Tag: charles-correa | ArchDaily

The Everyday Legacy of Indian Modernism: Building for the Post-Independence Middle Class

Ananya Nayak — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Indian modernism is often narrated through a narrow lens: a handful of iconic institutions, master architects, and formally radical experiments that came to symbolize the nation's post-Independence aspirations. Yet this version of history overlooks the far larger body of modernist architecture that quietly shaped everyday life across the country. Beyond celebrated campuses and canonical buildings exists a vast, dispersed landscape of housing blocks, offices, hostels, hospitals, markets, and townships — structures that were designed to function and endure.

Design for Density: Housing in India as Social Infrastructure

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0000

Like most countries, India faces a perpetual housing crisis. As the world’s most populous nation, with an urban population expected to grow from 410 million in 2014 to 814 million by 2050, this becomes a pressing concern. The Indian built landscape brings further complexities in the form of a pervasive market-driven approach and the need for socially relevant housing. Looking into the future, how will India address the needs of its growing population to house the next million urbanites?

The Top 20 Most Visited AD Architecture Classics

Dima Stouhi — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 07:30:00 +0000

AD Classics presents you with some of the greatest buildings of the past that have influenced and shaped architecture today. Throughout ArchDaily's 13 years, more than 200 classics were published, and for this edition, we have rounded up the top 20 most visited Architecture Classics to date.

Ahmedabad's Iconic Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Designed by Charles Correa, Set to be Demolished

Nour Fakharany — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 05:30:00 +0000

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has just announced its plan to demolish India's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Stadium. The structure was initially designed by Charles Correa and engineer Mahenda Raj in the 1960s. A testament to “the progressive ideals and experimental spirit that characterized India’s post-independence period,” this iconic modernist structure has hosted ample cultural events for the city.

Mumbai Architecture City Guide: 20 Projects in One of India's Most Populous Cities

Ankitha Gattupalli — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 07:30:00 +0000

Walking through the streets of Mumbai, India, is an experience unmatched anywhere else. The energy of India’s largest and most populous city is palpable through the people, their activities, and most importantly, the built environment. The city’s dynamic culture is evidently expressed through the structures that dot its landscape.

“As Architects, We Don’t Discover Our Identity, We Construct It”: In Conversation with Rahul Mehrotra

Vladimir Belogolovsky — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 03:30:00 +0000

Rahul Mehrotra is a practicing architect based in Boston and Mumbai and he has been teaching at Harvard’s GSD where he is currently Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design and Director of the Master in Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program. Born in 1959, Mehrotra grew up in Lucknow, a city in Northern India and an important cultural and artistic hub. His father was a manager at a large machine tool company. The family moved a lot following Mehrotra senior’s frequent promotions, which led to changing residences owned by his company. Besides a few years in Lucknow and Delhi, they lived in different neighborhoods within Mumbai.

Materials to Build India's Identity

Ankitha Gattupalli — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Upon becoming a sovereign country, free from British Rule, the people of India found themselves faced with questions they had never needed to answer before. Coming from different cultures and origins, the citizens began to wonder what post-independence India would stand for. The nation-builders now had the choice to carve out their own future, along with the responsibility to reclaim its identity - but what was India's identity? Was it the temples and huts of the indigenous folk, the lofty palaces of the Mughal era, or the debris of British rule? There began a search for a contemporary Indian sensibility that would carry the collective histories of citizens towards a future of hope.

Anupama Kundoo Receives The 2021 RIBA Charles Jencks Award

Andreea Cutieru — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 05:30:00 +0000

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Jencks Foundation announced renowned Indian architect Anupama Kundoo as the winner of this year's RIBA Charles Jencks Award. The accolade given in recognition of significant contributions to the theory and practice of architecture acknowledges Kundoo's holistic practice that marries theoretical investigations, material research and sustainable building methods.

Urban Visions: How India is Shaping the Future of Housing

Eric Baldwin — Thu, 27 May 2021 07:30:00 +0000

India is rethinking the future of housing through new typologies. Defined by historical and cultural influences, the country's contemporary architecture centers on discussions of how best to modernize. Built over millennia, India's housing projects are made to address diverse scales, programs and functions. Exploring a revitalized urban landscape, these modern housing projects have begun to set a new tone for the future.

From Architecture School to Practice: How Famous and Emerging Figures Made the Transition

Andreea Cutieru — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture school is a place of experiment and a testing ground for innovative ideas. The academic work and student projects can bring to light the focus of an entire career, shape the backbone for an architectural theory, and crystalize values. How do their studies and formative years reflect on the later work of different architects? Taking a journey along decades, we explore the transition from architecture school to practice, the reverberance of academic explorations and early projects in the work of several architects and practices, highlighting the different pivotal steps that have shaped the beginning of their architectural journey.

Charles Correa’s 1955 Master Thesis Uses Animated Film to Explain Public Participation in Urban Processes

Andreea Cutieru — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Charles Correa Foundation has recently released several snippets of ‘You & Your Neighbourhood’, Charles Correa’s 1955 Master Thesis at MIT, an animation film for which the architect was scriptwriter, animator, photographer and director. The thesis put forward the idea of a participatory process for the betterment of neighbourhoods, with a strong emphasis on creating a framework for improving urban conditions in a bottom-up approach.

New Petition Aims to Save Charles Correa's Kala Academy from Demolition

Eric Baldwin — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 05:00:00 +0000

A new petition has been started to save Charles Correa's Kala Academy from demolition by the State Government in India. The project has become one of the only government-run arts institution with a diverse set of cultural offerings across Western and Indian programming. As Goa’s cultural center, the late 1970's structure is a rare example of an equitable public building in India.

2018 World Monuments Watch Lists 50 Cultural Sites at Risk from Human and Natural Threats

Patrick Lynch — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 14:30:00 +0000

The World Monuments Fund has announced their 2018 World Monuments Watch, highlighting 25 cultural sites from across the globe currently at risk due to economic, political or natural threats. Covering more than 30 countries and territories, these monuments represent sites of exceptional cultural value dating from prehistory to the 20th century.

Is India Building the "Wrong" Sort of Architecture?

AD Editorial Team — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 04:00:00 +0000

This episode of Monocle 24's On Design podcast, which briefly surveys the state of Indian architecture and suggests a blueprint for a 21st Century vernacular, was written and recorded by ArchDaily's European Editor at Large, James Taylor-Foster.

Jean Pierre Crousse to Lead Speakers at Annual Charles Correa Foundation Z-Axis Conference in Goa

AD Editorial Team — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 04:00:00 +0000

The second annual Z-Axis Conference, organised by the Charles Correa Foundation, will center on the notion of Buildings As Ideas. Held in the western Indian city of Goa at the Kala Academy, one of Correa's later projects, the conference is a tribute to his memory and belief that "buildings are ideas that manifest and take form." Jean Pierre Crousse, of Lima-based practice Barclay & Crousse, will open the conference with the keynote address; other international speakers include Camilo Rebelo, Ilze Wolff, Yung Ho Chang, Dick van Gameren and ArchDaily's James Taylor-Foster.

AD Classics: Bharat Bhavan / Charles Correa

Bart Bryant-Mole — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 04:00:00 +0000

In the late 1970s, the Government of India launched an initiative to build in every state capital an institution to celebrate the cultural and creative output of the nation. Although the scheme was largely unsuccessful, one shining example remains: Bharat Bhavan (‘India House’), located in Bhopal.

Z-Axis International Conference to Explore "Buildings as Ideas"

Rene Submissions — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 04:30:00 +0000

The Charles Correa Foundation is organizing its second annual Z-Axis Conference entitled Buildings As Ideas, which will focus on buildings and the nature of the questions they raise. The inaugural conference, Great City... Terrible Place, which was held in March 2015, intended to describe the city.

Architecture as an Agent of Change: Remembering Charles Correa, "India's Greatest Architect"

Rohan Varma — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 04:00:00 +0000

A year ago today, on June 16th 2015, the architectural community lost Charles Correa (b.1930) – a man often referred to as “India’s Greatest Architect” and a person whose impact on the built environment extended far beyond his own native country. Rooted in India, Correa’s work blended Modernity and traditional vernacular styles to form architecture with a universal appeal. Over the course of his career, this work earned him—among many others—awards including the 1984 RIBA Royal Gold Medal (UK), the 1994 Praemium Imperiale (Japan), and the 2006 Padma Vibhushan (India’s second highest civilian honor).