Charles Correa

Submitted by:
Ar. Rubina Mehraj
M.Arch 11nd semester 2013-2014
D. Y. Patil College of Engg. And Technology
Kolhapur
 Charles Correa:

About him:
•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
•‘India of those days was a different place, it was a brand-new country, there was
so much hope; India stimulated me.’
•—
Architect, planner, activist and theoretician, an international lecturer and
traveler.
•—
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.
•—
India’s first man of architecture has a very simple philosophy: “Unless you
believe in what you do, it becomes … boring,”
Education
•1946-1948 inter-science. St. Xavier’s college, university of Bombay
•1949-1955 B.Arch., University of Michigan.
•1953-1955 M.Arch., Massachusetts institute of technology.

Professional Experience
•1955-1958 partner with G.M. BHUTA associates
•1958- to date in private practice.
•1964-1965 prepared master plan proposing twin city across the 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 dharavavi palnning commision
Principles
•Few cardinal principles in his vast body of work;
•incrementality
•pluralism
•income generation
•equity
•open-to-sky space
•disaggregation.
Belapur housing being the one project where he has literally used these
principals
Diversity
•In Bombay – Salvacao Church at Dadar ; Kanchanjunga Apartments
•In Goa for the Cidade de Goa Hotel and the Kala Academy,
•In Ahmedabad – Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya ; Ramkrishna House
•Delhi – The LIC Centre; British Council Building
•Kerala – Kovalam Beach Resort Hotel
•Andamans – Bay Island Hotel in Port Blair
Architectural utility and grandeur spread over the subcontinent
AWARDS:
•1961 Prize for low-income housing early
•1972 Correa was awarded the PadmaShri by the President of India
•1980 Correa was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Michigan
•1984 He was awarded the Gold Medal of the 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 the Gold Medal of the Indian Institute of Architects
•1990 the Gold Medal of the UIA (International Union of Architects)
•1994 the Premium Imperial from Japan society of art.
•1999 Aga khan award for vidhan sabha, bhopal

Correa and Gandhi

•Gandhi’s goal for an independent India had been a village model, nonindustrial
, its architecture simple and traditional .
•In these early works Correa demonstrates uncompromising execution of an
idea as a powerful statement of form
Correa and 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
‘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.”
– Parekh house
About the building:
•Two pyramidal sections from housing types developed for Cablenagar
•Summer section – to be used during daytime; protects interior from heat
•Winter section – to be used in early mornings and evenings; opens up
the terraces to the sky
•Since site faces east-west, house consists of 3 bays
•Summer section sandwiched between winter section and service bay (for
circulation, kitchen and toilets)
•Bearing walls made brick .
•STEP PYRAMIDAL form of spaces inversing with respect to the season.
•Garden space in front of the house.
•Material chosen-concrete and brick covering.
•Good climatic responsive building since 37 years of its construction