Charles Correa

For the Brazilian canoeist, see Charles Corrêa.

Charles Correa
Correa in December 2011
Born	Charles Mark Correa (1930-09-01)1 September 1930 Secunderabad, Hyderabad State, British India (now Telangana, India
Died	16 June 2015(2015-06-16) (aged 84) Mumbai, Maharashtra India
Alma mater	University of Mumbai Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Michigan
Occupations	Architect urban planner
Spouse	Monika Correa ​ (m. 1961)​
Children	2
Awards	Padma Shri (1972) Padma Vibhushan (2006) Gomant Vibhushan (2011)
Buildings	Jawahar Kala Kendra, National Crafts Museum, Bharat Bhavan

Charles Mark Correa (1 September 1930 – 16 June 2015) was an Indian architect and urban planner. Credited with the creation of modern architecture in post-Independent India, he was celebrated for his sensitivity to the needs of the urban poor and for his use of traditional methods and materials.

Biography

Early life

Charles Correa, a Roman Catholic of Goan descent, was born on 1 September 1930 in Secunderabad. He began his higher studies at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. He went on to study at the University of Michigan (1949–53) where Buckminster Fuller was a teacher, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1953–55) where he obtained his master's degree.

Career

In 1958, Charles Correa established his own professional practice in Mumbai. His first significant project was the Mahatma Gandhi Sangrahalaya (Mahatma Gandhi Memorial) at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad (1958–1963), followed by the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in Bhopal (1967). In 1961-1966, he designed his first high-rise building, the Sonmarg apartments in Mumbai. On the National Crafts Museum in New Delhi (1975–1990), he introduced "the rooms open to the sky", his systematic use of courtyards. In the Jawahar Kala Kendra (Jawahar Arts Centre) in Jaipur (1986–1992), he makes a structural hommage to Jai Singh II. Later, he invited the British artist Howard Hodgkin for the outside design of the British Council in Delhi (1987–1992).

From 1970–75, Charles Correa was Chief Architect for New Bombay (Navi Mumbai), where he was strongly involved in extensive urban planning of the new city. In 1984, Charles Correa founded the Urban Design Research Institute in Bombay, dedicated to the protection of the built environment and improvement of urban communities. During the final four decades of his life, Correa has done pioneering work in urban issues and low-cost shelter in the Third World. In 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed him Chairman of the National Commission on Urbanization.

From 2005 until his 2008 resignation Correa was the Chairman of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission.

Later, Charles Correa designed the new Ismaili Centre in Toronto, Canada, which shared the site with the Aga Khan Museum designed by Fumihiko Maki, and the Champalimaud Foundation Centre in Lisbon, inaugurated by the Portuguese President Aníbal Cavaco Silva on 5 October 2010.

Final years

He died on 16 June 2015 in Mumbai following a brief illness.

Work

Style

Charles Correa designed almost 100 buildings in India, from low-income housing to luxury condos. He rejected the glass-and-steel approach of some post-modernist buildings, and focused on designs deeply rooted in local cultures, all the while providing modern structural solutions under his creative designs. His style was also focused on reintroducing outdoor spaces and terraces.

His work is the physical manifestation of the idea of Indian nationhood, modernity and progress. His vision sits at the nexus defining the contemporary Indian sensibility and it articulates a new Indian identity with a language that has a global resonance. He is someone who has that rare capacity to give physical form to something as intangible as ‘culture’ or ‘society’ – and his work is therefore critical: aesthetically; sociologically; and culturally.

— British architect David Adjaye in 2013.

In 2013, the Royal Institute of British Architects held a retrospective exhibition, "Charles Correa – India's Greatest Architect", about the influences of his work on modern urban Indian architecture.

Projects

Photo	Date	Name	Location	Notes
	1958–63	Mahatma Gandhi Sangrahalaya Mahatma Gandhi Memorial	Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad
	1958–59	Cama Hotel	Ahmedabad	substantially altered later by owners
	1961–62	Tube House	Ahmedabad	demolished
	1961–66	Sonmarg apartments	Mumbai
	1967	Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly	Bhopal
	1969–74	The Leela Kovalam- A Raviz Hotel	Kovalam	sloping architecture that blends into the landscape
	1970	Kala Academy	Panaji
	1975–90	National Crafts Museum	New Delhi
		R&D facility of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd	Mahindra Research Valley, Chennai
	1980–97	Vidhan Bhavan
	1982	Bharat Bhavan	Bhopal
	1986–92	Jawahar Kala Kendra Jawahar Arts Centre	Jaipur
	1986	Jeevan Bharati Life Insurance Corporation of India		On the 2018 World Monuments Watch list of "50 Cultural Sites at Risk from Human and Natural Threats"
	1987–92	British Council	Delhi
	1989	Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research	Bangalore
	2000	St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Parumala	Parumala, Thiruvalla
	2000–05	McGovern Institute for Brain Research	MIT, Boston, US
	2004	City centre	Salt Lake City, Kolkata
	2007–10	Champalimaud Centre for The Unknown	Lisbon, Portugal
		Ismaili Centre	Toronto, Canada
		Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Banking and Finance	Hyderabad
	2023-25	Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics	Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune	Architect Charles Correa's last project before he died in 2015 was the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA - 2) in Pune, India. The IUCAA is a premier research institution in India, established in 1988 with the aim of promoting excellence in research and education in astronomy and astrophysics. The IUCAA building is a unique example of Correa's architectural style, which combines modernism with traditional Indian design elements. The building is spread over an area of 16 acres and is designed to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing. The design incorporates features like courtyards, terraces, and verandas, which provide ample natural light and ventilation while also creating spaces for people to interact and collaborate. Construction of the IUCAA 2 building started in 2023, eight years after Correa's death, and will completed in 2025.

Awards

• 1972: Padma Shri
• 1984: Royal Gold Medal for architecture by the Royal Institute of British Architects.
• 1994: Praemium Imperiale
• 1998: 7th Aga Khan Award for Architecture for Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly
• 2005: Austrian Decoration for Science and Art

  

  Charles Correa receiving Padma Vibhushan from President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2006

• 2006: Padma Vibhushan given by Government of India
• 2011: Gomant Vibhushan conferred by Government of Goa

Publications

• Charles Correa, The New Landscape, RIBA Enterprises, December 1985, (ISBN 978-0947877217)

Personal life

Charles Correa married Monika (née Sequeira), an artist, in 1961. Together they lived in one of the flats of the Sonmarg apartments in Mumbai. They had two children.

See also

• Geoffrey Bawa
• Muzharul Islam
• B.V. Doshi
• Raj Rewal
• Bashirul Haq

Further reading

• Post Colonial India and its Architecture – I: Charles Correa – The Traditional in the Modern

External links

• Charles Correa – Photo Gallery at BBC Radio 3
• Charles Mark Correa Biography
• Charles Correa Associates
• Charles Correa Foundation