CHARLES CORREA

Charles Correa is an Indian architect and urban

planner, particularly noted for his sensitivity to
the needs of the urban poor and for his use of
traditional methods and materials
•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.’

•Education
1946-1948 inter-science. St. Xavier's college, university of Bombay1949-1955
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 harbour
from Bombay.
1969-1971 invited by the govt. of Peru
1971-1975 chief architect to CIDCO
1975-1976 consultant to UN secretary-general for HABITAT
1975-1983 Chairman Housing Urban Renewal & Ecology Board
1985 chairman dharavavi planning commission
 Principles
Few cardinal principles in his vast body of work;
• Incrementality
• Pluralism
• Participation
• Income generation
• Equity
• Open-to-sky space
• Disaggregation.
Belapur housing being the one project where he
has literally used these principals
OPEN TO SKY CONCEPT
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 COMPONENTS:-
terrace from which one proceeds to an open
courtyard, perhaps shaded by a tree . . . or by a •COURTYARDS & TERRACES
large pergola overhead. At each moment, subtle •URBANIZATION
changes in the quality of light and ambient air •THE MACHINE FOR LIVING
generate feelings within us feelings which are •WORKSPACES
central to our beings. •LEISURE
•THE RITUALISTIC PATHWAY
•METAPHORS
 COURTYARDS & TERRACES

Kanchanjunga Rallis Apartments

Low-income housing;
Gujarat Housing Board
•CAN MAKE A DECISIVE DIFFERENCE B/W
LIVABLE HABITAT AND CLAUSTROPHOBIA
•PARTICULARLY FOR THE LOWEST INCOME
GROUP BED LIVING BED
•EVEN IN DENSE HOUSING, INDIVIDUAL
TERRAES CAN BE GIVEN Colonial Bungalow
•SUCH SPACES NOT ONLY IMPROVE LIVING
CONDITIONS, BUT ALSO HAS ECONOMIC
VALUE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRY LIKE INDIA
•THESE PRINCIPLES ARE VIABLE ALSO IN THE
HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS, WHERE THE ISSUE IS BED
LIVING BED
COMPOUNDED BY THE HOT HUMID
CLIMATE EG- SONMARG APPARTMENTS, BED DINING BED
Jeevan Bima Nagar,
KANCHANJUNGA APPARTMENTS. VERANDAH
Borivili
KITCHEN
PLAN
 URBANIZATION

Squatter Housing Belapur Housing, New

Bombay

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.
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.
 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.
A kit-of-parts came into existence:-
• the section which facilitates convection
currents
• the internal zone of micro-climate
• The stepped terraces
• the pergola roof
 THE RITUAUSTIC PATHWAY

A METAPHOR FOR THE INDIAN STREET, TAKING THE VISITOR FROM VILLAGE TO TEMPLE TO PALACE.
 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 elements from the kit-of-parts:-

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.
KANCHANJUNGA APPARTMENTS
1970-1983
 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.

http://archnet.org/authorities/9/publications/7098
 JEEVAN BHARTI , DELHI
• Offices are located in two separate wings creating a built up of 6300 sq. m.
A 98 meters long pergola connects the two buildings .

http://archnet.org/authorities/9/publications/7098
 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.

http://archnet.org/authorities/9/sites/1405
 BHARAT BHAWAN
• 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).
BRITISH COUNCIL LIBRARY (1987-1992)

THIS NEW BUILDING FOR THE BRITISH COUNCIL

HOUSES A NUMBER OF DIVERSE FUNCTIONS,
INCLUDING A LIBRARY, AN AUDITORIUM, AN ART
GALLERY AND THE HEADQUARTERS OF THEIR
OFFICES IN INDIA.
 CORREA’S 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
SYMBOLISING BINDU- THE ENERGY
CENTRE OF THE COSMOS.

•THE NEXT NODAL POINT, LOCATED IN

THE MAIN COURTYARD, IS CENTERED
AROUND ANOTHER MYTHIC IMAGE:
THE TRADITIONAL ISLAMIC CHAR
BAGH, i.e. GARDEN OF PARADISE.

•THE THIRD NODAL POINT ALONG THE

AXIS IS A EUROPEAN ICON, INLAID IN
MARBLE AND GRANITE.
SITE SECTION
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
 JAWAHAR KALA KENDRA(1986-1992)

•IT IS AN ARTS CENTRE DEDICATED TO JAWAHARLAL

NEHRU
•LIKE THE CITY, IT IS ALSO DOUBLE CODED: A
CONTEMPORARY BUILDING BASED ON AN ARCHAIC
NOTION OF THE COSMOS: THE NAVGRAH
MANDALA
•ONE OF THE SQUARES MOVED ASIDE TO PROVIDE
ENTRY, JUST LIKE IT WAS IN THE ORIGINAL CITY
PLAN OF JAIPUR.
GENESIS OF JAIPUR

GENESIS OF JAWAHAR KALA KENDRA

JAIPUR CITY PLAN
 SHANI SURYA MANGAL

SECTION
NINE PLANETS
EACH OF THE NINE PLANETS IS REPRESENTED BY A SQUARE, 30M x 30M, DEFINED BY RED
SANDSTONE WALLS, 8M HIGH. THE PROGRAMME FOR THE ARTS CENTRE IS DISAGGREGATED
INTO NINE SEPARATE GROUPINGS, EACH CORRESPONDIG TO THE MYTHS OF A PARTICULAR
PLANET.
THE TRADITIONAL SYMBOL OF EACH PLANET IS EXPRESSED IN MARBLE AND STONE INLAY IN
THE STONE WALLS THAT SURROUND IT. THE CENTRAL SQUARE, AS SPECIFIED IN THE ANCIENT
VEDIC SHASTRAS, IS A VOID: REPRESENTING THE NOTHING- WHICH IS THE TRUE SOURCE OF
ALL ENERGY.
 THE EXTERNAL WALLS OF
THE BUILDING (INCLUDING
THOSE AROUND THE KUND)
ARE CLAD IN RED AGRA
SANDSTONE, TOPPED BY A
COPING OF BEIGE
DHOLPUR STONE- THE
SAME MATERIALS USED FOR
THE JANTAR MANTAR
OBSERVATORY, IN THE RED
FORT AT AGRA, AND IN
FATEHPUR SIKRI

ON THESE EXTERNAL SURFACES, THE

PRESENCE OF EACH OF THE PLANETS IS
EXPRESSED BY ITS TRADITIONAL SYMBOL
INLAID IN WHITE MARBLE, RECALLING AGAIN
THE PRECISELY CALIBRATED SURFACES OF THE
ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS AT THE
JANTAR MANTAR OBSERVATORY
 CHAMPALIMAUD CENTER FOR THE
UNKNOWN
• Opened on 5th
october,2010
• Location : Lisbon ,
Portugal on the
waterfront.
• Historical significance as
portugese sailed from
this location to discover
the ‘unknown lands’.

http://www.archdaily.com/140623/champalimaud-centre-for-the-unknown-charles-correa-associates/
 CHAMPALIMAUD CENTER
• Has curved stone forms with
circular cut- aways.
• Comprises two buildings , first-
research laboratories and
treatment rooms , second
housing an auditorium and
exhibition area.
• A central pathway crosses the
site between the buildings ,
leading towards two monolithic
stone sculptures and an outdoor
amphitheater.
• Above the pathway , a glass
tubular bridge connects the two
buildings together.

http://www.fchampalimaud.org/en/the-foundation/champalimaud-centre-unknown/
 CHAMPALIMAUD CENTER
• Attempted to use nature as therapy. The water around us. The sky above.
The healing presence of rain forests . All these are therapies for the
patients.
• Uses the highest levels of contemporary science and medicine to help
people grappling with real problems; cancer, brain damage , blindness.
 CHAMPALIMAUD CENTER
• The buildings are arranged to create a
125 m long pedestrian pathway leading
diagonally across the site , towards open
seas.
• Pathway is on an incline so that while
walking upwards one can only see the sky.
• At the top of the ramp there are two
stone monoliths , straight from the
quarry.
• From the highest point , a large body of
water is visible which appears to connct
to the ocean beyond.
• In the center of the water body, just
below the surface is an oval shaped
stainless stell object , slightly convex so
that it reflects the blue sky and passing
clouds above.
 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