Charles Correa: A Place in the ShadeThe New Landscape & Other Essays

by Charles Correa

Charles Correa (*1930 in Sikanderabad) hat die postkoloniale Architektur in Indien entscheidend mitgeprägt. Als Aktivist und Theoretiker leistete Correa Pionierarbeit und widmete sich Kernproblemen des Wohn- und Städtebaus in der Dritten Welt, unter anderem der wachsenden Zahl illegaler Siedler.
Der Sammelband stellt eine Auswahl von Essays und Vorträgen des Architekten zusammen, die von metaphysischen bis zu dezidiert pragmatischen Themen reichen: Die Texte setzen sich mit Architektur, Stadtplanung und Landschaft ebenso auseinander wie mit Le Corbusier, Isambard Brunel und Mahatma Gandhi. Ebenfalls enthalten ist ein Reprint seines maßgeblichen Buchs The New Landscape (1985), das lange vergriffen war und sich mit der Stadtentwicklung in der der Dritten Welt beschäftigt.
Für sein Werk wurde Correa mit der Goldmedaille des Royal Institute of British Architects, dem Aga Khan Award of Architecture und dem japanischen Praemium Imperiale ausgezeichnet.

Sprache: Englisch

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, India

413 pages, Kindle Edition

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