'f

with a

tree or tulsi plant in the middle. One enters through the front door, intentionally placed off-centre on the main facade, and then moves along a shifting axis to arrive at the courtyard which acts as a central focus, bringing wonderful

bounce-light

and ventilation to the rooms

that surround it. How infinitely more delightful to the somewhat dark and predictable

spaces of the colonial bungalow!

Constructionon this housewasstartedin1986- unfortunately, before requirements

Entrance

were sorted out. Thus during

construction, the house kept changing

-

really quite fundamental

changes in the number of rooms, in their sizes, in their relationship to each other. These went through more than a dozen incarnations -

the only thing they all had in common was the courtyard in the

centre. Thatnevervaried- and it allowedthe restto keep changing,

right until the end.

These successive complicated

rounds of decision-making

layering - an ambiguity

which would probably

been impossible to achieve in a design conceived through a single round of decision-making designer's

have generated

a

have

and executed

(however complex the

intentions), but which has come about as a natural

fall-out of a process involving consecutive

rounds of decisions

(each hopefully the last!) like the subtle ambience

a

0

0

a

of an old town

which has grown organically with time.

L::> ring-yang interlock around courtyard I~

House of house and sll

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Entrance to dining room

The living room, with stairs to upper bedroom and terrace

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Roof plan

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towards courtyard from living room

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Bamboo chiks around the courtyard

The Burma teakwood doors, taken from a turn-of-the-century bungalow that the family use to live in, incorporate the traditional symbol of the tortoise (appearing in various sizes, depending on the width ofthe door). These doors have been hand painted by the architect to celebrate their new incarnation. Studio garden, with granite blocks

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:entrywatchingdoberman crossing courtyard very swiftly

VILLAS AT VEREM Goa 1982-89

Thirty-eight

houses located on a beautiful piece of land along

the Mandovi river, across from the city of Panaji. Because of the elongated

nature of the site, which runs between road and river

bank, it was possible to string out these houses so that all of them get a river view, with still enough land left over to create a shared garden along the river front. Most of the house-owners

are Bombay families who want to

have a second home in Goa. In this sense these are holiday homes, though they can also function as permanent year-round

houses

(and in fact do so for a few resident families). There are two basic house-types, with an equal mix of 2 and 3 bedroom size~. On the river front, the elevations vary, so that families have a certain amount of individual identity, and the view of the clusters from the river has diversity. Simple changes in the floor levels within the houses help define specific areas, while preserving openness cross-ventilation. Construction

and

is of brick bearing walls, finished in stucco and

painted white, with a mezzanine floor of RCC, surmounted

by a roof

of wooden rafters and clay tiles. Shared back-garden,

along the banks of the Mandavi river

~~-----..

::::~~~ -~~ "2"'.

r.~. ."~M'

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Site Plan Typical three-bedroom

house

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The basic unit in the Site Plan is a block offourhoo

- and this block can become eitherconvexor con depending on the angle of two bedrooms, placed one centre. This pivot increases central units to 3 bedrooms

the "pivot" (consisting0 over the other), in the I the capacity of thetwo each, while the endOn

remain as 2-bedroom units. Thenuancesofthese \ A block of four houses with hinge in centre

~

subtle movements in the shapes of the blocksfrom concave to convex and back again, animatesthes plan, giving a certain individuality to each house (which, as in the case of the beach hotel DonaSy/ is further augmented through the use of different balconies, porches, etc).

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~~ !ction down to river franI

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~ 35m

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The house at the eastern end of the site is a holiday home for the architect. The living and dining areas

are wrapped around an atrium

-

which is protected

by a jaffrey, covered with bouganvilla. This allows the Living and Dining rooms to be free of any protective grills, for even when the wooden shutters - of these openings are closed, the rooms continue to be cross-ventilated through this atrium (which acts as a lung for the whole house).

Looking towards the river, from the living room

II

Upper flap, partly open

From the living room one steps out on overlooking the river, through a door ~ flaps. The lowest flap acts like the bot dutch door, while on the upper two is scene of the river and landscape out, when the flaps are closed, the river c( part of the house; and when they are present a somewhat unreal counterp( scerJery.

The living room, looking towards three-flap opening facing the river

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All three flaps open

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INCREMENTAL HOUSING AT BELAPUR Belapur, New Bombay 1983-86

This project, located on six hectares of land about 2 km from the city centre of New Bombay, attempts to demonstrate

how high

densities (500 persons per hectare, including open spaces, schools, etc) can be easily achieved within the context of a low-rise typology. The site plan is generated

by a hierarchy of community

spaces,

starting with a small shared courtyard 8m x 8m around which seven houses are grouped.

Each of these houses is on its own piece of

land, so that the families can have the crucial advantage

of open-to-

sky spaces (to augment the covered areas). Furthermore,

they do

not share any party-walls with their neighbours houses truly incremental,

-

which makes these

since each family can extend their own

house independently: These houses cover almost the entire social spectrum from squatter families to the upper income brackets - yet, in order to maintain the fundamental

principle

of Equity, the sites themselves

vary in size only marginally (from 45 sqm to 70 sqm). The form and plans of these houses are very simple, so that they can be built and extended by traditional employment

masons and craftsmen - thus generating

in the Bazaar Sector of the urban economy (i.e., exactly

where they are needed for the new urban migrants).

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~y I A cluster of seven houses, arrangec

Looking out to shared courtyard

-, Buildable to this boundary edge

The house sites are arranged in pairs

so as to save

-

Water supply and drainage

on plumbing and sanitation costs. The main structure of each house has small but mandatory set-backs on

two adjacent sides

-

and can abut the boundary on

the other two. Windows are allowed only on those walls which are set back and on the main facade which faces the community space in the centre. This pattern ensures that each house will be free-standing with respect to its neighbour, and hence can grow independently.

Shared service lines

Road

Plan of seven houses around the courtyard

Site plan

Road

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20m

EBN

Type A units

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These house plans are merely indicative, 1 construction of the units is simple enough undertaken by local masons and mistrys, , active participation of the owners themse/\ In time these occupants will add their own of colours and symbols, colonizing the pro through their life-styles.

Arriving at a cluster

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adapting

easily to the lifestyles of the inhabitants

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New Bombay

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Type B ..

TypeA

Id axonometric

Type D

.

Type E

/

Section'~ Type D

drawings

of house

types,

covering

wide

Elevation: Type E

range

of income

groups

Section: Type B

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TITAN TOWNSHIP Bangalore 1992 to date

-

The client, one of the most successful

and enlightened

units in"India, wished to set up housing for their workers form of an isolated company town (with the privileged

-

industrial

,

Types of Clusters

not in the

ghetto

mentality that it usually breeds), but as an integral part of the new urbanisation

taking place outside the small town of Hosur, near

Bangalore. Thus the roads serving these 1500 houses are an integral part of the new urban fabric in that ~rea and the green areas created by Titan are accessible to the public at large. Furthermore, many of the sites and houses are being sold to outsiders (that is, to other than Titan employees)

so that there is a natural mix of populatibn,

right

from the start. Then again, in order to generate the pluralistic ambience

which is such an essential characteristic

.,

of organic

growth, it was decided to entrust the design of the houses to four different architects.

After collaborating

the four architects

on the Master Plan, each of

then made a set of preliminary

house designs -

and then met together to evolve a shared vocabulary and architectural

of materials

language. This in turn has been evolved into a set

of Design Controls for the houses, so that other architects owners can also participate

in the development

and

4 modules,100m

x 100m

'\.,

of tM town.

In such a context, how does one establish a certain modicum of order - and thus hopefully avoid the chaos seen in so much of the Indian urban environment? developed

To begin with, a Master Plan was

which, within the existing pattern of municipal

roads,

inlaid a series of square modules of varying sizes that incorporate shared back-gardens

for the houses, to establish the images of the

new town. The left-over edges of the site were then sealed off with rows of individual plots for sale to those owners who wish to build independent

houses.

The basic square modules are 48 metres by 48 metres - and these are combined

to form clusters of 2,4,8

or 16 modules. The

roads servicing these modules are kept to very short cul-de-sacs, so they can carry an unusually high level of service infrastructure (underground electric lines, cable television, etc) and yet make it such infrastructure affordable in the Indian economic context. In these modules, each house is directly connected at one end and to the community access to these back-gardens entrances community

back-garden

to the public roads

at the other. Outsider

is possible only at certain gate-way.

~

- at which are located public amenities (kindergartens,

.:-.,... ..'"

centres, etc) to provide easy and informal control.

16 modules, 212m x 212m

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Entrance to Sec,

At the main entrance to Sector V, facing the open principal maidan (green area), are located the community facilities: the Club, a restaurant and a small shopping centre - which form a large gateway controlling entry to the back-garden. The other entrances to this back-garden, located at the other cardinal points of the com, also have community facilities (a kindergarten school, a health clinic, etc) to provide info/mal monitoring at these points of access.

NEW BAGALKOT Kamataka 1985 to date

-

n,

The system of dams now under construction raise the level of the Ghataprabha

in Karnataka will

river, submerging

part of the

existing town of Bagalkot under water. Hence the Government

of

Karnataka's

decision to develop New Bagalkot, presently under

construction

about 10 km further along the National Highway. This

new town being developed

for a population

not only house the displaced is also expected

of 100,000 persons, will

inhabitants from the existing town, but Existing houses in old 8agalkot

to become the major new growth centre in the

region, attracting the distress migration which is otherwise gravitating Hubli.

to other already overcrowded

This assignment of the same principles (Affordability,

cities like Bangalore and

provided the opportunity discussed

Replicability,

to try and apply some

in the planning of Ulwe

etc) to a small town, far more typical of

urban growth in India, using an approach

that generates flexible

street patterns analogous to the existing town of Bagalkot - as also to most traditional organically

over a period of time. Furthermore,

this approach,

.J.

Indian towns that have grown naturally and

the composition

have to be pre-determined

as will be seen, in

of any particular sector does not

by the planners, but can be decided

from time to time, as the town grows, depending

on actual demand.

A vigorous, functional

-

and very beautiful! vernacular

Proposed

Plot Sizes (in sqrn)

EXISTING

N

180

Existing street patterns in old town of 8agalkot

01~050m

EB

PROPOSED I Plot Size (in rn)

% of households

Floor Area (in sqrn)

%of households

Type

0-10

12

A

12

8x9

10-25

38

B

38

8 x12

25-50

30

C

30

12 x 9

50-75

11

D

11

16 x 9

75-100

4

E

4

12 x 18

100+

5

F

4.5

15 x 24

G

0.5

20 x 24

Total

100

100.0

Proposed plot sizes, based on income profile and Government subsidies

.

Assuming a buildin

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ide> nerioheral

15m

Q. '" (J5

Module

JL

roa

. Module

Q. '" (J5

Module

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Module

Open

E a a

Q. 'c (J5

I

Module

Module

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Module

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I 280m Diagram of sector, showing a,ssemblage of ~

,modules and strips N

In of New Bagalkot

L--.J , 0 0,5 1,0

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\-20m-+ Strip of 250 sqm plots

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2km

!~..!,~

First of all, based on social and cultural patterns, as well as the existing income profile and housing plot sizes in the existing town of Bagalkot, a schedule was worked out of area requirements forthe different income groups, These plots were laid out in small sub-assemblies termed "Modules" and "Strips" - which could then be fitted together to form Sectors of 1280 m x 280 m. As will be seen from the Sector plans, ing the access roads and pathways of the various I sub-assemblies (by omitting a few sites) allows a fine-scale mix of different income groups - thus avoiding the cruel segregation of income groups and classes found in most "planned" Indian towns (including Chandigarh),

l~l"~, I

,100m

Module

tr

of 70 sqm plots

Module

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,,100m of 100 sqm

plots

L

Bus stop 24m wide road

Corner 'open space

Shop houses

Open market

pen space

'0

'" e

'0 '" e CD '0 '~ E " N

CD '0 '~ E ro

18m wide main road

I 'sector,showing fine-grained mix of different income groups

LJ~ 0 10

' 30

Darwaza

' 50 m

Bazaar

sector,

with circulation

Pedestrian spine moving

diagonally

across

r

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Room

Room

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c:: Room

Y/;

Type 81

TypeA2

The Demonstration

Sector

(presently

~~ 0 1

35m

Street elevation

under

construction) incorporates typical houses for various sized plots and income groups. Each house is arranged so that the main living spaces focused around a private courtyard for the exclusive use of the family

Toilet

Bedroom

J ~

Living & Dining

Bedroom

Future room

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court":.

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SURYA KUND Delhi 1986

,.>

,..

The traditional

kunds, generally located next to temples, are

rectangular

water ponds where the faithful come for ritual

purification

before entering the temple to worship, The sides of these

kunds consist of geometric

patterns of steps, surrounding

this body

of water, During the monsoon, the water in the kund is full; when the hot weather sets in and the water level recedes, more and more

steps get uncovered

-

but the relationship of the devotees to the

water stays constant, allowing them to perform the same sacred rituals along a new layer of steps, The form of these kunds is derived from the vastu-purushmandalas, those ancient Vedic diagrams which con'ceived of Architecture

as a Model of the Cosmos, Like many other aspects of

India,-these

diagrams are both ancient and contemporary,

pragmatic

and metaphysical.

both

Axonometric

Like the thali (the flat circular plate

0

used for eating), their physical form seems timeless. The Surya Kund, a re-incarnation built for a futurologist

of these traditional

kunds, was

who lives on a solar energy farm in Delhi

("Surya" in Sanskrit for the Sun), and who hosts think-tanks on various social and political issues concerning

India, In that sense it

is a tank where one comes to think - and hopefully purify! - oneself. Like its prototypes,

the orientation of the Surya Kund has been

precisely determinecj by the cardinal directions

of the com.

From the garden

Section 186

===::I

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1

!:: 3

7ce to the Surya Kund

The peripheral walls, defining the central space, give to the participants of the think-tank a clearly demarcated arena for discussion, one which serves to marvellously focus the mind. In the centre, symbolising the bindu (the Source of all Energy) is the Shri Yantra - the most sacred of all

yantras.

Think-tank in session

BRITISH COUNCIL Delhi 1987-92

This new building for the British Council houses a number of diverse functions, including a Library, an Auditorium, and the Headquarters of their offices in India.

an Art gallery.

These elements are arranged in a series of layers, recalling the historic interfaces that have existed between India and Britain over the last several centuries.

From the main entrance gate, one moves

down the main axis which extends right up to the rear garden wall. The three nodal points along this axis are structured axes mundi, each recalling one of the principle exist in the Indian sub-continent.

around three

belief systems that

At the farthest Wd is the axis

--

mundi of Hinduism, a spiral symbolising Bindu - the energy --- centre of the Cosmos. The next nodal point, located in the main courtyard, is centred around another mythic image: the traditional

Islamic Char

Bagh, i.e. Garden of Paradise. The third nodal point alo~ is a£uropean icon, inlaid in marble and granite, used to represent the -Age- of -Reason, - - including the mythic values of Science and

Progress.

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The 3 axes mundi are placed along the length of the site, connecting the entrance gate to the rear boundary at

the other end.

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Shiva, from whose hair sprang the sacred Ganga river

-

sculpture

by Stephen Cox

DO

0 0 .'7

0 Char bagh

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Longitudinal

section through the site

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Portion oftacade facing Kasturba Marg

The walls around the Char Bagh are clad in red Agra sandstone. The head of Shiva and the Bindu at the farthest end of the axis are sculpted in the black rock quarried near the sacred site of Mahaba/ipuram.

ffice

Detail of rear courtyard

At the entrance garden, encoming all these many layers, is a mural by Howard Hodgkin, made of white Makhrana marble inlaid with black Kuddapah stone. Symbolising the shadows of a tree, Hodgkin's work is a metaphorical image as sheltering and pluralistic as India herself. Apropos of this the critic John Russell has written: "What looks like a flat pattern turns into a force of life that seems to question our very right to be there. Those floppy, elephant-eared black leaves come around the corner as an amalgam of all the vegetable growths that stand for torment and ecstasy in Mughal decoration. . . Without Correa, Hodgkin would have had-to topple over into sculpture to get the use of the third dimension. Without Hodgkin, Correa's building would have looked like an espalier for which someone had forgotten the trees. The building does not prop up the art. Nor does the art infiltrate the building. The two are one

and indivisible. "

VIDHAN BHAVAN, STATE ASSEMBLY Bhopal 1980 - to date

The new State Assembly

for the Government

of Madhya

Pradesh is under construction in the capital city of Bhopal. Many factors determined its form: its site on the crest of a hill; the old Muslim monuments

nearby; as well as of course, the famous

Buddhist Stupa at Sanchi, just 50 kms. from the city. The plan is a series of gardens within gardens. The istrative

offices are used to define a pattern of nine

compartments.

Legislators' Entrance

The five central ones are halls and courtyards

(creating a micro-climate corners occupied

V.l.P. Entr1

of shade and running water), with the four

by the specialised

functions:

the Vidhan Parishad

(Upper House), the Vidhan Sabha (Lower House), the Combined Hall, and the Library. Since the istrative

offices constitute the bulk of the floor

area, they form a decisive part of the architectural in any Assembly

buildings constructed

this circulation

gardens:

double-loaded for the visitor.

buildings,

importance.

In Roof plan

Public Entrance

from which one got a

hence having to wait to meet a

official was a reasonably

contemporary

Combined Hall

in India during the last century,

was usually along verandahs

view of surrounding government

Thus

building, the placing of these offices, and the

manner of reaching them, is of considerable government

experience.

pleasant experience.

however, this circulation

In most

takes the form of

corridors - which create quite intolerable

conditions

assured. For security reasons, the public has to be separatedl the Assembly and other VIPs; hence they enter throe the main courtyard on the west, and after ing through the check point, climb ramps to reach the viewing galleries overlq the three main halls. On the way to their galleries, they progre~

In this Vidhan Bhavan, the movement patterns within the

along bridges and ramps (winding around the "Subbhas" like,

building have been carefully studied, so as to form diverse - and

ritual circumambulatory

pleasurable!

progressions

- architectural

sequences.

along the edge of the courtyards,

The circulation

is always

so that light and fresh air are

paths around the Sanchi Stupa),

which allow all the various s to experience t~

principal spaces

-

and dimensions - of this complex.

. - -.. "....

Jillars near Sanchi

Stupa at Sanchi

Hamam at Imamnagar

"11 --

~

~

0

0

0

0

Q9 ~L 0

Ground floor plan: gardens

5

20 m

10

Overleaf: part plan of lower level

within gardens 4' 199

.;,

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,

IUCAA Pune 1988-92

A Model of the Cosmos. beginning

. . this was what Architecture,

of time, has sought to represent.

our own contemporary Inter-University

since the

Is it possible to express

notions of what the Universe is about? The

Centre for Astronomy

and Astrophysics,

located on

the campus of Pune University, is such an attempt. The site consists of three contiguous

pieces of land, with two campus roads ing

between them. One arrives down a road between two swerving black walls of local basalt stone, surmounted deeper black Kuddapah

by courses of a

stone, topped finally by a glossy black

polished granite (which reflects the sky and clouds above). Black on black on black: the visual structure of Outer Space.

These black walls draw one into the entrance, between two columns of exposed concrete which de-materialise

at the top into a

soft blue. Ahead and to the right, lies the kund - here transformed into a metaphor for our Expanding Universe. The~tones along the edges fly apart with centrifugal energy, setting up the diagonals that

--

connect to the other facilities in the centre of the camp':!§.Jhe-

Computer Centre to the Northwest, the Hostel to the southeast and .~

to the~siting Facu y

ousing that lies beyond.

-he central kund

Around the kund itself are located the four major elements of the Institute: the Library. the Faculty---offices, the Lecture Halls and the Student FAr.iliti$s. The larger-than-life figures within the kund represent four extraordinary scientists: Aryabhata (who, more than ten centuries ago, established that our planet was round), Newton (sitting under a tree, looking at the fallen apple), Galileo (gesturing up to the dome of Heaven) and Einstein (time in his pocket-watch, contemplating the relativity of space).

The Expandi!

-instein in the rain

The landscaping

models an image of a black hole seen through a radio-telescope

Granite blocks

209

/

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

Entrance Kund Black Hole Roche Lobes Serpenski's Gasket Faculty Offices Lecture Halls Computer Centre Library Dining Dome Student Hostel Guest Apartments Exhibition Gallery Auditorium Science Park Samrat Yantra

13

Site plan: across the road to the east, a 500-seat Auditorium,

Art Gallery and Science Park

L__r

0

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,

-

~ "'!'"

,

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'~ 30

;""t

',~

,, "-:~I'!~.

10

,

,.

~""'-

looking' back towards the entrance columns

The twin entrance columns of exposed concrete, touched with blue at the top, de-materialisingi~

-;ourt

ipheral black wall, revealing portion of the Computer

Court

Verandah around the Computer

Court

.;, oucault's

Pendulum

in the faculty offices

@1

@f@ Calibrated

markings

at base of Foucault's

Pendulum:

white marble, inlaid in black and gray granite

t was important that the surface of the main dome :arrya message as crucial to the.scientific values of his century as the Jain cosmograph is to the ancient /edic notions of the Cosmos (as depicted, for rJstance, in the dome of Mangal Mahal at the lawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur). Since one of the nost fundamental qualities of Science is precision, he astronomers at IUCAA, using a map of the night ;kyon the day that the project broke ground, nodelled the precise position, size and relative Jrightness of the stars by placing small pieces of Ilass (which let through specks of intense daylight, ike stars in the night sky) in the form work of the iome before the concrete was cast.

Inlaidstone pattern on floor below dome is of ancient Ayurvedic origin, linking the seasons with the rashis (constellations).

81

II

~~

,

~J

The Serpenski

Triangle modelled

in the landscape

1-.

of the courtyard

in the centre of the hostel

The configuration of rooms and circulation is based not on conventional dormitory typologies but on the Oxford and Cambridge system of student accommodation, where 2 or 3 rooms are accessed directly off a staircase, 3 or 4 stories

high

-

thus giving to each cluster of 10 rooms or so, a

separate identity. Here this typology is adapted for a ground and one upper storey structure. The circulation at the lower level is around a central courtyard with seating provided in alcoves placed at intervals along the periphery. Each pair of rooms shares a bathroom and verandah. From this level, stairs lead directly to the upper storey, where the circulation switches to the outer periphery of the building (facing the garden) so as to reach a limited access corridor serving 8 to 12 rooms for Faculty, with attached private baths. Here each pair of rooms share a private balcony overlooking the central courtyard.

Hostel's upper level plan

~.

~A

Bathroom (shared by 2 students)

If

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Sitting I Circulation area

= = '---'~' 0 135m

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Hostel's lower level plan Hostel showing cross-over of circulation

.

(/

Axonometric.of type IVhouses

Director

-~---housing

'---' ~ ' 0 5 10

' 20 m

@

To the west are row-houses for the Staff and Faculty, grouped around courtyards. All the various categories provide a generous share of terraces, porches and courtyards for each family

tyard of type V houses

Double height pockets in type IVhouses

215

~ fra

II

II

The Samrat Yantra: for measuring

the Sun's orbit

-

constructed

in black masonry, polished

~

granite and steel

,

Detail of window in Director monitoring

Steps to top of Samrat Yantra

entrance

II

.,

The external wall of black basalt, surmounted by black Kuddapah stone, crowned by polished black

granite

-

black on black on black,

the colour of outer space

217

jAWAHAR KALA KENDRA ]aipur 1986-92

The ruler Maharaja Jai Singh who built the fabled pink city of Jaipur was moved by two seemingly

conflicting

sets of mythic ideas

and images. On the one hand there were the oldest myths of the Navgraha mandala (i.e. the mandala of the nine planets, which scholars believe was the origin of the city plan of Jaipur - with one of the planets moved to the opposite corner in order to avoid an existing hill). Jai Singh was also a profound believer in the newest myths of Science and Progress (as witness the Jantar Mantar, the astronomical

instruments

he constructed

greatest possible accuracy,

If _c~DOD

ODD ODD ODD

L c;DaDO 0 ~~

NavgrahaMandala

0

uare moved Corner sqaf hill because

Genesis of Jaipur

to measure, with the

the movement of sun and stars across

the skies). Thus the city of Jaipur, double-coded truly extraordinary: the principal

like Jai Singh himself, is

the clarity of its main arteries, the positioning

of

buildings, the efficiency of the water management

system, the sure grasp of underlying

socio-economic

patterns and,

above all, its startling relevance to us today of the transformation between past and future, between the material and metaphysical worlds, between the macro and micro scales, that Maharaja Jai Singh sought to synthesise. In these respects,

he seems analogous to another man, born

more than two centuries later: Pandit Jawaharlal

Nehru, India's first

Prime Minister. Guiding the new nation in its first decades Independence,

Nehru also wanted to look backwards

after

and forwards

Jantar Mantar, Jaipur: monitorir.;, sun and stars

the

Jaipur city plan

in one decisive gesture:j.e.=dls..CDlLedogJodia.'.s_past-whilst ~multa!leouslY Jrwenting-a new-future. Thus this Arts Centre, dedicated to Nehru, is really a metaphor

'\

for both men - and for Jaipur itself. Like them, and like the city, it is double-coded:

a contemporary

~

building based on an archaic notion

of the Cosmos: the very same ~9!ah§U!lalldala,

,

.

.

with one of the

squares moved aside, so as to provide a point of entry, and to recall the gesture that created the original plan for Jaipur.

'-

jfT!pli}n

c/M

. if ,-.

i The genesis of the Jawahar Kala Kendra

J /<)(

r

KETU

BUDH

SHANI

RAHU

GURU

~ Plan

'

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ffi

z

...

...

Curved Glass wall and water court in Guru, looking back towards the kund

--

~ model of the Cosmos. From behind us the morning sun rises while ahead the full moon sets

The external walls of the building (including th around the central kund) are clad in red Agra sandstone, topped by a coping of beige Dholpl 1

I

stone - the same materials used for the Jantar Mantar Observatory, in the Red Fort at Agra, ar Fatehpur Sikri.

i .~~

1

Jantar Mantar Observatory.

:'j Study for placing

On these external surfaces, the presence of ea' the planets is expressed by its traditional symb inlaid in white marble (embellished, where necessary, with polished black granite and mic, slate), recalliag again the precisely calibrated surfaces of the astronomical instruments at the

Tantrik drawing

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Jain cosmograph depicting the manifest world

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Mangal Mahal with domed roof

ihe first planet enters is Mangal (which corresponds to Jupiter). Since this planet represents Power (signified by the square symbol and the colour red), it was decided to house the Director and his istrative offices here. This planet becomes

the entry point to the

whole complex - so along the walls of the Mangal Mahal is an explanation of the Navgraha, and on the ceiling under the dome is painted a Jain cosmograph depicting all the rivers, mountains, animals and vegetation of the manifest world around us.

The dome in Mangal Mahal looking towards vehicular entrance

[

~

colour:

Milky White quality: Heart function: Cafeteria

KETU

~

colour:

SHANI (SATURN)

~

RAHU

The nine planets

function:

colour Iridescent quality: Devourer f Restorer function: Rajput Weaponry

lQJ GURU (JUPITER)

colour: Lemon Yellow quality. Knowledge function: Library

~

SHUKRA (VENUS)

Red

quality: Power istration

colaurV quality : Performing

If the nine planets is represented by a square, 30m, defined by red sandstone walls, 8m high. Dgramme for the Arts Centre is disaggregated into )parate groupings, each corresponding to the myths Irticular planet: for instance the planet Guru (which lises Learning) houses the Library, the planet 'ra (the Moon, which denotes Pleasure), and so forth. Iditional symbol of each planet is expressed in ! and stone inlay in the stone walls that surround it. 'ntral square, as specified in the ancient Vedic 1S,is a void: representing the Nothing - which is the Jurce of all Energy.

Rahu, the imaginary the sun

2956

planet which represents

the eclipse of

2231

m N

0 m N N

11155u

~

Traditional symbol of Rahu (inlaid in black granite, white marble and grey mica slate), depicting quite literally, the Sun being devoured by the Moon

~--~'-..~'" .._~

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/'60

/

/

~ iG ~ ,

~

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t, looking towards entrance to the Planet Shani (i.e. Saturn)

the Moon

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Chandra:

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/

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Details of red sandstone in kund steps

Kund, looking through square opening towards curvedgli Diagram showing layers of stone blocks forming kund steps

The exterior walls of each planet are covered in red sandstone. - but the interiors are painted in the auspicious colours, emotions, and mythic imagery traditionally associated with that planet

-a

a

La

--

-

u - U -

--0 --

I,

I I I I

The imaginary planet Rahu, symbolising

black interlocking circles

-

the solar eclipse. Hence the white anc

and in the centre: the Axis of the Universe.

!!'!II!'

\. \ E.C.I.L. Office, Hyderabad

IUCAA, Pune

Salvacao

Church, Bombay

I''I ill III

,'" II II

Belapur Housing, New Bombay

ZWE

~,II :1 1

il

Hindustan Lever Pavilion,

II'

mi

~.~ r

Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya, Ahmedabad

~I

, ~

~

c

Kanchanjunga, Bombay

IN Centre, Bangalore

EOO P. M. I., New York

~ a Park, Mexico

,.\

M.R.F. Headquarters,

20

All drawings

at

Madras

40

60m

1: 1234

Vidhan Bhavan, Bhopal

1958

GANDHI

SMARAK

Ahmedabad,

HANDLOOM PAVILION, 1958, Pragati Maidan, Delhi, for the All-India Handloom Board. This temporary pavilion designed and built in six months was the first completed work of the office. Brick and mud walls generate a square plan forming a simple multi-level box, through which visitors move in an easy and continuous flow. The roof of wood umbrellas, covered with hand loom cloth, suffused the internal space with an even light.

I Ii

SANGRAHALA

for the Sabarmati Ashral

Sabarmati Ashram, the historic home0 memorial scholars

which functions -

as a centrE

housing his letters, photogrE

archival materials. (See pages 30-35)

I

I

I I ..

!

i I

II I

,

~ ;~

II

LALBHAI HOUSE, 1959-61, Ahr Hansa and Niranjan Lalbhai. A H house at Hansol along the Sabarmat large orchard garden.

:1

'I i~

CAMA HOTEL, 1958-59, Ahmedab Hotels. Two floors of hotel rooms flank a atrium, open at both ends; thewholevoll by stilts, above a large podium. A thire was

added

during

number of changes

construction.

(particularly at the entrance level) b without reference to the architect.

~, "

II . ~,

III

; Elevation

11_.. UII ... . Section

III

,ii .\1 II

Wood

:11

Handloom & A!kathln

frame

_,II I arth fill

' '"

i~! I ,

.&11 . ,y! I ,..,.

f

.

Ur

have subsequenl

236

'

'~,

0

2

10m

,.fli!iJ-. y:J..

TRATION BUILDING, 1958-60, Anand, for 'idyanagar University. The lower two floors ~dministrative offices and the top floor Jartmentsfor University guests. Because of -west orientation of the site, climate 1 is a major factor. This external walls are as a combination of storage walls and kinds of closeable shutters: the wooden

COSMOPOLIS

APARTMENTS,

Bombay, for the Cosmopolis incarnation

(Unbuilt),

1958,

Housing Society. The first

of the concept which was later to become

the Kanchanjunga

Apartments.

!n directly to the outside and the glazed in axis at right angles to them. This allows ventilation through the open glazed s Ie the wooden ones are closed to keep In.

Section

Elevation

Glass Shuner

1959 Inside

I $

I I

3800

Detail of openings in external walls

FUTEHALLY HOUSE (Unbuilt), 1959, Bombay, for Rabiaand Sadiq Futehally.Asmall two-bedroom house on the side of Pali Hill is a variation of the design of the twin houses at Bhavnagar, using brick walls and terracotta tiled roofs.

l=DT_~rI --~J

ound floor plan

zW

~~ 0

2

5

10m

W HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT, 1959-60, Anand, for Vallabh Vidhyanagar University. This rural universityis an experiment in education started by nationalists during the Independence struggle. The buildings are simple in construction and built departmentally. This Humanities Department has a square plan with a courtyard in tile centre. The peripheral walls are loadbearing.

SEN HOUSE, 1959-61, Calcutta, for Chini and Sanjoy Sen. A large multi-levelled house, with terrace gardens, opening onto a private garden.

TWIN HOUSES, 1959-60, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, for Mr. & Mrs. Mohamud Merchant. These twin houses were designed for a large t-family headed by two brothers. Each house is an ascending spiral of spaces; one house turns clockwise and the other anti-clockwise. Their plans based on a grid of 9 squares of 4.5 metres x 4.5 metres each, allow the rooms to interlock around the central square (housing the circulation) which acts as a flue, setting up convection currents through the rooms. The cantilevered balconies of the bedrooms emphasise the ascending spiral of the interior spaces, as also the direction of the contrapuntal "twist" of each house. And although their plans are generically the same, the two houses are not identical - -the areas and position of the varied functions having been adjusted to suit the special requirements of each brother's immediate family.

CRICKET STADIUM & SPORTS COMPLEX, 1959-66, Ahmedabad, for the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. The programme, which called for a stadium to seat 35,000 people, an extensive club house and swimming pool, tennis courts and bton courts, etc., has only been partially completed due to lack of funds.

.

Elevation

,1Sf<

i81 238

NIUM PLANT, 1959-63, Bhabha Atomic :h Centre, Bombay, for the Department of Energy. This plant for processing plutonium, ~ts a unique effort by Indian scientists in the Atomic Energy

GUN HOUSE, 1960-62, Ahmedabad, for the Ahmedabad Rifle Association. The Ahmedabad Rifle Association needed a building to house their offices and showroom. Since their requirements were small and their initial funds limited, they wanted a plan which would provide direct access to independent rentable offices, and which could be added to later on. Thus the building consists of 2 separate blocks each 12 metres x 12 metres. The floor slabs are diagrids, ed by 4 columns placed at the middle of each external wall, augmented by diagonal braces to the corners. This creates an internal office space free of obstruction. The central slot between the two blocks is used for circulation and toilets.

..

--

d Pi

.4

'!"

.. r-

~l!'

W ~.._-

ESING HOUSE (Unbuilt) 1960, Ahmedabad, 'nima and Anil Hutheesing. A variation on the gar house with the 3 bays in each direction :Jto a tartan grid of 5 unequal ones, so that :ulation in the centre moves casually and lIy around a garden. Plan

~3m

Q

lor,

N

Kitchen

F

j

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0

OJ Living

II

OJ

--

, I

o

Dining

00

0

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dn

if

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20r,

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~239

1961

LOW-INCOME Ahmedabad,

TUBE HOUSING, 1961-62, Ahmedabad, for the Gujarat Housing Board. Also known as the "tube" house, this was first prize winner in an all-India competition for low-cost housing. Though the programme specified walk-up apartments, these row-houses proviGJedthe same density - and larger living space per family. Each unit is shaped so that

HOUSING

(Ur

for the Gujarat Hausin~

of the restrictive parallel walls of A row house, the width of each unit v internal relationship of spaces is mo

unit has an internal courtyard.

.

the hot air rises and escapes from the top-,-setting up a convection currents of natural ventilation. Inside the units there are almost no doors; privacy being created by the various levels themselves, and security by the pergola-grid over the internal courtyard. Section

,--, 0, 0 135m

,

Plan

f---'

AMTS WORKSHOP, Ahmedabad

1961-63, Ahrr

Municipal Transport 5e

workshop

and bus yard for the A~

covering

10 acres in the heart of 1

involved the development of a maste the design ofthe buildings. Inthe main the istrative offices are placed overlooking the two acres of covere( thus providing direct supervision. ThE of RCC folded ventilation.

.,///'

II 240 ~-

plates, allowing in I

"AN LEVER PAVILION, 1961, Delhi, for 1Lever Ltd. The Industrial fairs held annually Jrovided an extraordinary opportunity for to experiment. This is a variation of the ndloom Pavilion. The circulation pattern is Jtthe form has metamorphosed due to the narrow site, and because of the structural ed: random-folded RCC plates, gunited in;ingramps and platformsbelow-and creating nons"which set up convection currents of air Iefractured, scaleless spaces.

SONMARG

APARTMENTS,

1961-66,

Bombay,

for

the Sonmarg Housing Society. This design is an earlier version of the Rallis apartments,

wherein verandahs,

studies, etc., form a zone of protection around the main living spaces. (See pages 132-137)

.

LABORATORY

& PROCESSING

PLANT, 1960-62,

Bombay, for Suhrid Geigy Pvt. Ltd. The laboratory has a flexible system of services for supplying

gas, water

and electricity at each table. Behind it is the work area, roofed over by an RCC plate structure.

1962

..

SEN-RALEIGH POLYTECHNIC, 1962-64, Asansol, for the Asansol Education Society. A training centre consisting of workshops and class-rooms, the spaces organised around a large atrium, so as to encourage through-ventilation.

:tion II:

RAMKRISHNA HOUSE, Ahmedabad, 1962-64 for Mr. & Mrs. Ramkrishna Harivallabhdas. This large residence, built for one of Ahmedabad's millowners, is based on the spatial and climatic concepts developed in the Tube House and the Hindustan Lever Pavilion. The plan sets up a series of parallel bearing walls, punctuated by interior courts and "cannon", climaxing in the living room which opens out onto the main garden to the south. The house is set at the northern end of the site so as to maximise

KASTURBAGANDHISAMADHI,196. the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi. Kasturt Mahatma

Gandhi, was under house

when she died in 1944. This memor the spot where she was cremated. edge

of the Aga

consists shifting

Khan Gardens,

of a gently

descending

axis, open-to-sky,

defined

parallel brick walls, culminating in thE At several points along the path ther, to levels from which the surround

the size of this garden and to enhance the spatial sequence of getting there.

is viewed. The podium created by houses a modest museum devoted te

I'

COu Section

.u Section

111

~ SubtcmneanMuscum

.

Service court

~ .'

.,

Plan

242

,

. "' .";,.. , ".

I

'

,'.

EB ~ ~ 0 2

' 5

' 10m

<>[

~L DARWAZA CENTRE (Unbuilt), 1962, lmedabad, for the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Jrvices. A major bus interchange for the city, with lopping and offices above. A complex interlock of Irioustypes of vehicular and pedestrian flows. The staurants, shops and other commercial aCtivities are Idecks which connect directly (via over-bridges) to "public garden across the road. -

BOYCE HOUSES, (Unbuilt), 1962-63, Poona, for Dr. & Mrs. Boyce: Second generation incarnations of the Cosmospolis concept. Variations of the basic theme are used to form different prototypes, assembled here as a cluster of town houses.

THAKORE HOUSE, (Unbuilt), 1963, Bombay, fol Mr. & Mrs. R.Thakore. A 3-bedroom houseand studic facing the sea at Juhu Beach.

Roof garden

Study IU itchen\U

-..

Carpark

Section

~DAJ BUS TERMINAL, 1962-63, Ahmedabad, for JAhmedabad Municipal Transport Services. A large perbolic paraboloid umbrella forms the bus stop, hindwhich is located a canteen for the public and icesand maintenance workshops for the AMTS.

ra I ' " , ,,~:

BATTERY PLANT, 1963-66, Hyderabad, for Union Carbide (India). A manufacturing plant, together with istrative offices and staff canteen.

WRANGPURA BUS TERMINAL, 1962-63, Imedabad, for the Ahmedabad Municipal lnSport Services. Offices and canteen combined h a bus station.

SHUKLA HOUSE, (Unbuilt), 1963, Ahmedabad, for Mr. & Mrs. S. Shukla. A small two-bedroom house with open terraces on the upper floor. 1963

.lM AVENUE HOUSE, 1962-64, Calcutta, for Nilu j Abhijit Sen. Re-modelling of an old mansion, luding addition of some new bedrooms and a new of verandahs on the south, facing the garden.

CATERING INSTITUTE, 1963-67, Bombay, for the Ministry of Food, Government of India. Built on a restricted city site, this project integrates the teaching and residential facilities into one building, arranged in the form of a stepped section. The terraces are accessible from the indoor teaching areas, student lounges, etc., adding considerably to the kind of casual open-to-sky space highly usuable in the warm climate of Bombay: a theme later elaborated in the SNDT campus at Juhu.

6

TEHAllY HOUSE, 1962-64, Bombay, for Zeenat j Abu Futehally. A three-bedroom house on the pe of Pali Hill. Has since been demolished and ,laced by a multi-storeyed apartment building. Plan

~'0f'

3m

243

1964 PLANNING FOR BOMBAY, (1964). The conceptualisation, along with colleagues Shiresh Patel and Pravina Desai, of a new strategy for restructuring the city of Bombay by opening up the mainland

directlyacrossthe harbour- in an areawheremany key location decisions had already been taken regarding the provision of new docks, a major industrial belt, the highway system to the rest of the state, and so forth. In 1970, after the idea had gathered sufficient , the State Government accepted the plan, notified the 22,000 hectares for acquisition and set up CIDCO (the City and Industrial Development Corporation) to design and develop the new urban centres, to be called New Bombay. (See pages164-171)

ECIL OFFICE COMPLEX, 1965-68, Hyderabad for Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. The client wanted a workspace which, through its very form, generates a controlled micro-climate, obviating the necessity for airconditioning. The brief specified a programme that

Pergola overhang to shield building

"

was incremental- hence the modularunits, which are indented into a cruciform so as to bring more daylight to the workspaces. To minimise heat input,

0

5 10

20 km

the units are sealed along the east;. on the west (which enjoys a panoramic view of the surrounding landscape) shade is provided by the large roof

overhang- consistingpartlyof a slattedpergolaand partly of a thin membrane

MASCARENHAS

HOUSE,

1964-65,

Bangalore,

for

incident

of water which reflects the

heat of sunlight back into the sky.

Plan

Dr. & Mrs. G. Mascarenhas. The long slope of the tiled roof closes off this three-bedroom hous.e from the road and opens it to the main garden at the rear.

1965 DUTTA HOUSE, 1965-66, Hauz Khas, Delhi, for iral and Mrs. Dutta. A large muti-Ievel private residence, with terrace gardens.

Offices

Section.

?LlLl

.STRIAN SYSTEM, (Unbuilt),

1966, Bombay, for

Imbay Municipal Corporation.

A scheme to allow

;trians to walk (above vehicular

traffic) straight

, the commuter trains arriving at Churchgate ~ to the offices around Flora Fountain.

lAB GROUP HOUSING, (Unbuilt), 1966-67, Ibur, Bombay, for the Punjab Co-operative ng Society. The Scheme consisted of 60 rowIS(of 2 and 3 bedrooms each) around a central lunity space.

\

0

CABLENAGAR TOWNSHIP (Unbuilt), 1967, Kota, Rajasthan for Oriental Power Cables Ltd. Thick roofs are slow to heat up, but once they do, they continue to radiate heat back into the house all through the night. A better way is to minimise the amount of

"' '

>

j '~~c .

. .....

.

"

Conventional

~_W'(i'

incident sunlightfalling on the roof surface - by a

EZES HOUSE, 1967-68, Poona, for Commander s. H. Menezes.

A tiled-roof

two storey house,

~ flexible grouping of internal spaces, so as to ;able in several different ways by a family with ed children.

~_.

light porous membrane, like a pergola. By raising this membrane, the roof can act as a sheltered terrace. Furthermore, the profile of the internal volumes can be adjusted so as to generate convection currents (as in the Tube and Ramkrishna houses). Units of varying categories were developed for this township, using the local sand-stone throughout: in 3-metre long slabs for the floors (spanning the width of the house), cut into rectangular blocks for the walls, and as strips for the pergolas (which were contiguous over the housing clusters).

with

..,. I~I ~

-3L

Sun-roof

by raising Sun-roof

Volume creating

adjusted for convection currents

HOUSE TYPE F

HOUSE TYPE G

~EIRA HOUSE, 1967-68, Bombay, for Mr. & \I. Ferreira.A four bedroom house with provisions Jditional units on the upper floors for the children I

they grow up. Section

WARDHAN HOUSES, 1967-69, Poona, for $t Mrs. J. H. Patwardhan. Two two-bedroom as, sharing a third bedroom. The living rooms ;entrally placed so as to act as breeze-ways oss ventilation.

Plan

Plan

HOUSE TYPE 0

Service street

~ Typical cluster layout

;;---J;;:~~o

~ m

g

Plan

~ ' '~ 0 2

~ 5 24

PAREKH HOUSE, 1967-68, Ahmedabad, for Mr. & Mrs. Dilip Parekh. From the housing types developed for Cablenagar, came two pyramidal sections: One, termed the Summer Section (to be used in the daytime) protects the interior from the heat, the other, termed the Winter Section (to be used in the early mornings and the evenings) opens up the terraces to the sky. Since this site faced east-west, this house consists of 3 bays: with the Summer Section sandwiched in between the Winter Section on one side and a Service Bay (for circulation, kitchen and toilets) on the other. The bearing walls, made of brick, express directly the climatic concepts which underlie the design.

SNDT

UNIVERSITY

CAMPUS,

Bombay, for the 8mt Nathibai Darr Women's University. A multi-disci~ one continuous structure. The 8, along one perimeter, the Arts alor common facilities placed centrall\ lowest level are located the laborat economical system of flexible due On the next level are classrooms al surmounted in turn by social facilitie~ levels consist of hostel rooms. In section, the levels step back, cr cascading terraces - and also circulation in the lowest two flc laboratories, classrooms and i top-lighting and through ventila

Winter Section SCIENCE

Summer Section

Section

Garden

1968 GANDHI DARSHAN,

1968-69, Raj(

Gandhi Darshan Centenary. This C consists of 4 pavilions each comme aspects of the teachings of Mahatrr amorphous Ground floor plan

"non-building",

structurE

path moving along a shifting axis U

~~~omzEB

courtyards.

The brief involved pre!

Plan for the four integrated pavilic architectural

246

drawings for two of thE

aded corridors. Students start in these els in the morning, and move upwards 1e complex during the course of the day, the hostel rooms on the upper floors at

HAWKERS PAVEMENTS (Unbuilt), 1968, Bombay, for the Bombay Municipal Corporation. A proposal to modify the profile of some of the main sidewalks in Bombay. In the crowded centres of Indian cities, pavements are used intensively: during the day they are crowded with hawkers so that pedestrians are forced onto the road, blocking the traffic lanes. As evening falls, the hawkers gather their possessions

Today:

3m

19m

3m

and go home- to be replaced by peopleunfolding

ARTS

60r, 18m

their beddings for a night's rest. These night people are not pavement dwellers (who are another group altogether), but mostly domestic servants and office boys who have to share a room in their places of work where they keep their belongings and use city pavements for sleeping. This allows them to economise on their living expenses. Furthermore on hot sultry nights, sleeping outdoors is a more attractive proposition than the crowded airless room: that they have to do so under unhygienic conditions with the public walking right amongst (and over) them is truly reprehensible. This project in 1968 recommended to the Bombay Municipal Corporation an experimental modification in one of the city's principal streets (Dadabhai Naoroji Road) in order to deal with both the hawkers during the day and the sleepers at night. What was proposed was a line of platforms 2 metres wide and 0.6 metre high, with water taps placed at approximately intervals of 30 metres.

Proposed

platforms:

Daily 9am to lpm:

During the day these platforms would be used by

the hawkers- thus clearingthe pavementsand the arcades for pedestrians. (The platform would also act as a safety barrier between pedestrians and vehicular traffic.) In the evening, at about sunset, the taps would be turned on and the platforms washed clean by municipal sweepers. They would then provide convenient otlas (platforms) for people to

Night 9pm to lam:

sleep - out of the path of any pedestrianswalking home at night.

L_I

3m

15m

+---; 2m

3m

CORREA

HOUSE

(Unbuilt),

1968, Ahmedabad,

for

the architect. On this long narrow site, the summer and winter sections of the Parekh house are placed not side by side, but consecutively,

in one linear interlock.

INDIA PAVILION (Unbuilt), 1969, Osaka, Japan, for the Government of India. This project is a further development of the themes of the Handloom and Hindustan Lever Pavilions. Here the maze is extended to cover the roof-surfaces as well - so that one enters and goes into, through, and over and out of a large puzzle-box. The architectural form is deliberately low-key, a "non-building" given scale principally by the flights of stairs (echoing the bathing ghats of the holy rivers of India) and the effigy of the mythological demon Ravana.

IJ Plan and section

N 3{)

n

9m

fO\ U

~ 1969 KOVALAM BEACH RESORT, 1969-74, Kovalam, Kerala, for the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India. Development of one of India's most beautiful beaches, using the local vocabulary of plastered brick walls and tiled roofs. (See pages 66-69)

JEEVANBIMANAGARTOWNSHIP,1969-72,Borivili, Bombay, as Consultantto the Architecture Department of the Life Insurance Corporation of India. Housing for 16,000 persons on a 24 hectare site in a suburb of Bombay. The units, which range in size from one room to five, generate a number of typologies (from row-houses to walk-up apartments), all using multiples of the same structural module. The construction (up to 5 storeys high) is of reinforced brick bearing-walls, minimising the use of concrete and steel. In certain cases, the units step back so as to provide open terraces for the occupants. All units have direct access to a central green area of over 20 acres which forms the heart of the project.

L~~. /( ;z //\! ~/\5'"

/ / / Section

(>

'1 HOUSING,

1969-73, Lima, Peru, for the UN

he Government

of Peru. Thirteen

international

ects were invited to submit designs ,etition for a prototypical

housing complex of 1500

)s. Each house had to be incremental, nmodating

in a limited capable of

up to 10 persons (including

grand-

1970

.-. ---

.

.,-.

KANCHANJUNGA APARTMENTS, 1970-Bc Bombay, for T.V, Patel Pvt Ltd. The conce~ originated for the Cosmopolis Apartments (195E finally built some twelve year" after being designee (See pages 126-131)

6-

$§i

hI "-""

N!I -

ItS). ) units, 3 metres wide, broaden \0 6 metres at the 3, in an interlocking

pattern which orients them

.SSE (climatalogically the optimal orientation for . All units have vehicular access from one end porch connecting

to the community

spine at the

=-

11 a small cluster of a dozen units were built of Jfthe 13 entries, The common-wall nodified into a zig-zag

between units

.

(to make it more earth-

~

) resistant) in which are located service elements as stairs and toilets.

... . .

.

~

~'

~

I' ~-'-

General ';"i'an

~7ang

camm;;;;?;

spi~~u

~~~om

0~ HEREDIA HOUSE, 1970-73, Chembur, Bombay, Ie Mr. & Mrs. C. Heredia. This three-bedroom house 01 a gently sloping site in Chembur, a suburb c Bombay, uses tiled roofs and brick bearing walls.

Section

I

~-

~

Plan of units as built

o~~~om

0~

Plan

~~m

EB N

24!

1971 DCM APARTMENTS, (Unbuilt), 1971, Delhi, for the DCM Ltd. The third incarnation of the theme of major and minor living spaces which can be combined through sliding doors in various configurations. (A concept which was first developed for Sonmarg Apartments, and later for the Rallis Apartments).

LOW-INCOME HOUSING, 1971-72, Ahmedabad, for the Gujarat Housing Board. A high density housing project, providing accommodation for 5,000 people in an area of 4.9 hectares. Five different types of designs were developed, each providing the range of 1, 2, and 3 units required by the programme. This gives a variety of configurations, varying from incremental housing on small individual sites, to two-storey walk-ups with open-to-sky terraces.

LJ

LJ

BIMANAGAR TOWNSHIP, 1972-74 Consultant

pattern

1

35m

Der

of India.

where every family

space, (either a garden

of living

conducive

to th

life-style of Bangalore.

_MW

1972 ERANGAL BEACH RESORT (Un built), 1972, Bombay, for the Department of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra. Development of a beach near Mandwa, just North of Bombay, as an international tourist centre.

1973 SQUATTER HOUSING (Unbuilt), for CIDCO (City and Industrial Corporation). The basic module ry units (under a pyramidal roof) is rer a hierarchy of spaces. An idea furtr the Belapur housing (1983-85).

Plan "--'~~

Corporation

15,000 persons, open-to-sky

SEN FARMHOUSE (Unbuilt), 1972, Calcutta, for Nilu and Abhijit Sen. A weekend house for a Calcutta family: 4 caves (for sleeping, cooking" etc.) around a multi-purpose pergola-covered central space.

0

to the Architecture

Life Insurance

MOZUMDAR HOUSE, 1972-74, Delhi, for Riten Mozumdar. This house on a 200 square metres site for one of India's leading textile and graphic designers, combines a studio/workshop and residence.

Site plan

Plan

IS APARTMENTS (Unbuilt), 1973, Bombay, lilis Brothers. Another version of the idea of

1974

No-lines-of-defence" theory first explored in Jnmarg Apartments and then in the DCM nents.

COCHIN WATERFRONT (Unbuilt), 1974, Cochin, Kerala, for the Government of Kerala. Development along the waterfront to create housing and shopping facilities as well as amphitheatre and public promenades.

STRUCTURAL PLAN FOR BANGALORE (not implemented), 1974, for the Government of Karnataka. This project conceptualised a strategy for using Bangalore's enormous growth rate to shift the centre of gravity north of the existing city centre in

the old Cantonment- which is fast beingdestroyed. This was to be done in a series of consecutive each of which uses existing infrastructure

17~9

steps,

(e.g. under-

utilised railway lines) to gradually develop aT-shaped city structure with the new commercial centre at the intersection of the two arms of the T.

JJ

OFFICE (Unbuilt), 1973, Bangalore, for the taka State Electricity Board. Five decks of 3 around a central atrium on a corner site, an important traffic junction in the city. VISVESVARAYA

-

Consultant

CENTRE, 1974-80, Bangalore,

to the Architecture

Life Insurance

Corporation

Department

as

of the

of India. This complex

provides over 20,000 square metres of offices, shops' and parking.

Instead of air-conditioning,

advantage

is taken of the strong wind currents that swirl around

BACKBAYWATERFRONT(Unbuilt), 1974, Bombay, for the Save Bombay Committee. The purpose of this project was to put a stop to the continuing reclamation of land at Nariman Point and Cuffe

]

Parade, an activity which was adding considerably to the already enormous pressure at the southern end

the towers to provide controlled the office areas.

air-circulation

/sliding

within

glass

of Bombay - and generating enormous political corruption in the process. The perimeter of land already reclaimed will be sealed off by a belt of community facilities and promenades along the waterfront. The Government of Maharashtra has ~

NO

officially accepted

this scheme

-

through with its implementation! AKADEMI,1973-83, Panaji, Goa, for the Kala ,mi A performing arts centre, together with , and music schools, along the Mandovi river laji. (See pages 62-65)

.

, ~

Site

plan

~

but has still to follow

Operable louvres for air control

1975

SALVACAO CHURCH, 1974-77, Bombay, for the Archdiocese of Bombay. This church consists of a series of interlinked spaces, some covered, and others open-to-sky. The shell roofs are ventilated at the top, thus setting up continuous convection currents of air. The areas are functionally differentiated, in an analogue of Christ's life. First the years E)f preparation; secondly the years of public life; and finally, the death and resurrection. The skylight in the baptistry is by the noted Indian artist M. F. Husain.

CRAFTS

India organised village

1975,

along aped

to temple to palacE

herself. (See pages 36-41)

BHARAT BHAVAN, 197 Government of Madhya pr; museum, and performing E on a hillslope, overlooking pages 42-45)

Plan

;;--i,~~om

{f] /,

\ I

h

MUSEUM,

Authority of India. Handicra

-j

I

~/~~/

~0

/~~ ~

~y(.>L /'- --.\;" ./-~..:-

\~\

~;:l'~~

--~--~\~ ~~ \'

~V~" ~\"

,\.\\

""-

\

0

~~~~

'~'",

\\"

JEEVAN

BHARATI,

to the Architecture

1975-1

Departm

Corporation

of India. The sit

proscenium

between the ole

Circle and the many new hi~ (See pages 102-107)

'-"I". 252

...

1976

, GROUP HOUSING, 1975-78, Delhi, for the ~o-operative Society. Over 160 two- and threeam maisonettes stacked in two decks, with the ones stepped back so as to form a pergola3d terrace for each family. This configuration ates a central area which allows the units to

WALLENBERG

CENTRE (Unbuilt), 1976, Madras, for

the Western India Match Company. A training centre consisting of low-rise tiled roofed buildings courtyards.

around

each other against the hot dry climate of India (a centuries-old energy-saving pattern) Iso creates a central community area which is caped with trees and running water, so as to ify and cool the dry winds. va-bedroom units cover 84 sq.m and are 3 m 3 m high and 15 m long. The three-bedroom ire 130 sq.m and interlock in an L-shape - so ley use one bay width on one level, and two In the other.

N I~)['

Site plan

(?/

in

~ 0 5 10

SHIMOGA CAMPUS (Un built), 1976, Karnataka, for. Mysore University. The campus on the top of a hill in a

20 m

beautiful region of Karnataka, famed for its thick teak forests,

was designed

vocabulary

STEEL

to use the contextual

TOWNSHIP,

1976-77,

. the Steel Authority, Government plan

for this

developed Section

'

'~

'---"

0

2

5

10 m

rural

of white plastered walls and tiled roofs.

township

in collaboration

Misurata,

Libya, for

of Libya. The master

of 50,000

persons

was

with M.N. Dastur & Co.,

who were the prime consultants

for the development

of the steel plant. Ten sectors of approximately

5,000

persons each were generated, in successive stages, along the arterial roads which run at the northern and southern

boundaries

of the site. Along the centre of

each sector is a spine of public open spaces which contain the schools and neighbourhood mosque. The belt of sand dunes across the middle of the site has been preserved for ecological

balance.

253

1977 PALAYAM SHOPPING CENTRE (Incomplete), 1977, Trivandrum, for the Trivandrum Development Authority. A large shopping-cum-office complex in the centre of the city, involving both urban renewal and new construction,

1978 CIDADE DE GOA, 1978-82, Dona Paula, Goa, for Formento Hotels and Resorts Pvt. Ltd, A 1O0-room

MALABAR CEMENTS TOWNSHIP, 1978-82, Kerala, for Malabar Cements Ltd, A town of 400 housing units on a wooded site at Walayar lake. The client was keen on developing the township in a pattern which would encourage secondary income generation for each family (unusual in a companyowned town). Hence each family (including those on the upper floor) has open to sky-space, both in the form of terraces as well as small kitchen gardens (where they can supplement the family income by keeping chickens or a goat, or even a buffalo - as is commonly done in Kerala),

WalayarL

A Workers village Market

A. Workers village

resort on a beach near Panaji, which seeks (among other things) to create a metaphor of Goa's history. (See pages 76-85) c::F 050

Site plan

~-

~

(

I~CYCLONE-VICTIMS HOUSING, 1978-79, Guntur Andhra Pradesh, for the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Housing for homeless families after the 1978 cyclone, The houses are incremental, the government providing only a single cyclone-proof room of stone walls, with the inhabitants adding on extra rooms in mud, bamboo and country tile,

L~

0 D

;

=0 O~

PI.:';!

{,~:-:.~~.- -

+J}i

@

~

,...I

="",,

:

r

e

L-~

~ I

E]ri,J;J ~"

o?~ V I r--r

~

c::J

'

'I

. L~~
I I \ I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I \

~

"P':'

Kitchen garden

_I

~

- -,-' -'JC-:;:c;'". I I 10f,':' I

',":

I

Kitchen garden ' ,

13m

,-,:.

Plan Plan, type 'A' houses

254

~ ~' 0 1

35m

'

~ i~ . i~

R THINK TANK (Unbuilt), 1978, Delhi, for j and Jagdish Kapur. Based on an idea Illy developed as a week-end house for Prime ,r Indira Gandhi, this small guest house on a )utside Delhi, was meant to accommodate pants of an annual Think Tank focussing on future.

BAY ISLAND RESORT, 1979-82, Port Blair, Andaman Island, for Bay Island Hotels Pvt. Ltd. A resort hotel on the side of a hill overlooking the entrance to Port Blair harbour. (See pages 70-75)

VIDHAN BHAVAN, 1980

-

Government

Pradesh.

Assembly

of Madhya

to date, Bhopal, for the The new State

located on the crest of a hill, in the centre

of the city. (See pages 198-205)

lain arena is a square courtY9rd made of defined by a mud-wall - with the rooms for )articipant as appendages on the other side ! wall. Every morning, each participant es from his doorway to meet in the centre of Jrtyard for the deliberations. /

)~(~ BD CENTRE (Unbuilt), 1980, Madras, for Indian Express Newspapers Pvt. Ltd. Shopping, housing and offices on a 10 hectare site iCithe centre of Madras. The new development is around the edges of the site, leaving the centre to form a new city plaza around the historic old building which used to house the Madras Club. 1980 PALM AVENUE OFFICES (Unbuilt), 1980, Calcutta, for Sen-Raleigh Ltd. A small office building on a very restricted site. The front profile of the building rotates downward so as to provide turning radius for the driveway. RAKAM RESORT (Unbuilt), 1979, akam, Kerala, for the Kerala Tourism pment Corporation. The site is a hundred ,land, just south of Cochin. Originally a it plantation it was to be developed as a tourist centre with facilities for boat trips 1the tranquil scenic backwaters of Kerala.

:ITY CENTRE (Unbuilt), 1979, Taif, Saudi for the Saudi Real Estate Company. This nent involved preparing urban-form studies new city centre at Taif, which is to consist of o square metres of office, residential, 19 and parking facilities. At the lower two s located a souk for shoppers; the upper s are used as community spaces by the tial units which ring the project; the whole ;ition forming a continuous pedestrian spine in c Islamic tradition.

CALVETTY GROUP HOUSING (Unbuilt), 1980, Cochin, for Forbes Cambell Ltd. Cluster housing of 85 units on a beautiful site over-looking the entrance to Cochin harbour.

BARAPANI RESORT DEVELOPMENT, 1980-84, Barapani, Meghalaya, for the Department of Tourism, Government of Meghalaya. A development consisting of 50 tourist cottages and a restaurant on Lake Umiam.

~

--'

MPSC OFFICES,

1980-92,

Pradesh State Corporation. some of the architectural offices in Hyderabad,

1981

Bhopal, for the Madhya A further development

concepts

It is designed

independent

State Government

BEACH HOUSES (Unbuilt), 198 Mr. G. Khandwala. 10 weekendhO

initiated in the ECIL

this complex

dry climate.

of

is for a similar hot-

to accommodate Corporation

twelve

across the harbour from Bombay,

in four

of the classic - and simplesuited

separate buildings which architecturally form a single mass, focussing round a courtyard, with a fountain at its centre. This courtyard

is covered

mezzanine

by a pergola at roof together

chat,

houses. The Ie

deck (bedroom, bathroe

can be locked up when the fal house after the weekend.

level, which not only protects the internal facades from the sun, but also ties the complex

for beach

visually.

Much of the lighting ofthe office spaces ISfrom windows overlooking

this central space; the external surfaces

are either blank masonry, or double-walls

with deep-

set windows.

each have

The six-storey

their own vertical circulation;

high blocks

at various pOints on the

upper levels they are interconnected driveway swings into the complex,

overhead bridges

-

by bridges. The ing under the

a classic pattern found in historic ]"

sectors of Bhopal city.

Axonometric

----------I II

I

I

/

I

0/

I

'r--(~

I

I

I

I

/

I

)--"""

I I

I

I

0

0

0

~ '0 ~

,

' '\ . \

L-_____------

Plan

0 0

COMPUTER

Courtyard

CENTRE (Unbuilt),

for Tata Elxsi Pvt Ltd. Assemblyfae levels, with work space for the SOftl on the terrace levels.

Section

~,

0

5

10

20m

1982 SHAH HOUSE, 1982-85, Juhu, Bom Rajesh Shah. Five separate dwelling designed for the of a (each with their own gardens and tE

256

TOWNSHIP, 1982-85, Awarpur, for Larsen & o. New dwelling units, club house, schools .dministration building added onto an existing hip.

BVB CENTRE (Unbuilt), 1982, New York, for the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. A new cultural centre for the Indian community in Queens, with facilities for language, dance and music schools clustered around an internal street ascending diagonally across the building towards two corner mirrors which reflect it all back.

BELAPUR LOW-INCOME HOUSING, 1983-85, Belapur, New Bombay, for CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation). A low-rise, high-density housing sector in New Bombay. (See pages 152-157)

MIXED INCOME

1983

Bangalore, (measuring

CRESCENT

for a group

courtyard.

radiate

The precise

ground

comprehend

and -

fanwise

consisting

of ten

because

storey

units

of 290

units

different

types,

in clusters, around a central maidan.

site

1984

from the entry

visual dimensions

one

1983, Indore,

1983,

On the

1,900 square metres in a quiet residential

area) seven houses the

(Unbuilt),

of friends.

(Unbuilt),

Authority. A development

grouped

CUNNINGHAM

HOUSING

for the Indore Development

of each of

is difficult

of the complexity

to

of the

spatial configuration.

CANTONEMENT Archdiocese built over

CHURCH,

of rune a hundered

thunderstorm.

1984-87, rune,

for the

The roof of the original church, years ago.

collapsed

In a

Keeping the outer walls intact. a new

RCC roof was inlaid, with a large central vault butressed

Q9 '---' ~ 0 10

~ 30

50 m

by half-vaults on either side. The cylindrical "cannons"

~~~

Intersect the main vaults to create exquisitely shaped ellipsoids

of light.

~plan

,...h

Section

tion

and plan

I ','

, , I ' , , , 30(, , N ' 9m

" ' " ~O~t Section and plan

u

GYMKHANABAR, 1983, Bombay, for Bombay Gymkhana Ltd. Remodelling of an existing room to recreate a historic moment in Indian sports: the 14 sixers hit by C.K. Nayudu in the first India-England cricket match held in 1932.

.

.I

..

VIHOUSES, 1982-89, Verem, Goa, for Alcon state Company. A linear cluster of 32 houses ;ite along the Mandovi river useable both as I homes as well as year-round residences. ages 144-151)

I

ACC TOWNSHIP, 1984, Wadi for the Associated Cement Companies Ltd. In 1984 the Associated Cement Companies (ACC) commissioned two types of housing to be incorporated into an existing company township. The units designed are strung along the periphery of the sites, rather like a necklace. In both instances there is a progression from the exterior to the interior of the site; from the public and vehicular access domain, to the private internal space of the house itself, to a semi-private 'patio or court, to the large central communal space. The first type of units - Type B - consist of 368 flats, each with an area of 48 square metres. These three structures are arranged in a highly formal manner to form a series of interconnected units, courtyards and gardens. The units decrease on the upper levels to form terraces overlooking the central space. The second type - the larger Type J units - are approximately 65 square metres each. These consist of 45 courtyard houses, ventilated by internal patios, arranged in tightly-knit clusters. Each two-storey unit has a barsati room on the upper terrace level.

1985 BAGALKOT Karnataka, township

TOWNSHIP,

1985 - to c

for the Government of for the 50,000 persons wh

placed by the rising waters of the Gha (See pages 180-185)

A necklace cluster of Type 'B' units

.J~-

£~1r~ ~

MISSION OF INDIA ( 1985, New York, for t~

of India. Offices and residential acco the Permanent Mission of India to the I

~

0

PERMANENT RESIDENCES,

(See pages 108-115)

C:~Ljl Site plan: Type 'B' units

c:FI:= M 020 50 100m'

~

Ground floor plan: Type 'B' unit L.J~ 0 1

' ' 35m

HOUSE AT KORAMANGALA, for the architect.

1985

A residence and st

and one upper floor, around a central, pages 138-143)

~iteplan: Type 'J'Units'---J~' 0 10

Typical elevation:

258

Type 'J' units

30

' M~ 50m'

Cluster plan:

'--'~ '

'

0 2

10 m

5

1986 JAWAHAR Government

KALA KENDRA, 1986-92, Jaipur, for thE of Rajasthan. A double-coded

buildin~

based on the navgraha (nine square) mandala, whicr was the original basis for the planning of the historic city of Jaipur. (See pages 218-232)

:HAEOLOGY MUSEUM (Unbuilt), 1985, Bhopal, the Government of Madhya Pradesh. An Jrtant collection of sculpture and architecture, sed partly indoors and partly in open-to-sky 'tyards. This is really a variation of the "inside-out ,"', with the main ordering element (the high Ie wall) and the first set of museum galleries built Ie initial phase, and the rest of the galleries (all lit courtyards and overhead top-lights) to be structed in subsequent phases, as requirements funds become more clearly defined.

Elevational sketch showing "zone between the two systems".

SURYA KUND, 1986, Delhi, Urmila and Jagdisl Kapur. A further development of the Kapur Thinl Tank built out of brick with mud plaster. (See page: 186-187)

Sectional sketch showing "zone between the two systems".

iies for lighting of interior spaces

JAWAHARLAL

NEHRU

INSTITUTE

0

DEVELOPMENT BANKING, 1986-91, Hyderabac for the Industrial and Development Banking Institutl India. A Management Training Institute for senic management from South Asian banks. (See pagE 52-61)

'.. .'

. '.

.('~ ..,~

:~ oL-r--;~o

Plan

m

0

0}

{~ ?'

-"""

1987 MRF HEADQUARTERS,

E;J.

Ltd. The new Headquarters

1987-92, for one

business houses. (See pages

94-11

'"

HUDCO COURTYARD HOUSING (Unbuilt), 1986, Jodhpur, for the Housing & Urban Development Corporation. Using the basic design principles for the units at Belapur, the units are grouped around a hierarchy of open spaces. The houses cater to four income categories, from lower to mid-level income families. There are, however, only two basic plot sizes. Each unit is independent from its fleighbour which allows for incrementality and upgrading as families become upwardly mobile. The construction materials are those that are readily available. Local stone is used in a centuries-old traditional manner, for both the load-bearing walls and the roof slabs, similar to the Cablenagar Township at Kota. The units themselves are massed in single and double storey blocks. The house designs of the two to four room (excluding service spaces) units remain simple and are influenced by their Rajasthani context in of arrangement and construction materials. Because of the hot dry climate, the units are directly built around enclosed courtyards -- quite different from Belapur where the units are freestanding and allow for through-ventilation so essential in the hot wet climate of Bombay.

~ 0'--;'0

260

3~Om

"C/\ \.V

BRITISH COUNCIL, High

D

Commission,

1987-92, od Delhi. The ne

Library and other facilities. (See pa

~u

Section

1988

LlC CENTRE,MAURITIUS,1988~ the heart of the business district.(Se L_r--',

Typical plans

0 135m

,

HEADQUARTERS (Unbuilt), 1988, Bangalore Hindustan Machine Tool Company. A horizontal complex, with terraced gardens, set on a site Ige trees in the 'garden city' Bangalore.

DONA SYLVIA, 1988-91, Cavelossim Beach, Goa. A beach resort on one of the most beautiful beaches in the south of Goa. (See pages 86-93)

INTER.UNIVERSITY CENTRE FOR ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 1988-93, Pune. A research and teaching institution which seeks to project a Model of the Cosmos - as we understand it today. (See pages 206-217)

~

Ib=

1\[ JJ,f"~

----.

1989 STAFF HOUSING, 1989 - to date, Hyderabad, for CCMB (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology). Over 150 housing units of various categories and sizes, organised around terraced gardens on a hillside facing the lake. THE MALANKARA ORTHODOX SYRIAN CHURCH, 1989 - to date, Parumala. A new church at the shrine of the principal saint of the Malabar

Plan c::FI::::= 0510

\,i,.;

~~

~

), with a circulatory

EB

Church of Kerala - a Churchwith its own unique rites and rituals, founded by S1.Thomas the Apostle, and older than the Church of Rome.

CQ

-'

HEADQUARTERS, (Unbuilt), 1988, Bombay, Nuclear Power Corporation of India, is a further Jpment of the HMT Headquarters. This large ex to be situated on a spectacular site in the : Energy Establishment at Trombay, is really a )meration of several autonomous units - hence m of the building:

z

20m-

Corporate Finance Corporate Personnel

a number of inter-connected ramp (a true pradakshina!)

Ig around a courtyard

in the centre. Adjacent

) of offices share top-lit atriums (which can be j off with sliding glass s).

Ramp

Canteen

Section

cF't:=

0 2 5

lO'm

Library

~$"~/~

ProjeqtlGroups

~~n

ProjecjtlGroups

Section

L-J ~ 0 2

' 5

' 10m 261

1990

NEHRU

JAWAHARLAL

CENTR

Bangalore, For the Indian Institut Bangalore, A new campus for scienti work and living facilities, (See pages~

JNC at IISc, 1990-94. Bangalore, for the Indian Institute of Science. The house of the President of the JNC, along with offices, conference facilities and a small guest house for visiting scientists is situated in the old campus of IISc, in a grove of very beautiful old gulmohur trees, is organised around three interconnecting courtyards. One arrives in the largest courtyard in the centre, where located the office of the President together with conference facilities and ing staff. To the left is the courtyard around which are grouped guest rooms for visiting scientists, and to the right is the courtyard around which are various rooms and activities of the President's house.

TATA ELXSI,1990-93, Bangalore,. creating

software and hardware for a

firm, is in Bangalore and c6mputer Valley",

-

the fastest-graIl

centre of India and knl

The complex

of sloping t

structured around internal courtyards kind of laid-back ambience whicl cantonment

seems to share with Califc

1991 ULWE: The CBD of NEW BOMBAY, for CIDCO

(The City and Industria

Corporation), controls

The Development

Pia

and the building of prototypi

1000 families (at all income levels) ( runs from the waterfront

along the

New Bombay up into the foothills behi 172-179)

TITANTOWNSHIP,1991- to date, Master Plan for a new company town, to be in-laid into an existing network and services, (See pages 158-163)

1992 MADGAON

STATION,

1992 - to dal

Konkan Railway Authority, The princlp new Konkan Railway is located 1 km

r~ '

from the existing urban

.

>

growth,

station so that it I

away

from the crowdec

"',. '\

GUEST HOUSE

\

!

.j '

Plan 262

L.J,

;'

0

5

2

' 10 m

'

---'

\---~:

EBz

010\ ~~~o

I

$

m :v'

'

' \\ :,: :-tl_--: '!

,-..j\ ::::oi

II.MPUS, 1992 - to date, Madras,for the for Management Excellence. This Institute Ig senior management, provides teaching md living a9commodation for 120 trainees j in separate (but parallel) programmes. The mplex is organised behind the polished tone wall that runs parallel to the road, J the facilities from the dust and noise of the oughfareon which it is located.

COCHIN BACK-WATERS, 1994 - to date, Vennala, Cochin, for Shogun Developers. A large housing complex of housing units on three islands in Cochin's back-waters.

CAHAYA, 1994 - to date, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for EN Realty Sdn Bhd. These luxuriously large houses around a new golf course being developed in the hills around Kuala Lumpur, are part of 300 houses being designed by 12 international architects.

1995 TVS FINANCE, 1995 - to date, Madras. A Headquarters for one of India's oldest and most successful financial businesses in the centre of the city.

.

f '~ff"

CITY MUSEUM, BMRDA, 1995 - to date, Bombay, for BMRDA (the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Development Authority). 10,000 sqm of museum galleries together with 10,000 sqm of office space (as across-subsidy to financethe museumand itsactivities), located at the centre of the new Financial Centre being developed by BMRDA in the Bandra-Kurla Complex.

N

ffi

) Velachery road

~ 0

~ 5

'---' 10

GOBHA, HOUSE, 1995-todate, 20 m

orchard,

~

I

~~~~J~{~~~~~l~~jb::~'~Y;~~~:)~Z~' .

about 150 km north of Bombay.

CAPITAL COMPLEX, Government Complex

1994 E EXPORT PROMOTION Bombay,

for

the

CENTRE, 1993 - to

Textile

Committee,

lment of India, to house Jries and textile exhibition areas.

research

---

1'r

.. r

t

..f.

'I'" . I .. r " ,

.

r

tr i t-

Pradesh. This new Capital

of the State

Assembly,

the

Secretariat and the High Court) is located

on the ridge of a hill in Itanagar - the main town of Arunachal Pradesh, a Himalayan State on the edge of Tibet, in the north-eastern corner of India.

1996

.. ,I'

1995 - to date, Itanagar, for the

of Arunachal

(consisting

Government

GREEN EARTH FARMHOUSES, 1994 - to date, Rewas,' for Ratanlal Parasrampuria. A large integrated development on 200 hectares across the harbour from Bombay.

Golwad, Maharashtra.

A house, studio, pavilion and ziggurat for the noted Indian artist, Mehlli Gobhai, set in a chikkoo fruit

COTTON CORPORATION, 1994 - to date, New Bombay, for the Cotton Corporation of India. This office building, set on the waterfront in New Bombay, continues the theme of the earlier office buildings and generates its form from the same kit of parts.

I

.

.

. "1

. .811. "

e... '" ..

t!!. ...

II'

~-""~

'. l'.

I

!y.~

:DA PARK DEVELOPMENT, 1993 - to date, I City, for Reichman Corporation. This office g is part of a Master

Plan developed

) Legoretta for the rebuilding

of Mexico City. (See pages 122-125)

IJ

by

of this historic

L

.. .. ~I

. .

MAHINDRA RESEARCH CENTRE, 1996, Bombay, for Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. A major new R&D facility for one of India's leading automobile and jeep manufacturing companies, set in a densely wooded area on the edge of Borivili National Park.

GOPALPUR STEEL TOWN, 1996, Bihar, for TISCO (the Tata Iron and Steel Company, Ltd). This township for the new 10-million ton steel plant being planned by India's pioneering steel company, attempts to create for its inhabitants the pluralism and urbanity associated with larger towns and cities, while providing them access to new information technologies notyet availableto theirurbancounterparts elsewhere in India.

BIODATA

Charles Correa born in Secunderabi'Ld,Jodla, ---on-1sfSeptember t93u. -

--

EDUCATION

1946 - 1948

U~sity

1949 - 1953

~

of Bombay

~~,::;/

University of Michigan

(B.Arch)

~--1953 -1955 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.Arch) PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS 1964 - to date

India

1979 - to date Honorary Fellow, American

1972 Presented the Pa Shri, by the President of India.

Member, Bangalore

Institute of Architects

1992 - to date Honorary Fellow, Royal Institute of British Architects

1980 Honorary Doctorate, University of Michigan.

Jury Member, Pahalavi National Libl Iran.

1984 Presented Royal Gold Medal for Architecture of the RIBA at Hampton Court by H.R.H. Prince Charles.

1977.1986 Member, Steering Committee, Aga f Architecture.

Sir Robert Matthew Prize, International Union of Architects (U.IA).

Member, Urban Conservation

1980 - 1984

1984 - 1986 Chairman, Committee for "VISTARA. Architecture of India". 1988 - 1991

1992

1971 - 1974

1993

Chief Architect to CIDCO (Government of Maharashtra) for development of New Bombay.

Honorary Fellow, Royal Institute of British Architects.

1975 - 1989

Master Jury Member, Aga Khan Award for Architecture. 1989

Honorary Foreign Fellow, American and Sciences.

Academy

of Arts

Art A"od";oo

by H.I.H.Pd",

h"'

~ .~

BIO-DATA included in WHO'S WHO, A & C Black, London

'.'

'{ I

,

...

. /,

1975 - 1983 Chairman, Housing Urban Renewal & Ecology Board, Bombay Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (BMRDA).

_/'-.WHO'S WHO IN INDIA, The Times of India, Bombay

1975 - 1994 Executive Committee, BMRDA.

WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA, Marquis, New Providence, N.J.

1985 -1988 Chairman, National Commission on Urbanisation, Government of India.

WHO'S WHO IN THE WORLD, Marquis, New Providence, N.J,

264

1990 Master Jury, Aga Khan Award forAr

i

H;t'

M""h;to

. '

of Karnataka.

Jury Member, Kuwait Pearls Compe Real Estate Company.

1994 Presented with the Praemium Imperiale of the Japan

1975 - 1978 Government

1984 Founder Member, Trust for Urban Design Research 1m

1991 Master Architect Award, JK Industries, India. Honorary Fellow, Finnish Institute of Architect.

Board of Directors, CIDCO (New Bombay).

Economic and Planning Advisory cc Chief Minister, Government of Kama 1983

Invited by the Government of Peru and the UN to design PREVllow-cost housing project in Lima.

for HABITAT.

1982 - 1985 Member,

Founder Member, Indian National TI Cultural Heritage (/NTACH).

Honorary Fellow, United Architects of the Philippines.

Consultant to U.N. Secretary-General

Comn

Urban Development Aut

1981-1988 . Member, Board of Advisors, MIMAR

1987 Gold Medal, Indian Institute of Architects.

1964 - 1965

Architect,

Hyderabad

1986 Chicago Architecture Award, American Institute of Architects.

1990 Gold Medal, UIA (International Union of.Architects).

1975 - 1976

CIDCO (New Bol

1976

1958 - to date In private practice in Bombay.

Consulting

1975 - 1989 Board of Directors,

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1969-1971

Urban Arts Carr

1975-1984 Western Board, Reserve Bank of Inc

1979 Honorary Fellow, American Institute of Architects.

International Academy of Architecture, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Prepared alternate Master Plan (with Pravin Mehta and Shirish Patel) proposing twin city of New Bombay.

COMMIT

1975- 1978

1985 Member, Academie d' Architecture Francais, Paris, .

Fellow, Indian Institute of Architects 1974 - to date Council of Architecture,

BOARD HIPS,

1974 Featured in TIME magazine in cover story on New Leadership (150 persons from around the world).

1939 - 1946 St. Xavier's High School, Bombay

~~er),~lle3~

AWARDS AND HONOURS

CONTEMPORARYARCHITECTS, St. James Press, London

INTERNATIONALWHO'S WHO, Europa Publications, London.

'

/

1991 Jury Member, Samarkand Competition, Uzbekistar 1993 Jury Member, National Landmark for State of Kuwc 1993 Jury Member, Juma AI-Majid Centre for Culture & f 1994 Jury Member, AlA / Otis Housing Competition, Wa1 1992 - to date Jury Member, Pritzker Prize for Architecture.

BLIOGRAPHY

~KS PUBLISHED (in Books) (Buildings in the Commonwealth, Edited by J. M. lards, Architectural Press, London, 1961 Id Architecture, Volume 3, Edited by John Donat, dio Vista Limited, London), 1966

.\~

ding Environment by Balwant Singh Saini, Angus' Robertson, Sydney, 1973 tries Correa: Form follows Climate (Pidgeon lio-Visual), London, 1980 hitecture in the Seventies, by Udo Kultermann, nitectural Press, London, 1980 The office in 1980

itekten der Dritten Welt, by Udo Kultermann, Mont) Buchverlag Koln, 1980 ,rles Correa: Mimar, Singapore,

1983

City in Conflict: Edited by Chris Johnson e Law Book Co. Ltd.), Sydney, 1985

!

dern Architecture, by William R. Curtis, Phaidon 5S, London, 1987 3rles Correa, by Hasan-Uddin Khan, Mimar, gapore, Butterworth, London & New York ,vised Edition), 1987 ntemporary Architecture, St. James Press, icago and London, 1987 -listory of Architecture, by Sir Banister tcher, 19th Edition, Butterworths, London, 1987

After the Masters, by Vikram Bhatt & Peter Scriver, Mapin, Ahmedabad, 1990

"The Michigan Influence in Architecture", Bombay by R. B. Lytle, Michigan Alumnus, Ann Arbor - May, p.53

100 Contemporary Architects: Drawings & Sketches, by Bill Lacey, Thames and Hudson, London, 1991

1962 "Concrete",

Architecture of SARC Nations, by Razia Grover and S.K. Das, Media Transasia (I), Delhi, 1991

Contemporary 1994

Architecture

"Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya",

in Asia, KIRA, Seoul,

1964 "Indian Revisions", Architectural Review, LondonApril, pp. 235-236.

Indian Modern, by Herbert Ypma, Phaidon Press, London, 1995

1965 "Gun House", Architectural

The Dictionary of Art, Edited by Jane Shoaf Turner, Macmillan Publishers, London, 1995 Edited by

The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, by Charles Jencks, Academy Editions, London, 1995

1966 "Three in Ahmedabad", Indian Institute of Architects Journal, Bombay - July, pp. 15-21. 1968 "Correa", Architecture Aujourd'hui, Paris - Oct., pp.

WORKS PUBLISHED (in Journals)

"Un Appartement a Bombay", by Pompon Bailhache, La Maison De Marie-Claire, Paris March, pp. 88-89.

1960 "India & Pakistan", by John Writer, Architectural Design, London-April, pp.156-157 "Hindustan Lever Pavilion", Architectural London - July, pp. 57. "Cama Hotel, Ahmedabad", cover and pp. 32-35.

Review,

Design, Delhi - Sept.,

1961 "Indian Pavilion", Architectural Forum, New YorkJan., p. 132. room

July,

-

25 & 32-37.

1959 "Object on View", by Michael Brawne, Architectural Review, London - Nov., p. 246:

,1m tree in conference

Review, London

pp. 59-60.

The Tropical Asian House, by Robert Powell, Select Books, Singapore, 1996

1958 . "Housing atTrombay", Design, Bombay - Aug., pp. 8-9.

.

Indian Institute of.

Architects Journal, Bombay - April, pp. 26-38.

/

\

Forum,

1963 Modern Architecture: A Critical History, by Kenneth Frampton, Thames & Hudson, London, 1992

Crosscurrents - Fifty-one World Architects, Masayuki Fuchigami, Tokyo, 1995

\

by Peter Blake, Architectural

New York - Sept., p. 78.

"Twin Houses", Indian Institute of Architects Journal, Bombay-April, pp. 14-15. .

1970

"Previ Project", Architectural p.198.

Design, London - April,

1971 "INDIA", Architectural Review, London - Dec., pp. 349, 352-353, 365, 369. 1972 "Correa and Kanvinde", Architectural London - August, p. 123.

Review,

1973 "Defeating the Climate", by Peter Blake, Sunday Telegraph Magazine, London - Sept., pp. 82-88.

1974 "Apartments",

Architecture

Plus, New York

-

March,

p.26. 1976 "Experience Indienne", Techniques & Architecture, Paris - Dec., pp. 124-129. ?R'

1977 "Quarttro Lavori di Correa", L'Architectura, RomeMarch, pp. 640-646.

"Charles Correa", by Satish Grover, Arch Design, Delhi - Sept., pp. 15-45. "Charles Correa's Architecture"

1978 "Correa", Art & Architecture,

Tehran

-

by SaraY

Indian Architect & Builder, Bombay- Oc pp. 20-26.

April, pp. 50-59.

1979

"Jawahar Kala Kendra", ArchitecturalOet London, Nov., pp. 92-96

"Crafts Museum", by S. Baxi, Museum, LondonApril, pp. 374-377.

"Report from India: Current work of Correa", by

"Espacos para a India", by Carlos Dibari Armando, Arqitectura Urbanisma, Buenm Dee, pp. 44-51.

H. Smith, Architectural Record, New York - July, pp. 88-89.

1992

1980

"Contemporary

Architecture

-

Asian Architecture",

"The House Around a Temple Tree", byC

Process

Iyer, Interiors India, Bombay - Annual,pr

20, Tokyo - Nov., pp. 94-118. Entrance

1981

"Mystic Labyrinth", The Architectural Rev London, Jan., pp. 20-26.

to office

"Using the Past to Invent the Future", Spazio e Societa, Milano - Dee, pp. 56-63.

1985

"Architectura- QualeFuturo",Casabella- 474/475,

Tokyo - Summer, pp. 84-88.

Milan-Dec,p.91.

"A Style

for the Year

2001 ", Japan

Architect

"Belapur Housing", Mimar, Singapore

1982

-

/ A+U,

July,

pp. 34-40.

"Faked Facades", by Susan Stephens, New York - July, p. 24.

Skyline,

"Charles Correa: Inspirations

Indiennes",

Techniques

& Architecture, Paris - August, pp. 106-117.

"Cidade de Goa", by Brian Brace Taylor, Mimar,

Singapore - July, cover and pp. 44-49.

"Correa Courts", by Peter Davey, Architectural

"Edificio residenziale

a tone a Bombay",

by

pp.642-651.

cover and pp. 14-21.

1986

1983

"Vidhan Bhavan, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh", Journal, Bombay-July, Vol. 51, pp. 11-15.

"Cidade de Goa", by Shalini Ramgopal, March, pp. 34-38.

Namaste,

"Bay Islands", Namaste, March, pp. 13-16.

IIA

1987

"Kala Akademi", Mimar, Singapore

-

March,

pp. 27-31. "Mediterranean Metaphors", by Mildred Schmertz, Architectural Record, New York - April, pp. 154-159.

"Kanchanjunga Apartments", Architect, MelbourneDec., pp. 12-13. 1984 "Cidade de Goa" A+U, Tokyo-June,

"Climate as Context", by Mildred Schmertz, Architectural Record, New York - August, pp. 114119. "Variations

pp. 100-107.

"Architecture", Journal of American Institute of Architects, Washington D.C - Sept., pp. 158-159.

and Traditions",

The Architectural

Review,London- Aug, pp. 56-58. 1988 "L'lnde

Intemporelle",

Techniques

"Musee a Jaipur, Inde", Techniques & AI

"Destiny & Design", by Jahanara Wasi, 7 Fountainhead, Bombay - May, pp. 19-23

Constanza M. Pierdominici, Cementa, Rome - Oct.,

"Cidadede Goa",InsideOutside,Bombay- Oct.,

"Squaring the Circle", Architectural ReeD York- March, pp. 98-105.

Paris - April, pp. 24-31.

Review, London - Oct., pp. 32-35.

"Open the Box", by Jim Murphy, Progressive Architecture, New York-Oct., pp.100-104.

"Una arquitectura abierta alcielo", by Jar Glusberg, EI Cronista, Arquitectura & Dis Buenos Aires - Feb., pp. 1 & 8.

& Architecture,

Paris - Feb., pp. 86-97.

"Better Council", by Mina Singh, Inside( Bombay - July, pp. 14-22. "Jawahar Kala Kendra", Interior # 36, Sy' pp.94-105 "Jawahar Kala Kendra", Spazio e Socle Firenze - Oct-Dee, pp. 114-121 "Life Insurance Corporation", Delhi - Nov-Dec, pp. 10-37 1993 "Architektur im modernen Indien", by S. Architekt, BOA, Berlin - Feb, pp. 82-83. "Charles Correa: Ein Museum" by Gauta Der Architekt, BOA, Berlin - Feb, pp. 89. "Public Sector Mass Housing", by Babar Design Ideas, Bombay - April, cover & f "Jawahar

"A Gallery of Art", by Nandini Kapur, Inside Outside,

Bombay - August, cover & pp. 94-101

Architectw

Kala Kendra", Progressive Arc

New York - April, pp. 86-87. "Indian Mission", by Peter Slatin, Oculus N.Y. Chapter - June, cover and p. 7.

1990 "Charles Correa", by Peter Serenyi, Space, SeoulApril, pp. 122-128

"JNIDB", by Mina Singh, Inside Outside, Sep.,pp.14-21.

"Charles Correa", Alam AI Bena, Cairo - April, issue 114, pp. 15-16. "Charles Correa", by Waag Hu, World Architecture

Review,Shenzhen- June,pp. 32-33,68-72. 1991 "EI valor de 10sagrado", Bamboo scaffolding

by Jorge Glusberg,

"Many Villages make a Hotel", by Anupc Inside Outside, Bombay - Dec., pp 140-

1994 "Charles Correa", A+U Vol. 94:01,Tokyc cover and pp. 9-77.

EI Cronista, Arquitectura & Diseno, Buenos Aires -

"IUCAA", by Dr. Jayant Narlikar, Southe.

Sept.,pp.1-3,8.

Weston Creek, Australia - May/June,Pf


"New Bombay - A Dream takes Shape", by Ranji

"Correa Prospects:

Bakshi, Bombay Magazine, Bombay - Aug. 22.

MichaelBrawne,ArchitectsJournal,London-

by Jan.

23, pp. 26-27.

1982 30a", by Chintamani Bhagat, Indian & Builder, Bombay - Aug., Cover and pp.

RIBA Annual Discourse",

"Charles Correa: Housing the Third World", by

"Conversation

Annette Gartland, Building Design, London

Aug. 6,

Khalid, Majallah Akitek, Kuala Lumpur - March.

Sept.

-

pp. 2 & 3.

with Charles Correa", by Ruslan

Ii Astronomia e Astrofiscia", Arbitaire 332, ,bitaireSegesta, Milano-Sept., pp. 180-181.

3, Cover story, pp. 26-38.

"Arkkitehturri ja Perinteen Sisaistaminen - Charles Correa haastateltavana", by K. Broner, Arkkitehti, Helsinki- June-July.

Correa", World Architecture ,sue,Shenzhen- Jan.

1983 "The Spaces which Lie Beyond", by Stephen Games, The Listener, London June 23.

"Charles Correa, Jyvaskylanlntialaisvieras - Koyhan maan modernisti", by P. Holmila, Uusi Suomi, Finland - Aug. 15.

Bombay-

EWSI REPORTS ON CORREA

1984 "Royal Gold for Correa", by Rahul Singh, Indian Express,Bombay- Jan. 11.

)me Housing", by Eunice De Souza, Times

"Gold Medal for Charles Correa", by Neal Morris in Building Design, London - Jan. 13, p. 3

Review 95:01,

-

Itricacy" by Robert Powell, The Architectural. .ondon - Aug., pp. 52-55.

30mbay -

"AsianArchitecture",Asiaweek,HongKong-

May.

"A Profile of Correa", by Peter Murray, RIBA Journal, London - Feb., pp. 21-23.

," (interview), by Dom Moraes, New York 3gazine, New York - Oct. 11.

Torna Vinatore", by Bruno levi, L 'Expresso, Roma - Mar. 11, p. 99.

Review, London - Dec.

Charles Correa",

RIBAJournal,London- May,pp. 16-17

-

Vol.246,#7344,London- May,p. 34. "Medal for a Man with Faith", by Stephen Gardiner, The Observer, London - June 3.

~Better" University News, University of ind, Australia - Aug.

"A Sealed Box - An Open Mind", by Jennifer

Carlson, in Michigan Alumnus, Ann Arbor ,Crowded City", by Lewis M. Simons, ton Post, U.S.A - April 14. arid Architect" by Geoffrey Payne, Building _ondon - Jun 21, p. 12. Correa: Self-Help City" GSD News, Harvard , School of Design, Cambridge - Nov.

"

Bombay-

Nov.

-

"Charles Correa - A Design for Living", by Malvika

Sanghvi, Imprint, Bombay - Dec. "Charles Correa: Seeking the Boundaries of a Vision", by Yogi Aggarwal, Bombay Magazine, Bombay - Apr. 22. "Charles Correa", in Jienchu - Cross-currents

"Indian Gold", by Dennis Sharp, Building Design, Ir N. Gogate, Building Practice, Bombay

"Charles Correa - Historical Symbols and . Problems", by S. Merzhanov, Za Rubzhom, Moscow

1986

"L'lndiano

"Royal Gold Medal for Architecture: mbay", Architectural

"The Master Builder", by David Davidar, Gentleman, October.

- Sept.

"Architecture & Construction", by Jorge Glusberg, La Prensa, Buenos Aires - July 28. "Architect

with a Third World Vision" by Tong Suit

Chee, Business Times, Singapore - Aug. 28. 1987

1985

"Vistara - The Architecture

"Reaching for the Sky", by Sunil Sethi, India Today, Jan 15, pp 43-45.

Architecture+Design, Delhi - Jan.-Feb., pp. 52-59.

"A age to India", by Jan Burney, Building Design, Vol. #722, London - Jan.18, p. 2.

Banyan Tree", by A. Chauhan,

of India", in

"Charles Correa - A View from the Chowk with a -

IIA Journal, Bombay

June.

August.

ld than owning", Jericho, Vancouver-

m who helped to shape cities", by Ursula

;ign & Environment, New York - Spring, 1. m the Top", by Bubli Mathur, Bombay e, Bombay - August 22.

arid: It's not what they want, it's what they

y Robert Bond, Surveyor, London - July 31, 5. y", by Lynda Ralph-Knight, in "Building London

-

July 25.

ng a new Lifestyle", Interview of the , bySunilSethi,IndiaToday,Delhi- Aug.

in

Architectural Studies, Hong Kong - pp. 50-53.

Handmade buildings:

Vidhan Bhavan, Bhopal (under construction)

---

1993

1995

"The Seven Wonders",

by E. Jayashree

Kurup,

"Man of the Year", by Ervell E. MenE Panaji - Jan. Cover Story, cover am

Aims", by

"Incrediblel A building becomes a t Panch alee Thakur, Delhi Times, Dell

Saturday Times, Delhi - June 5, p. 2. "A Synthesis of Modern and Traditional Eric Parry, Nov.

"Seeking the Spirit", by Clare Melhuish, Building Design, London - Nov. 26, p. 16. "An Essay", by Kenneth Frampton, in Catalogue for Exhibition" The Ritualistic Pathway", The Architectural Association, London. "Arboreal Architecture", by Howard Hodgkin, Quarterly, Winter, pp. 14-15.

Design

"Charles Correa, Architect par Exce Louella Lobo Prabhu, Insight, Mang pp. 4-5. "Charles Correa and the Recovery c Peter Carl in the Catalogue for Exhit MA, Tokyo - April, pp 10-30. "First Person, Last Word". Interview Tripathi, Asia, Inc, Hong Kong

-

Ma

1994 "Charles Correa: La arquitectura complementa con la puitura", by Jorge Glusberg, LaPrensa, Buenos Aires - July 28. "Charles Correa: Un arquitecto

da

para la mayoria",

"Charles Correa's work on display", Delhi - Feb. 10. "Exploring

by

Rosa Montero, EL Pais, Madrid, Spain - Sept. 6.

Infinite Spaces",

Statesman,

by Sum ita Thapar,

Pioneer, Delhi - Feb. 14, p. 13. "The Journey of an Architect",

Economic

INTERVIEWS

"An Interview with Charles Correa", by Sarayu Ahuja, Oct.

"Charles Correa - The Fate of Man and Architecture

"Opening up spaces for life", by the Design Team, Economic Times, Bombay - Feb. 17, p. 6. "In the Mind of the Architect", by Shanta Ghokale, Sunday Review, Bombay - Feb. 20, p. 5.

1988

"Architect's New Cosmic Idiom", by Sushma Chadha, National Herald, Delhi - Feb. 24, p. 5

& Architecture,

Paris

Mar, pp. 86-97.

(Radio I Television)

1972 ABC TV, "New Bombay" - March, ty 1976

in the East", by H. Khan, Mimar, Singapore - Dec, pp. 60-63.

Techniques

"On the Vanguard of the Contempol Scene", by Riichi Miyake, PraemiulT Japan Art Association, Tokyo, p. 34

Times,

Delhi - Feb. 16. Indian Architect & Builder, Bombay -

"Dear Darling Cosmos", by Brendar Yorker, New York - June 19, p. 93.

PBS TV, "Vancouver Andrew Stern.

Symposium"

-

1983

"Space Explorer", by Ranjona Banerji, Sunday

BBC Radio 3, "Sun and Shadow" -, Stephen Games.

Midday, Bombay - March 13, pp. XII & XIII.

BBC Radio 3, "Skyscraper"

"The Sky Line - Corbu", by Brendan Gill, The New

"Charles Correa's Five Jewels", by D. G. Nadkarni,

1984

Yorker, New York - May 9.

LoksattaChaturang,Bombay- April9, p. 1.

Doordarshan, Dharkar.

"Myth - Creation - The New Landscape",

Architectural Journal, China - May, pp. 31-36.

"Space, Time and Correa", by Adil Jussawala, Afternoon, Bombay - April 29, p. 11.

1986

"A City Where Stark Contrast Is King", by Steven R. Weisman, The Washington Post, Jul. 23, p. 4.

"The Ritualistic Pathway - Five Projects by Charles Correa", by Peter Carl & Eric Parry, AA Files: 27,

1989

The Architectural Association, London - Summer,

Malayalam Manorama, - March, p.126.

Centenary

-

Year, Trivandrum

"Towards a landscape for the future", a conversation with Alan Twigg, The Independent, BombayNov.12,p.3. 1990

pp.67-74. "Child of Bombay", by Graham Vickers, World Architecture, London - Issue #27, pp. 76-78.

PAN AM Clipper Magazine, Nov., p. 28.

"PEOPLE: Japan Cites 5 Winners for Arts Achievements", International Herald Tribune, June 17, p. 24.

1991

"Correa's

"Metaphor

Telegraph, Calcutta - June 24, Section II, p. 1.

"Bombay - City of Superlatives", by Pranay Gupte,

of an Indian Street", by Dr. Jyotindra Jain, Architecture and Design, Delhi - Vol. VIII, No.5, Sept.-Oct., pp. 39-43. 1992 "Bold Break with Tradition",

by Catherine Ormell,

Home-truths",

by Shanta Gokhale,

The

"Asians must not ricochet off the West", by Vibhuti Patel, The Independent, Bombay - June 29, p. 7. "Encounter",

by Shabana Minwalla, Sunday Times,

"Open-to-Sky

1987 Doordarshan, "Vistara: The Architec Nov., by Anil Dharkar. 1994 THE LATE SHOW, BBC, London-A Bernadette O'Brien. 1995 The Human Face of the Urban Envir Socratic Dialogue, The World Bank, D.C., moderated by Charles Ogletre BOOKS BY CORREA The New Landscape: Bombay, 1985.

The Book Soc

HoBBIN NeN3AX:

Hindu, Madras - April 26, p. XII.

"Correa Wins Praemium Imperiale", Progressive Architecture, New York - July, p. 19.

The New Landscape: New York, 1989.

"Profile: Charles Correa", by Madhu Jain, India Today, Delhi - May 15, pp. 100-101.

"The World of Charles Correa", by Asit Chandmal, Times of India, Bombay - Nov. 1, p. 6.

ESSAYS BY CORREA

"The British Council Division", Britain Today, New Delhi - Nov., pp. 12-14.

"Poetry in Concrete", by Ajantha Sen Poovaiah, Debonair, Bombay - Dec., pp. 20-22.

"Working with ion and power", by Gayatri Sinha,

268

Space"

Doordarshan, "Beyond Tomorrow: L Mar 26, by R.K. Mishra.

Bombay- July,p. 4.

Independent, London - April 22.

- Oct.

MockBa CTponn, Butterworth AI

1959 "Architectural Expression", LalitKale Delhi, Seminar on Architecture, pp. .

ier in Chandigarh", Architectural Review, June, pp. 404-412. :es", The Architect and the Community, ernational Centre, Delhi, pp. 47-50.

Conspectus,

::Itsof Architecture",

Delhi.

g for Bombay", Marg, Bombay - April, pp.

les", Seminar, Delhi

,Control",

March, pp. 25-32.

-

Architectural pp. 448-451.

Design, London Exhibition at Gallery MA, Tokyo 1995 1986

1976 TI- A Tourist Destination Area", Indian of Town Planners Journal, Bombay ler, pp. 52-55.

Ekistics, Athens

Jan, pp.

-

33-38.

"GoaPlanningand Conservation"- Design,Delhi,

Architectural London- December,pp. 329-331.

TIme and Priorities",

"Space as a Resource",

The

s of Urban Growth", Architectural

Design,

London- December,pp. 433-434.

pp.33-37.

1987

1977 "The New Landscape", Habitat, London.

"An Essay for JAE", Journal of Architectural Education, Jubilee issue, Vol. 40:2, New York, p. 12.

"Functional and Spatial Planning", Housing Science, Vol.1, London, pp. 273-292. 1980

Ip City", Seminar, Delhi - February, :0. 3n Age of Architecture", The Illustrated 'Jflndia, Bombay, 17, pg. 31.

"Urban Strategies", Habitat International, Nos. 3/4, London, pp. 447-455

Vol. 5,

"Urban Housing in the Third World: The role of the Architect", Open House, London, Vol. 6, pp. 31-35.

,Organization ofMetropolitanAreas" -

"Urban Strategies for Third World Countries", e Societa, 15/16, Milano, pp. 44-55.

ransport" - Seminar, Delhi - Feb, pp. 21-30.

1982 "Architecture in a Warm Climate", Mimar, Singapore -July-September, pp. 31-35.

UN E/ I/SYM/I11/9 , Stockholm - September 26, 1973.

)mbay: The Self Help City", Architectural Vol. 44, London - January, pp. 48-51.

Spazio

'/ Which Makes Itself", Lotus, Milan - June, 111.

1983 "Chandigarh: The View from Benares", Le Corbusier Archive, Vol. XXII, Garland Publishing, New York, pp.9-14.

)ollution", Times of India Annual, Bombay, o.

"A Place in the Sun", Royal Society of Arts Journal, Vol. 131, London, May, pp.328-340.

"Of Frogs,well-done",IndiaMagazine,Delhi- May Icutta", Times of India, Bombay - April 27,

"VISTARA .. The Architecture of India ", essay in Catalogue for the Festival of India, Bombay (1986), Moscow, Leningrad and Tashkent (1987)

1983, pp. 6-7.

1988 "Rajasthan and the Realm of the Sacred", Approach, Tokyo - Autumn, p. 12. 1989 "The Public, the Private, and the Sacred", Daedalus, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Mass - Fall, pp. 53-114. "Museum Architecture", pp. 223-229.

Museum, UNESCO, Paris.

1992 "Learning from Marine Drive", Sunday Times of

India, Bombay - Feb. 16, p. 12. "Regionalism in Architecture", MASS, Journal of the University of New Mexico, Vol. IX, Spring, pp. 4-5. 1993 "Tropical Coastal City: The Spare Part and the Machine", China Architecture and Building Press, Haikou, Hainan. 'Vistas ", 1989 Award Book edited by James Steele, Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Massachusetts- Fall,pp. 40-49.

1994 "Models of the Cosmos", A+U, No. 280, Jan., pp. 12-13.

"Conflict", Architect, Vol. 7, Melbourne - December, pp.10-11.

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES I LECTURES

1984 "Consciousness II", Seminar, Delhi - Jan, pp. 293-

1973 United Nations Symposium on Population Resources and Environment, Stockholm - Nov.

"Chandigarh", Ninety Years On edited by Charlotte Ellis, Architects' Journal, Vol. 179, London - June 27,

1974

pp.47-112.

of London - May.

1985

1976

"The New Landscape", Transactions of The Royal Institute of British Architects, London, pp. 60-67.

Keynote address, The Maharashtra Council, Bombay - April.

"A Place in the Sun", Places, M.IT Press,

296.

.

Sir Bannister Fletcher Memorial Lectures, University

State Women's

Member of Barbara Ward's "Vancouver Symposium",

United Nations Conference

Settlements, Vancouver, Canada

on Human

China- Apr

- June.

1983 The Cubitt Lecture, the Royal Society of Arts, London -Jan. Keynote address,

1993 Keynote address, Tropical Coastal Cities, Haiku,

"Conflict", Royal Australian

Keynote address, TED 4, Conference, Kobe, Japan -Apr Academie D'Architectrure, Paris

-

Nov.

1994

Institute of Architects, Sydney - June. Keynote address, Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - July. 1984

Annual Convention, Colombo- Feb.

Sri Lanka Institute of Architects,

Keynote address, The Human Face of Ecological Development, World Bank, Washington D.C. - Sept

The Rowtett Lecture, Texas A & M University, March.

Symposium,PraemiumImperialeKansai,Japan-

The Raoul Wallenberg

Chicago Art Institute, Chicago

CollegeStation-

Lecture, University of

Michigan,AnnArbor- April.

Washington

Keynote address, Cumberland Cumbria - April.

Society of Architects,

of

Architecture,Universityof HongKong,HongKongOct

University, StLouis.

March. - March.

Keynote address, East-West Encounter, University of Hawaii March. Gallery MA, Tokyo & Hiroshima - April.

Architects,London-

Jan.

Keynote address, UIA (International Architects), Cairo - Jan.

Harvard, Cambridge - Fall 1974

Keynote address, National Convention, Indian Institute of Architects, Bangalore - Feb. Design for High-intensity

Development,

Malaysian

1987

Tulane University, New Orleans (Arthur Q. Davis Professor)Fall 1979. MIT, Cambridge,

Keynote address, Silver Jubilee Celebration,

Roorkee University -

Seminar, Paris - April.

School of Architecture,

University of Singapore - Jul.

Cambridge Bombay

-

Sept

-

Sept

University,

Professor) -

U.K. (Jawaharlal

Royal Institute of British Architects,

Danish Institute of Architects, Copenhagan

-

Oct

MIT, Cambridge.

Mass - Fall 1989.

-

Nov

MIT, Cambridge,

Mass. (Visiting Aga Khan

Professor)

1991 March.

University of New Mexico,

Indian Institute of Architects,

July 1987

-

MIT,Cambridge,Mass- Spring 1989.

London

Museumof ModernArt,SanFransisco-

Nehru

Mass - Spring 1987.

National University of Singapore

Biennale, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Spring 1982

-

1985-1986

Harvard, Cambridge,

1990

School of Architecture, Albuquerque - March.

Philadelphia

Columbia University, New York - Spring 1984

Aga Khan Programme,

of Architecture,

Mass - Spring 1981.

University of Pennsylvania,

Feb.

of Architecture,

(

-

"The Ritualistic Pathway", The', Association, London 1994 "The Ritualistic Pathway", The, Bombay and Madras 1995

J.J. School of Architecture, University of Bombay1976.

Instituteof Architects,KualaLumpur- Aug.

A Celebration

1993

MIT, Cambridge, Mass. (Albert Bemis Professor)Fall 1962. University of London (Sir Bannister-Fletcher Professor) - May 1974.

Union of

ONE-MAN SHOWS 1984 Royal Institute of British ArchitE 1984 1984 British Council, India.

TEACHING

1985 Annual RIBA Discourse, Royal Institute of British

"The Blessings of the Sky", Ga

FILMS 1955 Scriptwriter, Animator, Photogr You and Your Neighbourhood, 1976 Director and Scriptwriter for do Water, Films Division, Governrr 1986 Scriptwriter for Audio-Visual VI: Architecture of India. 1995 Scripwriter and Director for Vid the Sky

Fall 1992.

Tongi University, Shanghai - Spring 1993 Washington

University,

St. Louis,

- Spring

1995.

EXHIBITIONS Bombay - April.

1975

Keynote address,

American Institute of Architects Annual Convention, Washington - May. Royal Institute of British Architects,

London

1992

TheGrahamFoundation,Chicago- Oct The Public Building, Rotschild Foundation, Jerusalem-Nov. 270

-

-

Gordon Brown Memorial Lecture, Department

Academy

Nov.

1995

1986 VISTARA,Nehru Centre, Bomt 1987 Festival of India: Moscow, Leni 1989 Festival of India: TheSetagaY8 Japan. 1991 Festival of India: Berlin Culture . 1992 World Architecture Exposition, Nara, Japan.

-

Oct

Contemporary

Architecture

in India, USA.

1982 Venice Biennale, Italy. 1983 Third World Architecture: Institute, New York.

Search for Identity, Pratt

1985 Festival of India. Ecole des Artes, Paris, .

Still from film' You and YourNeighb