A structure that defies conventions, the LIC Building highlights the relevance of vertical structures in the contemporary period, when the entire neighbourhood of Connaught Place was dominated by low-rise, horizontal structures. Its glass fa&ccedil;ade reflects the new Delhi and it stands tall as a forerunner of the future generation. LIC was created in response to Correa`s vision of ideal living. Through apartments that resemble tubes, large openings that allow cross-ventilation, and varying apartment sizes, the building encourages those from differing income groups to live together in the same building.

LIC Building

Life Insurance Corporation Building

 Belapur Housing was an integral part of the New Bombay Development Plan. It is one of the first examples of incremental housing - housing that allows growth at a local level through a bottom up process, an idea that is ever relevant till today. The project uses one overriding principle: each individual unit is on its own an individual site to facilitate expansion. The units share common spaces but no two neighbouring units share any common walls. The houses are simple in structure and can easily be built or altered by local masons. It is a robust architecturally designed housing solution for lower and middle income housing. 

Belapur Housing

Located in the heart of New Delhi, Correa's design includes a library, auditorium, art gallery and the headquarters of the British Council. It has evolved from a traditional library to a hub for knowledge distribution, culture, and networking, as well as a venue for a variety of art and cultural events. Correa's design references Hinduism, Islam and the European Enlightenment as well as the importance of cosmic and religious symbolism to his work. He traces a route through the building from a spiral symbolising Bindu - the energy centre of the Cosmos through the traditional Islamic Char Bagh to a European icon, inlaid in marble and granite, used to represent the Age of Reason.

British Council

 Designed by Indian architectural luminary Charles Correa, this multi-arts center first opened its doors in 1982. More than thirty years later, it continues to house a variety of cultural facilities and play host to a multitude of arts events. 

Bharat Bhavan

 The area was envisaged as an ethnographic space where craftsmen from various parts of India would come to work towards the preservation of various traditional arts and crafts.  

 Invited by the Chairperson of the National Crafts Museum (NCM) in Delhi to transform its dusty and damp premises into a revitalized space, the brief for Studio Lotus required a redesign of the Museum Shop, attached Caf&eacute;, and courtyard sections, all of which were in a state of disrepair. 

 The National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum commonly known as National Crafts Museum in New Delhi is one of the largest crafts museums in India designed by Charles Correa between 1975 and 1990. A result of the nation-building process post-independence - Emergence of India as a &lsquo;crafts nation`, rooting the traditions and cultural heritage of a nation that also had modern aspirations. This was also the result of the leadership of powerful women like Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Pupul Jayakar, who with others helped forge the idea of India as a crafts nation even as they made possible new roles for women within the fields of crafts that were previously male-dominated. 

National Crafts Museum 

 The Stadium is one of the first structures which uses form-finished concrete in India. It's ingenious folded plate design was conceived by Correa and Mahendra Raj. The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium can hold up to 50,000 spectators. The stadium also holds the honour of hosting the first One Day International match played in India. Although after the construction of a nearby stadium, the Sardar (Vallabhbhai) Patel stadium is no longer used for international cricket matches and has lost its sheen. The stadium has become an important recreational centre for the local community although it`s no longer used for the purpose it was created.  

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Municipal Stadium

This memorial museum is located in the ashram where the Mahatma lived from 1917 to 1930. Housing his books, letters and photographs, this modest and human-scaled memorial uses brick piers, stone floors and tiled roofs to find a contemporary expression for the spirit of swadeshi. The commission was the architect's first important work in private practice. In order to reflect the simplicity of Gandhi's life and the incremental nature of a living institution the architect used modular units 6 metres x 6 metres of reinforced cement concrete connecting spaces, both open and covered, allowing for eventual expansion. This building represents a skillful synthesis of Western Rationalism and Modernism with the simplicity and austerity that characterises the old ashram building.

Gandhi Memorial Museum at Sabarmati Ashram

 The Hindustan Lever Pavilion was constructed as a part of the Indian Industries Fair, 1961. The form of the building was similar to that of a crumbled sheet of card where each plane was made of reinforced concrete. The concrete shell was shotcrete in situ onto the steel reinforcing configured intuitively by Mahendra Raj. The seemingly random form gave rise to an astonishing array of spaces in its interior, with ramps and platforms accentuating the fractured, scale less perception of space. The canon like openings in the structure introduced convention air back into the interior.  

Hindustan Lever Pavilion

 Kala Academy is one of the most significant structures in the city of Panaji. A cultural center that was beautifully designed by the legendary architect Charles Correa is a symbol of modern heritage in Goa. Its human-friendly scale, building proportions, and non-restrictive design approach to accommodate users from different walks of life is truly an architecture for humans. 

Kala Academy

 Kanchanjunga Apartments designed by Charles Correa is an attempt to apply the principles of climate sensitivity and passive cooling techniques to a high-rise building. Located in Mumbai, the U.S. equivalent of New York City in terms of population and diversity, the 32 luxury apartments are located southwest of downtown in an upscale suburban setting embodying the characteristics of the upper echelon of society within the community. 

Kanchanjunga Apartments

 The design of Jawahar Kala Kendra is an expression of the parallel attitudes of two political leaders - Jai Singh II , who built the city of Jaipur and Jawaharlal Nehru , the first Prime Minister of India. The Jawahar Kala Kendra is a contemporary reading of the notion of the cosmos. It employs the concept of Navagrahas, 9 planets fundamental to Hindu astrology and invokes the original plan of Jaipur by displacing one of the squares. 

Jawahar Kala Kendra

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has undergone remarkable transformations in the past decade. Not since the mid-20th century, when the school commissioned Alvar Aalto’s Baker House and Eero Saarinen’s MIT Chapel and Kresge Auditorium, has the 90-year-old, 168-acre campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, seen so much formally adventurous new architecture. Notable projects of the billion-dollar campus building program include Simmons Hall, the riotously fenestrated dormitory by Steven Holl Architects [record, May 2003, page 204] and the Stata Center, a computer science extravaganza by Gehry Partners [record, August 2004, page 98]. The latest major new work is the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex (BCSC), certainly the least showy and arguably the most satisfying of them all. Designed by Charles Correa Associates, of Mumbai, in collaboration with architect of record Goody Clancy, of Boston, the seven-story, 412,000-square-foot BCSC is the world’s largest center for neuroscience research; it is also an elegant example of leading-edge laboratory design.

Brain and Cognitive Sciences (MIT Bldg. 46)  

 Charles Correa, architect and urban planner was famous for applying modernist design principles of contemporary times to local climates and building styles. Correa started studying at Saint Xavier&rsquo;s College at the University of  Mumbai, and later he went on to study at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (1949&ndash;53) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1953&ndash;55). In 1958 he came back to India and commenced his practice in Mumbai. The initial works of Charles Correa had a traditional touch in them. He tried to blend local cultural values in architecture. Traditional symmetrical spaces, modernist use of materials, exemplary concrete forms and sensitivity towards site were some major characteristics of his work. He always designed buildings complementing the context and landscapes of India. 

Awarded Padam Shri

 Awarded the Royal Gold Medal for architecture by the Royal Institute of British Architects 

 Awarded the 7th Aga Khan Award for Architecture for Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly[ 

 Awarded the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art 

 Awarded the Padma Vibhushan given by Government of India 

 Awarded the Gomant Vibhushan conferred by Government of Goa 

Charles Correa

SITES

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS