Charles Correa Gold Medal - 2024 edition - Charles Correa Foundation

The Charles Correa Gold Medal is an award initiated in 1998 by Indian architect and urbanist Charles Correa. Through the format of the Gold Medal, the Charles Correa Foundation intends to not only challenge students and schools of architecture to focus on pressing issues, but also to emphasize the role that architects can play in society as “agents of change”.

Looking at the world around us, we believe it is crucial for everyone to understand how to build sustainably and use our resources judiciously. Continuing the theme from the previous year, the Charles Correa Gold Medal will focus on thesis projects that address climate concerns through architecture design. Charles Correa coined the phrase ‘Form Follows Climate’ and often said “to build in India is to respond to climate”.

PANEL DISCUSSION

ARCHITECTURE THESIS PROJECT – WHAT CAN THEY SAY, WHAT CAN THEY DO?

As a part of the Charles Correa Gold Medal 2024, the Charles Correa Foundation organized a panel discussion on the present and future of the graduating thesis projects at architecture schools in India titled, Architecture Thesis Project – What can they say, what can they do?

The discussion was led by Dr. Kaiwan Mehta, and the panel consisted of Ainsley Lewis, Vandana Sinh and Mustansir Dalvi.

Jury

The jury for the Charles Correa Gold Medal 2024 is Sameep Padora (Architect and Author), Edoardo Narne (Architect, Academician and Author), Vyjayanthi Rao (Anthropologist, Writer and Curator), Melissa Smith (Architect and Urban Planner) and Kaiwan Mehta (Architect, Academic and Researcher), where they mainly looked for entries that consider the site and context of the proposed project with clarity in the formulation and addressal of real-life issues.

Gold Medal 2024 Winner

The project is laudable as it works on multiple scales, addressing complex challenges at the urban scale as well as very detailed solutions to everyday problems, such as street furniture, building envelopes, and toilets. It is a sensitive response to the cultural framework, and incorporates astute observation into its design framework. As a result of this intensity, it sets an example of flexible thinking in its loose structure that allows change over time. It is putting the same importance on sacred space, scale, and the quality of details on a human scale. It also takes into account the larger time scale, placing it not only in the present but perhaps also in the future.

Honourable Mentions

It is evident from this project that a good student can control the scale, the section, details, and the environmental environment inside the projects using only a limited number of materials, underlining an architectural intelligence. The design is sensitive to the materials available and to the traditional architecture, but also projective, in the way it imagines how this format can be expanded to create new spaces and forms. It effectively creates spaces for livelihoods while simultaneously addressing how spaces could be used at times of catastrophes. It is a project that efficiently communicates a high quality of architectural space and structure.

The project responds both practically and sensibly to a need for rehabilitation housing that is ubiquitous in Mumbai. It highlights certain qualities of sociality, which is connected to work, care, and maintenance, as opposed to an imagined social life of leisure. This design is contrasted well with the surrounding high rise landscape. The way the exterior spaces connect the houses and the pathways adds to the value of the design by creating a sense of community. The design is well considered within the space constraints that exist. It understands the way small spaces are used temporarily, and imagines the function that might take place in small spaces at the level of the unit as well as in its aggregation at the level of the settlement. The planning here is not only sensible but makes the project economically viable, adding another layer to the design.