POST INDEPENENCE

ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE
IN INDIA

CHARLES CORREA
“The sky, all said and done, is the source of light - which is the most
primordial of stimuli acting on our senses. And across its face, every
day, passes the sun – the origin of Life itself ! . . . Small wonder then
that man has always perceived the sky above to be the abode of the
gods, and that down all these many millennia, it has exerted such
extraordinary power on us and on the architecture we build.”
-Charles Correa
 INTRODUCTION
• Born into a middle-class Catholic
family in Bombay

• Became fascinated with the principles

of design as a child

• At Michigan two professors who

influenced him the most -Walter
Salders and Buckminister Fuller.

• Kevin lynch , then in the process of

developing his themes for image of
the city triggered Correa’s interest in
urban issues
CHARLES CORREA
 EDUCATION AND CAREER
YEAR DESCRIPTION
1946-1948 Inter-science. St. Xavier's college, university of Bombay.
EDUCATION 1949-1953 B.Arch., University of Michigan.
1953-1955 M.Arch., Massachusetts institute of technology
1955-1958 Partner with G.M. BHUTA associates
1958 To date In private practice
1964-1965 Prepared master plan proposing twin city across the
CAREER harbor from Bombay.
1969-1971 invited by the govt. of Peru
1971-1975 Chief architect to CIDCO
1975-1976 Consultant to UN secretory-general for HABITAT
1975-1983 Chairman Housing Urban Renewal & Ecology Board
1985 Chairman Dharavi planning commission
 CORREA & CORBUSIER
 Like most architects of his generation he has been influenced by Le Corbusier , but
by his response to the Mediterranean sun with his grand sculptural decisions he
believes that Corbusier’s influence in the colder climates has not been beneficial
because these heroic gestures had to withdraw into defensible space, into
mechanically heated (and cooled) interiors of the building.

 On way back to Bombay in 1955 - saw the Jaoul House (le Corbusier) in Paris
under construction. He said:

 ‘I was absolutely knocked out . It was a whole new world way beyond anything
being taught in America at that time ,then I saw Chandigarh and his buildings in
Ahmedabad . They seemed the only way to build.”
 CORREA & GANDHI
 Gandhi's goal for an
independent India had
been a village model, non-
industrial, its architecture
GANDHI SAMADHI, RAJGHAT
simple and traditional
(1956)
 In these early works
GANDHI DARSHAN, RAJGHAT
Correa demonstrates (1969)
uncompromising
execution of an idea as a
powerful statement of
form.
GANDHI SMARAK,
AHMEDABAD
KASTURBA GANDHI
(1963)
SAMADHI, POONA (1962-1965)
 Correa's work in India shows a careful development, understanding and adaptation
of Modernism to a non-western culture. Correa's early works attempt to explore a
local vernacular within a modern environment. Correa's land-use planning and
community projects continually try to go beyond typical solutions to third world
problems.
 His emphasis on the use of local materials can be seen to reflect Indian vernacular
architecture, which focuses on the needs of local people with regards to social
needs and weather conditions, and the use of locally-sourced produce and
craftsmanship. This is beneficial especially when building in low-income areas, as
eradicating the need to import goods lowers overall building costs.
 He combines vernacular and modern concepts to create designs that support the
cultural identity of a place and community and eventually lead to sustainable
architecture.
  He forever stresses the importance of social issues and the need for quality low-
income housing, his builds range from institutional to public, urban planning to
memorials and housing projects.
 CONCEPT: OPEN TO SKY
In India, the sky has profoundly affected our relationship to built form, 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. . . And thence on to a terrace
from which one proceeds to an open courtyard, perhaps shaded by a tree . . . or by a
large pergola overhead. At each moment, subtle changes in the quality of light and
ambient air generate feelings within us feelings which are central to our beings.

COMPONENTS:
i. Courtyards and terraces
ii. Urbanization
iii. The machine for living
iv. Workspaces
v. Leisure
vi. The ritualistic pathway
vii. Metaphors
COURTYARDS AND TERRACES
 Can make a decisive difference
between livable habitat and
claustrophobia LIVING
BED BED
 Particularly for the lowest income
group even in dense housing,
individual terraces can be given
 Such spaces not only improve
living conditions but also has LOW INCOME HOUSING:
economic value in developing GUJARAT HOUSING
countries like India BOARD
 These principles are viable also in
high rises where the issue is
COLONIAL
compounded by hot and humid BUNGALOW
climate eg. Kanchenjunga (PLAN AND SECTION)
apartments
KANCHENJUNGA
 URBANIZATION
• Such open-to-sky spaces are of course of crucial importance to the poorest
inhabitants: the squatters. Obviously there is an appalling mismatch between the
way our cities have been built and the way we use them today

SQUATTER HOUSING
 THE MACHINE FOR LIVING
• Another equally critical parameter: Energy. architects have depended more and
more on the mechanical engineer to provide light and air within the building.

RAMKRISHNA HOUSE

WINDSCOOP HOUSES,
SIND

PAREKH
HOUSE
 METAPHORS
The relationship of architecture to the other arts is a crucial one.
Murals and sculpture are used not just to provide references to
local traditions and events, but really to bring back into balance
the spatial tensions generated by the built form. Use of abstract
color and realistic images, setting up a dialectic between built
form and visual imagery – a complex interaction which can adds
layers of metaphorical and metaphysical dimensions to
architecture. These buildings possess not only an extraordinary
beauty of proportion, materials, etc., but they also project, with
astonishing force, polemic ideas about ourselves and our
relationship with the Non-manifest World.
 WORK SPACES
to deal with solar protection involved various
forms of brise-soleil. this kind of concrete Louvre,
while providing powerful visual imagery for the
built form, can be counter-productive. The
concrete heats up during the long hot day and then
acts as an enormous radiator in the evening,
rendering the rooms unbearable.
 THE RITUAUSTIC PATHWAY
A METAPHOR
FOR THE
INDIAN
STREET,
TAKING THE
VISITOR FROM
VILLAGE TO
TEMPLE TO
PALACE.
 PRINCIPLES
Few principles in his
work:
 Incrementality
 Identity
 Pluralism
 Income generation
 Equity
 Open-to-sky space
 Disaggregation.

Belapur housing project is BELAPUR HOUSING PROJECT

an example of the use
of these principles
KANCHENJUNGA APARTMENTS
This 28-story tower, with its concrete
construction and large areas of
white panels, bears a strong
resemblance to modern apartment
buildings in the WestThis building
has 32 different apartments with 4
types of flats varying from 3 to 6
bedrooms.Interlocking of these
variations expressed externally by
shear end walls that hold up the
cantilevers.Minimalist surfaces cut
away to open up double-height
terrace gardens at the
corners.Complex spatial
organization of living spaces
SITE PLAN
HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE SITE
EVOLUTION
ELEVATIONS
SECTION SHOWING TRANSPARENCY
Garden terraces actually a modern
interpretation of a feature of the traditional
Indian bungalow: the verandah

Each apartment provided with a deep, two-

story-high garden terrace that is oriented
away from the sun so as to afford protection
from the elements
 BELAPUR HOUSING
Project demonstrates how
high density housing (500
people per hectare) can be
achieved in a low-rise
typology, while including
(open to sky spaces) and
services, like schools, that the
community requires
Overriding principle - to give
each unit its own site to allow
for expansion (Incrementality)
Units are Malleable so that they
can be colonized by occupants,
and modified to their
social/cultural/religious needs
(Identity)
Houses constructed simply and
can be built by traditional
masons and craftsmen -
generating employment for local
workers (Income generation)

several plans exist that cover the social spectrum, from squatters to upper income
families (Pluralism)
the footprint of each plan varies little in size (from 45 sqm to 70 sqm), maintaining
equity (fairness) in the community
SITE PLAN PHASE 1
SITE PLAN PHASE 2
Small shared courtyard 8mx8m around which
seven houses are grouped.

The sites themselves vary in size only

marginally (from 45 to 70 sq m)

The houses are structurally simple , can be

built and altered by local mistries
JEEVAN BHARTI , DELHI (1975-86)
  When the building came up in the 1980s, architect Charles Correa was criticized for
making it too futurist.
 This office complex of LIC is situated on the outer road of Connaught circle and acts
as a pivot between the colonnades of CP and new generation of high rise towers that
now surround it . Thus the building is both a proscenium and a backdrop:  a 12
storey stage set  whose faceted glass surface reflects  the buildings and trees around
CP.
• Offices are located in two separate wings creating a built up of 6300 sq. m.
A 98 meters long pergola connects the two buildings .
BHARAT BHAWAN(1975-1981)
• Bharat Bhavan is an
autonomous multi-arts complex
and museum in the state of
capital bhopal, established and
funded by the government of mp
facing the upper lake , bhopal,
it houses an art gallery, a fine
art workshops, an open-air
amphitheatre, a studio theatre,
an auditorium, a museum tribal
and folk art, libraries of Indian
poetry, classical music as well
as folk music.
 The natural contours of the site have been used to create series of terraced gardens
and sunken courtyards.
 The profound hierarchy in the organization of spaces, is what allows for the
transition courtyards to develop an informality and openness which gives this space
its character, as a platform for sharing and building up cultural ideas.
 Lighting and ventilation within the building are provided with top lights (slots
along the parapets).
 MP VIDHAN SABHA
The new Vidhan Sabha houses the many diverse functions crucial to a functioning
democracy

The plan is a pattern of gardens within gardens , divided into 9 squares .

The five central ones are halls and courtyards , while the 4 corner positions are
occupied by specialized functions.

The Vidhan Sabha , the Vidhan Parishad, central library, and combined hall .It also
contains a host of other facilities : offices, cabinet rooms, cafeterias , common rooms
for security staff etc.

According to the requirements there are 3 main entrances- for public,VP’s, MLA’s .
These 3 main streams separated from each other experience the complex internal space
of the building while moving along verandah and overlooking courtyards and gardens–
as in traditional architecture of India.
DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF
VEDIC PRINCIPLES
FLOOR PLAN

PARTIAL MODEL VIEW OF THE

PUBLIC ENTRANCE , CENTRAL
ROOF PLAN COURT AND VIDHAN SABHA
 SECTION

• The building is located in the centre of bhopal. Since the main access road is not
axial , but swings towards the site in a rather casual manner , the plan of the
building developed as a circle, so it could have an autonous unity and presence,
regardless of the direction from which it is approached. References of this circular
form are–parliament building in New Delhi, Buddhist stupa near Sanchi.
ELEVATION
The whole building presents as extremely pleasing vision of powerful curves and straight
vertical and horizontal lines. Whereas the building could have fallen into the trap of
being merely monumental, its pristinely simple lines raise it to an altogether different
plane. This is the genius of Charles Correa

The whole composition is enclosed by a wall that defines its exterior form like a
circular inner city- a model of the city of Baghdad. This approach has generated an
interesting roofs cape and skylines, too often missing in contemporary architecture, the
use of gateways and domes and a tower to develop the imagery of this landmark
complex is very much in the tradition of the harmonic order found in the traditional
architecture of Islam
Correa has used open to sky
courtyards and a labyrinthine
pattern of pathways to organise
the complex requirements of
adminstrative and legislative
functions.
 KOVALAM BEACH RESORT, KERALA
 Accommodates 300 guests, Center for massages
and yoga, Water sport etc.

 The master plan does not concentrate all the

facilities in one area,but generate a large number
of potential growth points, thus allowing a more
flexible response to future demands .

 The Guest rooms come in 3 configurations-:

1. On the edge of the beach hidden under the palm
trees . They are suites for longer stay with
cooking facilities etc.
2. Overlooking the beach there are 100 guests
rooms. Here the facilities are such that every
room gets its own private sundeck..
3. Between these two are private detach housing
units
ENTRANCE LEVEL PLAN
 SECTION (DETACHED UNIT)

SECTION( MAIN BLDG.)

• Construction is in traditional vernacular of Kerala- Plaster walls with red tiled roofs

• Other pavilion consists of little Bamboo chhatries with coir matins on the floor and
local Kerala handicrafts.
DETACHED UNIT VIEW

SUNDECKS
IN THE
MAIN
BUILDING
 SUN DECK

INTERIORS

VIEW OF THE SUN DECK FROM

INSIDE
GANDHI SMARAK SANGHRALAYA

PHILOSOPHY
 Successfully shows the life of Gandhiji
 Minimalist architecture
 Material honesty
 Contemporary architecture
 Glow of spaces
SITE PLAN
ROOF PLAN
 SECTION

SECTIONAL ELEVATION (MODULAR UNIT)

SECTION SHOWING OPERABLE LOUVRES
• Material used:
 Tiled roof
 Brick wall
 Stone floor
 Wooden floor
 Light and ventilation by
operable wooden louvers

• These elements combine to form

a pattern of tiled roofs which are
grouped in casual meandering
pattern, creating a pathway
along which the visitors
progresses towards the centrality
of the water court
BRITISH COUNCIL LIBRARY
The new building for the British council
houses a number of diverse functions
including a library, an auditorium an art
gallery and the head quarters of their
offices in India
 Correas idea for the building
was to express the three basic
cultural identities that have
shaped contemporary India:
Hindu, Muslim and European
ENTRANCE

SITE PLAN

At the farthest end is the axis

mundi of hinduism, a spiral
symbolizing bindu: the centre
of the cosmos. The next nodal
point is the main courtyard,
centered around another
mythical inage: the traditonal
islam char bagh. The third
nodal point along the axisis a
european icon, inlaid in marble
and granite
SITE SECTION
VIEW
COX’S SCULPTURE SITS IN THE HINDU
COURT, AT THE POINT OF BINDU.

VIEW ACROSS THE INNER

COURTYARDS, WITH IN THE
FOREGROUND AN INTERPRETATION
OF THE LAYOUT OF THE ISLAMIC
GARDEN OF PARADSE

EUROPEAN ICON, USED TO

REPRESENT THE AGE OF
REASON, NCLUDING THE MYTHIC
VALUES OF SCIENCE AND
PROGRESS
 AWARDS
 1961 Prize for low-income housing
 1972 PadmaShri by the President of India
 1980 Awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Michigan
 1984 Gold Medal- Royal Institute of British Architects
 1985 Prize for the Improvement in the Quality of Human Settlements from the
International Union of Architects.
 1986 Chicago Architecture Award.
 1987 Gold Medal- Indian Institute of Architects
 1990 Gold Medal (International Union of Architects)
 1994 The Premium Imperial from Japan society of art.
 1999 Aga khan award for vidhan sabha, bhopal