Charles Correa RIBA Exhibition

Jawahar Kala Kendra arts center, in Jaipur India, by Charles Correa. Photo: Courtesy RIBA

In an exhibition designed by David Adjaye, the Royal Institute of British Architects will look back across the multidecade career of Indian architect Charles Correa. The architect has donated an archive of 6,000 drawings to the RIBA library and this work is  a particular highlight of the exhibit.

Along with numerous buildings in India, noteworthy projects in the United States and Portugal, some of Correa's designs for housing and cities, looking closely at climate change, affordable housing, and improved cityscapes, will be featured.

View of a balcony in the Kanchanjunga Apartments (1983), in Bombay, India. Photo: Courtesy RIBA

"Rooted in India but educated as an architect in the United States and steeped in the modernist teachings of Le Corbusier, Correa has concentrated on the living patterns in communities where he worked, achieving remarkable results with simple but effective means. Tradition and modernity are not opposites for him.  Always contemporary, he has subtly layered the history of the land and of ideas in his designs. His sources range from the railway models of his childhood to models of the Cosmos and to street-hawkers’ use of the Mumbai pavements.  

Champalimaud Centre for the Study of the Uknown, in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo: © Rosa Reis

"Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a remarkably consistent approach, guided by a respect for the given conditions, a desire to effect change without forced interference and a passion to combine fitness for purpose with beauty and spirituality. He has designed some of the most outstanding cultural and civic monuments, science institutes, schools, housing developments and new cities based on a profound understanding of his country’s history, needs and aspirations.  His work has provided inspiration for future generations of architects at a time of vertiginous population and economic growth in the region."  --RIBA

Dr. Irena Murray will curate the exhibition, which runs at RIBA's London headquarters from May 14 to September 4, 2013.

Distant overview of the Kanchanjunga Apartments. Photo: Courtesy RIBA

Perspective drawing overview of the Kanchanjunga Apartments. Image: Charles Correa

Kanchanjunga Apartments perspective drawing view of upper-level balcony. Image: Charles Correa

Belapur Housing development. Photo: Courtesy RIBA