Renaissance Idiot's ramblings

 Gun House as built in 1960, copyright Charles Correa Associates, courtesy of Charles Correa Foundation * After wrapping up my fellowship at the Charles Correa Foundation in Panaji, Goa, I needed a time-off to think about what I was going to do next. After listening to about a hundred different versions of my future from everyone around me, and disagreeing with all of them, I returned back home only to quickly elope to Gujarat for a well-earned time off. Amongst the places I got to visit & the people I got to spend time with, one experience took centre stage for me. Working on the Correa Archive, I had developed a good understanding of Correa’s work. One such was the Gun House, and knowing I will be so close to it on this trip; I had to make it a must to go and see it. The idea of the Gun House, from its name, shape, to the stories of its current fate brought tremendous interest to my mind. It is rare to see a work of a significant architect that goes through such massive deg...

Manhattan New York as seen from a boat returning from Ellis Island by John Salatas, 15 April 2017. Retrieved from Wikipedia Commons. This essay is in continuation to reviewing A Place in the Shade by Charles Correa.  The essay starts by letting us know that Correa has become a part of the steering committee in the Aga Khan award. This opens him up to the contemporary outlook of the architectural professional.  Correa asks what the mythic image is, and the value it holds in the mind of the architect. In a way, it's an extremely helpful ruck sack of ideas and concepts that an architect relies on to come up with solutions for the design. But, at the same time, is a curse that limits the architect to critically look at the site and the context that needs addressing. Constantly with Correa, we see him value and fall back on this topic of site context and its climate. Correa refers to Islamic architecture and its spread to the east and how it moulded and reinvented itsel...

In 1956, a woman carries cement at Le Corbusier’s Capitol Complex, Chandigarh, India, in front of the Secretariat. Photograph by   Ernst Scheidegger, via Museum of Modern Art, New York. This is in continuation to reviewing Charles Correa's book, A Place in the Shade.   At 'Celebrating Chandigarh' symposium 2002, Correa finds himself talking and explaining about the need and the sheer stroke of genius that Corbusier was. And how lucky India was to invite and involve this great architect and visionary in its inception as a country. It is no doubt that Corbusier's involvement paved the path to all modern architecture in India but the amazing fact was that he respected India's culture, something Correa also values in his principals. Corbusier through this, was able to build the new architectural style that put India in the cutting edge of architectural marvels; where architects from around the world were trying to replicate this technology and design seen in...

(Above) Le Corbusier looking towards the High Court Building’s main façade. This is continuing the review of essays by Charles Correa in his book, A Place in the Shade.  To claim that Correa is a free thinker would be an understatement. The man can be both, a harsh critic and a benevolent supporter and for the case of Le Corbusier here, he is both Through Chandigarh's Capital Complex, Correa strips Corbusier of every layer showing every little sentiment the man shared in designing buildings and what he seemingly ignored in his quest. Corbusier had the task of making this newly independent country's newest city, all the while establishing the language of architecture for the coming future.  Correa introduces himself to the reader before the critique and praise of Le Corbusier, in a way that gives credibility to the man. From the ideals of climate, culture, material, design and more. Charles Correa is no preacher, but the embodiment of a practitioner with a rich set ...

The following are some thoughts and ramblings that went across my mind when reading the The New Landscape by Charles Correa. Picking this book up after my completion of the course of architecture was a huge tragedy. I can only imagine how much of a better sensitivity and realness my designs could have portrayed in their conception, which eventually were superficial at best. The book is rightfully said as a must read for every architect/planner willing to practice in India and the ideas and lens of critical thinking are a boon to the profession.  The fact with building the urban world is the higher density that comes along with it. And to bring this to reality, to build forms of over 4 stories, exponentially increases the cost of construction due to the use of RCC. This ultimately marks the price of housing to rise leading to the outcome being only  affordable to the upper and middle class, forcing the lower class to move to the street.  Indian cities, for exam...

Ever since the expansion of transport networks, cities have become one of the most versatile machines for human advancement. And as time has moved on, so has the mass and numbers of these highly efficient cities around the globe. Along with this massive growth, fallacies in this machine have become apparent. The study of urban architecture sought to understand and regulate the exponential spread of cities and made an effort into bettering the lives of the people, who serve as cogs in the city infrastructure. Charles Correa’s high intellect and excellent observation skills are well known through his works, but another remarkable skill of Correa was the language in which he was able to communicate his learnings to others. An architect is disconnected from the commoners, the use of complex drawings and language structure feels alienating except for the members of the architecture fraternity. Correa observed that at the face of any urban issue, the stakeholders that get hit the hardest are...