News:Â the work of Indian architect Charles Correa will be showcased in a forthcoming exhibition designed by David Adjaye at the RIBA's headquarters in London.
Above: British Council, Delhi, India, with Howard Hodgkin mural
Top: Jawahar Kala Kendra arts centre, Jaipur, India
Curated by Dr Irena Murray, the exhibition will celebrate the gift of Correa's archive of over 6000 drawings to the RIBA Library and showcase his influence on Indian architecture in the latter half of the twentieth century.
Above: Kanchanjunga apartments, Bombay, India
"[Correa's] work is the physical manifestation of the idea of Indian nationhood, modernity and progress," said Adjaye, whose own work includes an art gallery in east London and an under-construction museum of African-American history in Washington DC.
"He is someone who has that rare capacity to give physical form to something as intangible as culture or society."
Above: Champalimaud Centre for the Study of the Uknown, Lisbon, Portugal (photograph by Rosa Reis)
As well as drawings and photographs of Correa's best-known work, such as the British Council building in Delhi and the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Portugal, the exhibition will feature his designs for housing and cities, including his masterplan for the township of Navi Mumbai.
Above: Belapur housing, New Bombay, India
Born in 1930 and still working today, Correa received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1984, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1988 and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale in 1994.
Charles Correa: India's Greatest Architect opens on 14 May and runs until 4 September at the RIBA building, 66 Portland Place, London. Admission will be free.
Adjaye was recently commissioned to design a fashion hub in an area of east London badly affected by rioting in 2011, while earlier this month he was the headline speaker at the Design Indaba conference in Cape Town – see all architecture by David Adjaye.
Here's more information from RIBA:
Charles Correa: India's Greatest Architect
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) presents the first major UK exhibition showcasing the work of renowned Indian architect Charles Correa (born in 1930). Rooted both in modernism and the rich traditions of people, place and climate, Correa has played a pivotal role in the creation of an architecture and urbanism for post-war India. He has designed some of the most outstanding buildings in India and has received many of the world’s most important architecture awards including the RIBA Royal Gold Medal (1984), Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1988) and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale (1994), and is still working today.
The exhibition celebrates Correa’s gift of his archive of over 6000 drawings to the RIBA Library. This has offered a unique opportunity to access and display the drawings, plans, photographs, models and films behind his projects. International buildings showcased in the exhibition include the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Museum, India; the MIT Brain and Cognitive Science Centre, USA; the InterUniversity Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, India and the Champalimaud Centre for the Study of the Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal. The exhibition also features Correa’s designs for housing and cities, looking closely at climate change, affordable housing and his projects to improve cityscapes, including his urban masterplan for Navi Mumbai (New Bombay).
David Adjaye, architect and designer of the exhibition says: "Charles Correa is a highly significant architect, globally and for India. His work is the physical manifestation of the idea of Indian nationhood, modernity and progress. His vision sits at the nexus defining the contemporary Indian sensibility and it articulates a new Indian identity with a language that has a global resonance. He is someone who has that rare capacity to give physical form to something as intangible as ‘culture’ or ‘society’ – and his work is therefore critical: aesthetically; sociologically; and culturally. This exhibition has presented us with an exciting opportunity to engage absolutely with his work and to think how the exhibition design can communicate the key messages. It has been an enriching experience that will feed into my own practice on many levels."
Curator Dr Irena Murray says: "Correa is brilliantly inventive in his deployment of certain timeless themes in Indian culture and philosophy - journey, passage, void and the representation of the cosmos. He uses them as a means to creating ambitious new spaces and structures. His deep understanding of the implications of climate, demographics, transport and community life has a universal quality and has helped structure the thematic arrangement of the exhibition."
Highlights from the Out of India season of talks and events include a public lecture by Charles Correa on 15 May, an in conversation event on art, architecture and metaphor with David Adjaye, Stephen Cox and Dr Irena Murray on 11 June and a special ‘Last Tuesday’ on Mumbai on 25 June.