A Place in the Shade: The New Landscape and Other Essays

by Charles Correa

Charles Correa’s A Place in the Shade explores architectural and urban issues in India, from the house as a machine for dealing with the country’s often hostile climate to the metaphysical role of architecture as a “model of the cosmos.” This provocative and eminently readable collection of essays argues that the country’s habitat must respond to the overriding parameters of climate, culture and financial resources, and that our physical environment should accommodate both diversity and synergy. Over the last few decades, urban real estate has become the primary source of financing for political parties and the politicians who run them, and as Correa acknowledges, “you cannot look at cities without wandering into architecture on the one hand and politics on the other.” A Place in the Shade identifies the defining issues of the urbanization trends that are so rapidly transforming India.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, India

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Charles Mark Correa (1 September 1930 – 16 June 2015) was an Indian architect, urban planner and activist. Credited for the creation of modern architecture in post-Independent India, he was celebrated for his sensitivity to the needs of the urban poor and for his use of traditional methods and materials.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972, and the second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan given by Government of India in 2006. He was also awarded the 1984 Royal Gold Medal for architecture, by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's unfair that a brilliant architect should also write this beautifully.

Take his Faulknerian description of Chandigarh, the planned city: "One arrives at Chandigarh. One travels through the town, past the houses spread out in the dust like endless rows of confidence tricks; and down the surrealistic roads—V.1s and V.2s—running between brick walls to infinity. Chandigarh, brave new Chandigarh, born in the harsh plains of the Punjab without an umbilical cord."

This book is full of such wonderfully observed scenes and details, along with insights about architecture, cities, and the humans who use them. He's conversant not just with the principles of design, but with the inextricable symbolism, history, and human needs of any building or city.

Unfortunately this book only came to my attention because of Mr. Correa's passing last month, but the spirit of the man comes through clearly in his writing - warm, funny, knowledgeable, with a mind that cuts through the confusion of urbanity to ask the underlying question: Why is there "no relation between the way our cities have been built and the way people want to use them"?

[Savai Mistry]

good book

[Devansh Shah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading a lot architectural books by paper architects, filled with jargon meant to gatekeep simple ideas. This here, is what you call you a fresh breath of theories that have been forgotten by India in the pursuit of modernism, sacred spaces finally being appreciated not for their craftsmanship but for their innate planning based on the mandala. He teaches you the problems with vernacular architecture of india, and the complexities of making new typologies in India. It also touches the cities of today, the author being the planner of navi mumbai knows how to interfere at the political level to change things at the grassroot level. Correa deserves every ounce of respect he gets, you should buy this paperback if you are in the field.

PS - you can read Vistara (by him) for free online, do check it

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a marvelous book for anyone interested in design, architecture, planning, gardens, or culture more generally. I love the essays in the book - especially the ones in which he talks about the relationship between mathematics, architecture and Vedic teachings. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

[Saurav Ahir · Rating 5 out of 5]

for a reference purposes