Charles Correa has gained an international reputation as an architect, planner and theorist through his influential body of work, one that has dealt so concretely with what remain the hot-button issues of today: climate, housing, city-planning, cultural context.
Born in 1930 in Secunderabad, India, he first studied at the University of Bombay, and then the University of Michigan (1949–53) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1953–55), before returning to India in 1958 to set up his own architectural practice in Mumbai.
Correa’s key built works in India include: Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalya Museum, Ahmedabad (1958-63), Tube House, Ahmedabad (1961-62), Hindustan Lever Pavilion, New Delhi (1961), Belapur Housing, Navi Mumbai (1970-83), Kanchanjunga Apartments, Mumbai, 1970-83), National Crafts Museum, New Delhi (1975-90), Jawahar Kala Kendra Cultural Centre, Jaipur (1986-92) and the British Council, Delhi (1987-92). In recent years he has also completed significant international projects, including the MIT Brain & Cognitive Sciences Complex in Boston (2000-05) and the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon (2007-10).
Throughout his architectural practice, Correa has been heavily involved with theoretical and practical issues of the city, above all in the one where he lives: Mumbai. Between 1970-75, Correa was Chief Architect for New Bombay (now known as Navi Mumbai), and from 1974-78, Chairman of the Housing, Urbanisation & Ecological Board of the Bombay Metropolitan Authority. He founded the Urban Design Research Institute in 1984, and the following year Rajiv Gandhi appointed him Chair of the first National Commission on Urbanisation in India.
The sensibility and quality of the work of Charles Correa has won wide recognition – and a wide variety of awards including the Royal Gold Medal from the RIBA (1984), the Gold Medal from the Indian Institute of Architects (1987), the Praemium Imperiale in Japan (1994) and the Padma Vibhushan Civilian Award (2007).
2013 marks the year that Correa has gifted his extensive archive to the RIBA Library, subsequent to his having completely digitized it, making it freely available for study by students and others worldwide.
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