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...

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...