Charles Correa Gold Medal - 2025 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”.

This year, the Charles Correa Gold Medal focused on thesis projects that addressed ‘Equitability through Design’. By raising the question, ‘Who are we designing for?’ the Gold Medal sought to reflect on the opportunities and responsibilities that we as architects have in creating spaces that are equitable and inclusive. This encompasses equal access to space, shelter, infrastructure and the commons.

AWARD CEREMONY

This year, the Award Ceremony took place at the Ice Factory Ballard Estate, Mumbai on the 16th of September at 6pm. The evening commenced with the launch of the newly published ‘Designing Equitable Cities’, followed by a discourse from Samir D’Monte on his range of projects, before culminating with a brief jury deliberation session and lastly, the Award Ceremony for the Charles Correa Gold Medal 2025.

BOOK LAUNCH – ‘DESIGNING EQUITABLE CITIES’

As part of the Award Ceremony of the Charles Correa Gold Medal 2025, Amit Chandra, co-founder of the A.T.E Chandra Foundation and Chairperson of Bain Capital, was invited to launch the newly published ‘Designing Equitable Cities’ – the Z-axis 2018 conference proceedings. The third edition of Z-Axis – the biennial conference organized by the Charles Correa Foundation – drew on expertise from around the globe to debate and articulate the agency of architecture and planning in creating equitable cities. With the theme ‘Designing Equitable Cities’, the conference brought speakers from across the world to offer their perspective on urban equity.

TALK BY SAMIR D’MONTE

Samir D’Monte, founder of SDM architects and jury member of Charles Correa Gold Medal 2025, presented select works to the audience, with a talk titled ‘My journey as an architect, and how to save Mumbai city.’ His work spans technically intensive buildings, institutions, housing, industrial projects, and master plans. Notable works include the BMW Guggenheim Lab Mumbai, a floating restaurant in Goa, conservation of the Jaisalmer Fort, and aircraft hangars at Delhi Airport.

JURY DELIBERATIONS

Four out of the five jury members deliberated this year’s theme ‘Equitability through Design’ and the thesis entries that most accurately addressed the prompt, tackling spatial injustices through design. Rohan Varma’s address to the audience was in the form of a short video, reflecting his take on this year’s theme and the relevance of choosing the right train of thought to anchor one’s design interventions.

JURY

The jury for the Charles Correa Gold Medal 2025 is Vandana Ranjit Sinh (Architect and Academic), Shilpa Ranade (Architect, Researcher, Writer), Rohan Varma (Architect and Researcher), Ainsley Lewis (Urban Designer and Academic) and Samir D’Monte (Architect and Urban Designer), 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 2025 Winner

This design intervention is ecological in origin, and laudable for its programmatic evolution of ‘modern sacredness’; it illustrates a great continuity of what is a sacred and fast disappearing way of life. Water conservation forms have been venerable and deeply rooted to our culture, and the program speaks to making those nuances accessible to all. From more traditional notions to the contemporary, the translation of these notions have unfolded with restraint and intelligence. Equity is addressed through accessibility; a series of water bodies made available to the community. A very elaborate study drawn with a sensitive hand.

Honourable Mentions

When the needs of the community are not considered, who are we designing for? Backed by a participatory approach, the case of Subhash Nagar contests the status quo of current SRA (Slum Rehabilitation Authorities) working models in large metropolitan cities such as Mumbai. Following an excellent study on the unit and typology, equity through design is achieved by actively involving the end users to reimagine their homes and surroundings as a pleasant and liveable community. The volumes of spaces were addressed across multiple scales and user groups, culminating in the synthesis of many disparate elements into one cohesive whole. A commendable, honest and hopeful take on affordable housing.

This clever, convincing proposal balances standardization of units and the adaptability of spaces to create versatile communal areas. Through a systematic approach, it achieves a technical resolution of the typology. This in turn facilitates placemaking in a temporal setting, lending agency over the land. Equity is at the forefront of the design, reinforced by the possibility of customizable clusters and densities, entirely facilitated by the users. ‘Aabhas’ is a refreshing and relevant inquiry on housing models for transit populations; those who build our houses!