Symphonies in concrete

Charles Correa stands tall and rock solid, like his work. Rajnish Wattas writes
about this architect of Indian renaissance

CHARLES Correa, eminent Indian architect, recently completed a personal landmark — 50 years of extraordinary practice. This icon of Indian architecture with an international presence and imprint, has reasons to smile. His personal growth has been almost synonymous with India’s journey into finding its post-Independence architectural idiom. This role, however, rubs lightly on him, with his proverbial Goan zest for life.

During the celebrations to mark the event, colleagues, professional peers, luminaries and art lovers from all over the country made a special journey to Mumbai to be with him and his wife Monica, who is not only a talented tapestry designer in her own right but is also an equal partner with him in weaving an aesthetic and creative life together.

The celebrations started with screening of the film Volume Zero by noted director Arun Khopkar, followed by a discussion on it by film critics and architects. It was chaired by famous art historian Jyotendra Jain. The film is an hour-long video on the work and ideas of Correa. It is enigmatically titled Volume Zero as a metaphor for the pre-history or the informal history of things and events that later became a base for the more visible ones. It deals with Correa’s childhood, his professional training, formative experiences and the paradigms underlying his fascinatingly diverse and large oeuvre of work as well as his pivotal role in addressing problems of urbanisation in India and, more particularly, in Mumbai.

The film is itself an experience and a work of art, opening up new perspectives on the understanding of the poetry of architecture, as a silent music that has been Correa’s calling. Interesting parallels are drawn between filmmaking and architecture. "Both deal with a sequence of images; the difference is of timing," says Correa, who himself is passionate about filmmaking.

Foundation stone

As a child, Correa was fascinated by toy trains gifted to him, and, thereby, started the long journey into architecture. He was fascinated by the way they changed tracks, and developed an unusual eye for reading, playful lines — later plans of building drawings. This took Charles to the University of Michigan and later the MIT Boston, where under the mentoring and inspiration of great teachers like Buckminister Fuller and Gyory Kepes, who ran a wonderful seminar class on painting, music and the other arts and the relationship to architecture, Correa found his early principles of architecture.

Returning to India, he set up his practice in 1958, which he now recalls as more of a ‘cottage industry’ with ideas, creativity combining with a hands-on-approach to work. For him good architecture is a response to four factors: climate, technology, culture and aspirations. Starting with a small but very significant project, the elegantly simple and serene Mahatma Gandhi Museum at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Correa manifested his vision. He soon began to re-interpret the Indian heritage into stimulating contemporary expressions, instead of blindly aping the, then, prevalent modernist movement. It was an exciting time for young architects in India. Masters like Le Corbusier and Louis Khan were doing epic work in Chandigarh and Ahemedabad. He took inspiration but never copied.

Cosmic link

A theme that binds Correa’s work is his deep concern for climate. "Architecture is a mechanism for dealing with the elements ... the cold countries have produced the closed box, but that should not be aped blindly in the warm climate of our country ... architecture always is site specific; it’s not a moveable feast like music or painting," he asserts.

Besides having a passion for open-to-sky spaces, Correa shows a keen interest in understanding their metaphysical aspect also. He has tried to reinterpret ancient perception of architecture as a model of cosmos. According to the ancient Indian beliefs, the vaastupurusha mandala forms the basis of architecture, and is a perfect square subdivided into identical squares. "The mandala is not merely a plan; it represents an energy field. Its centre signifies both shunya (the absolute void) as well as bindu (the world seed source of all energy). In this context, the analogy of black holes of cosmos in contemporary astronomy is really astounding."

Pet projects

Correa has manifested his modern reinterpretation of these ancient beliefs in the project of Jawahar Kala Kendra at Jaipur completed in 1992. The specific mandala invoked in this project is Navagraha, which consists of nine squares, each representing a planet with the corner so displaced, so as to create the main entrance — a variation on the original plan of Jaipur.

Another significant project manifesting Correa’s preoccupation with the cosmos is the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) at Pune. This, too, has been conceived as a model of cosmos. It seeks to express the 20^th Century understanding of the expanding university as explained by modern astronomy.

Correa used his recurrent open-to-sky spaces in the headquarters for the British Council in Delhi. The building is structured along a ritualistic pathway on a linear axis — much like Lutyen’s New Delhi Central Vista. Each layer of open space symbolically represents the various historical interfaces that the British had with India. At the far end is the bindu, symbolising the interface with Hinduism; then the Charbagh with Islam; and finally at the far end the axis mundi symbolises the British themselves. At the entrance to this axis is a fascinating wall mural evoking the shade of a banyan tree representative of pluralistic India itself. Thus he gave the city of Delhi a palimpsest of history, art and architecture.

The fascination of Correa’s work is his incisive understanding of the core issues of a project; and then with his multi-dimensional and multi-sensory imagination, employing a unique play of form, light colour, virtual imagery, he creates an ethereal experience. His inspirations spring from the site, its heritage, and cultural context, and then these, when synchronised with choreographic imagination, produced a memorable symphony of architecture.

Joy of building

Take his Kovalam Beach Resort project, an architecture that grows out of the cliff itself; or the Cidade de Goa — distilling the joi de vivre of Goa, the vibrant colours of its traditional homes and architecture and then weaving a magic-realism into these elements to evoke nostalgia. He also uses this technique of virtual reality in a different way in the Kala Academi; located along the Mandovi river, employing art in architecture in an integral way.

Besides the above-mentioned projects, others range from the Hindustan Levers pavilion using the raw power of concrete to the unique Kanchenjunga apartment tower in Mumbai, the National Crafts Museum in Delhi, the State Assembly of Madhya Pradesh, and, most recently, the elegant Brain and Cognitive Sciences Centre at MIT in Boston, it is a large repertoire of work.

Correa’s work deals with a wide spectrum of issues, from generating affordable housing, to townships and housing projects in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and other cities of India. As a citizen of Mumbai, he has, throughout these five decades, been in the forefront of addressing the staggering issues facing the city. In 1970 he was made Chief Architect for New Bombay, and in 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi designated him Chairman of the first National Commission on Urbanisation. He was also the Chairman of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission till recently. His contribution to architecture lies as much through his incisive writings and lectures — often laced with puckish humour and punchy wit — as it is through his projects.

Winning laurels

Accolades have come his way as naturally as shadows would follow a colossus. He has been awarded doctorates by the University of Michigan and the Universidade Technica de Lisboa. He is the first Indian to receive the gold medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Gold Medal of the UIA (International Union of Architects) and the Praemium Imperiale of Japan. In 1987 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Indian Institute of Architects, and in 1998 the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Earlier last year, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan by the President of India.

During his recent visit to Chandigarh, Correa expressed admiration for Le Corbusier the architect, but had reservations about his town-planning skills. "He was never a gun for hire," said Correa in a memorable tribute to the man.

"In fact, you people seem to have frozen Chandigarh. It’s a kind of time warp — quite the opposite to what Corbusier believed architecture was about. Didn’t he say, ‘truth is a river, which is always changing . . . flowing sometimes here . . .and sometimes there?’ Commenting on the current fad for the ‘glass box’ architecture all over the country, replicated across IT parks, shopping malls and commercial centres, including at Chandigarh, Correa likes to respond: "Well I guess people are fed up of all that brick and concrete — it’s like wearing a hair shirt. Instead of just blindly sticking to the old rules, we should find ways to extend the vocabulary people are allowed to use. You don’t want to ruin the place — but you do need to respond to their legitimate aspirations."

Currently, Charles Correa is busy with a prestigious global project — the Champalimaud Centre in Lisbon, besides others. In an address to the students of architecture, he advised them to always be asking questions in life. Obviously he hasn’t stopped doing that himself.

This long strider of Indian architecture moves on from one landmark to another with the glee and excitement of a child, the energy of a young man and the sensibility of a poet.

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