Inclusive, culturally rooted, and climatically appropriate—The Z-Axis Conference, held recently in Mumbai and organised by Panjim-based Charles Correa Foundation, critically reviewed the late architect’s thought and practice.
The agenda of the Z-Axis Conference, held in October 2024 at the NCPA in Mumbai, was to understand the life and work of Charles Correa as a way of addressing key issues concerning the future of India’s cities that are just as critical now as they were throughout his lifetime. It was organized by the Charles Correa Foundation based in Panjim Goa, which the architect established towards the end of his life in order to create an independent institution for citizens and professionals that would act as a catalyst for the improvement of the quality of human settlement of all scales in India. To this end, the Foundation supports excellence in the work of students and graduates of architecture, through awards and competitions, and also hosts bi-annual conferences making public the challenges of settlement today, bringing together the best practitioners and thinkers in the field of architecture and design, both from India and abroad.
It was a simple Hornby model train set, and the track formations he could make with it, that sparked Charles Correa’s interest in architecture as a child. This is one of the first things we discover at ‘Conversations with Charles Correa: A Critical Review on Six Decades of Practice’, held last month in Mumbai, when author Mustansir Dalvi launched the first biography on the visionary modernist architect. The two-day conference, in its third edition, had scholars and professionals discussing different facets of his work, ranging from his ideas on urbanism to his writings on cities. And, of course, his buildings — from Correa’s Gandhi Ashram, which visual artist Kaiwan Shaban once referred to as “one of the finest examples of humility in architecture”, to the multiplicity of Jawahar Kala Kendra.
Correa, though, developed a relationship with Gujarat with Ahmedabad carrying many of his plans-designs from his early years of work, as one of the sessions in the conference detailed out. The one that ranks high among these was Correa’s plan for the Gandhi Smarak or memorial in the Sabarmati Ashram — the latter now under the lens of redesign. Correa was barely 28 years old when he took on the assignment to design the memorial for Mahatma Gandhi barely 15 years after the icon had been assassinated. Gandhi had lived in the Sabarmati from 1917 to 1930 but had never returned to spend long days there, as political scientist and Gandhian scholar Tridip Suhrud reminded those gathered at the NCPA.
Those of us who have been to the Gandhi Smarak — modular units that flow into each other, modest scale, local materials, open and covered spaces around a water body, all of this allowing a subtle play of light and visual porousness — have soaked it all in. It continues to draw awe from planners and architects around the world, and has stood the test of time, so far. Suhrud consciously refrained from examining Correa’s design but dwelt at length on Gandhi’s philosophy to ask the question: does the man need a memorial at all? He argued that Gandhi had gradually shed every possession of his and lived like a peripatetic ascetic; a physical memorial, therefore, militates against this.
Mumbai—Charles Correa’s beloved city, described by him as “a great city, but a terrible place”—set the stage for the sixth edition of the Z-axis conference, organised by the Charles Correa Foundation (CCF) on October 12 and 13, 2024. Held at the NCPA experimental theatre, the conference celebrated Correa’s multifaceted legacy and explored his projects, philosophies, writings and advocacy for urbanisation. Correa, widely acclaimed as a visionary of post-independence modernist architecture in India, demonstrated an innate curiosity in numerous disciplines which imperceptibly reflected in his expansive repertoire. Spanning six sessions, the conference brought together 21 speakers from diverse fields to reflect on Correa’s protean disposition. The overarching theme captured Correa’s contribution to India’s post-independent search for identity and his ideas on urbanisation, with one of his quotes shining through, “You cannot look at cities without wandering into architecture at one hand and politics into another.”
‘There are no great men,’ said Stendhal apropos of Napoleon, ‘there are merely great events.’ And, one could perhaps go further and say that there are great issues. For we are only as big as the questions we address. And this, to my mind, is the central riveting fact of life for architects in the Third World. Not the size or value of the projects we are working on but the nature of the questions they raise — and that we must confront. A chance to grow – the abiding virtue of a place in the sun.
Charles Correa, A Place in the Sun (1983)
SPEAKERS –
Nondita Correa Mehrotra | The Conversations Continue: CCF and the Archives
Our first talk of the conference questions – How does one take forward the conversations – engaging with the ideas that for the most part were ahead of their time? What are an architect’s archives? Are they just the tangibles – the drawings, models, photographs, and writings? Or are there others? This presentation will highlight the work of the Charles Correa Foundation which focuses on extending the spirit of his ideas and continues the conversations.
William J. R. Curtis | Taking the Long View: Charles Correa in Historical Perspective (Keynote Address)
The talk attempts to overall assess the life and works of Charles Correa. While it is desirable to recreate each context and to reconstruct the anatomy of intentions and guiding ideas of Correa’s individual buildings, it is also necessary to see his work as a continuing experiment with guiding principles. With this as the key premise, the speaker touches upon various facets of Correa’s architecture and urbanism – his key design principles and influences, all while exploring a sort of mythological concept of ‘Indian identity.’
Kulbhushan Jain | Charles Correa: Meaning and Pertinence
With the aspirations for a post-independent modern India in the foreground, this talk focuses on the dual influence of modernity and traditional inheritance seen in Correa’s architecture. The speaker attempts to look at three museums/art centres designed by him namely Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya, Ahmedabad (1963), Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal (1982) and Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur (1986).
Rahul Mehrotra | Charles Correa and his Idea of India
The lecture will examine the spectrum of Charles Correas project in the context of his idea of India. It will attempt to situate his vision in his understanding and response to the political conditions in which he practised as an architect, planner and most importantly as an activist. The projects that will be covered would include his institutional work, housing as well as ideas about urbanism and his theoretical suggestions for practitioners in India. That is to examine Charles Correa’s legacy for India and his contribution of articulating a clear agenda for architects in India. That is to theorise the everyday in productive ways for designers and construct a clear idea of India.
Discussant – Ranjit Hoskote
Session 02 – Volume Zero
It refers to what Louis Kahn meant when he spoke of ‘Volume Zero’. What Kahn would say to his students goes something like this: ‘I love English history; I love the bloodiness of it. I’ve got eight volumes which I enjoy reading.’ Then, after a pause, he would add, ‘Well, actually, I haven’t read all eight — I’ve read only Volume One…and even that, I haven’t read more than just the first few pages.’ And then, more fiercely, ‘Actually, I don’t think history started the way they say it did. I think it started before that. I want to read Volume Zero.’ And then he would finish with this truly extraordinary sentence: ‘Architecture is magnificent because it deals with the recessions of the mind…with that which is not yet said, and which is not yet made.’
Charles Correa, The Pietro Belluschi Lecture, MIT, Boston (1998)
SPEAKERS –
Mustansir Dalvi | Citizen Charles
This talk will focus on how Charles’s architecture and urbanism are rooted not in the flourishes of design or notions of legacy and posterity but more in being a citizen of a city, a country and the world. Very early in his career, he moved away from the enticing possibilities of materiality and universalism, away from the ubiquity of Corbusian international Modernism and more towards the appreciation of the socio-cultural situation of his countrymen. Both his successes and failures, his built and unbuilt work are testament to this political location, that an architect is a citizen first.
Malvika Singh | The Quintessential Polymath A True Renaissance Person
This talk outlines Correa’s influence with his comprehensive identity as an architect, public intellect and importantly, a humanist. Highlighting the synergy between Correa and his partner Monika as his other half, his ardhangini. They together injected the structures with the metaphors that marked their life. His architectural philosophy advocates for designs that respect local contexts while promoting sustainability. The talk asserts that his ethos lives on and is palpable in our everyday lives.
Rajnish Wattas | The View from Chandigarh
Charles Correa was and remains a colossus. His persona is etched on Chandigarh’s hearts and the béton brut concrete facades of Corbusier, whom he loved to rub the wrong way. This talk is a reversed telescopic view of Charles, as to how we saw him then and read his views on the city of Chandigarh along the lines of his brilliant article ‘The View from Benares’.
Tridip Suhrud | A Memorial for Mr Gandhi
A man who aspired to be a mendicant, whose striving was to attain a state of desire less, who eschewed statues and idols equally is assassinated and his associates embark on a mission to memorialize him. This conversation seeks to ask a question, what is a memorial to Gandhi? This will be done with the memorial at Sabarmati and the Gandhi Smarak Sanghrahalaya designed by Charles Correa.
Discussant – Ranjit Hoskote
Session 03 – Blessings of The Sky
The sky has always carried a profound and sacred meaning. Through some instinctive process, man has perceived it as the abode of the gods. Hence to climb a sacred path to the top of the hill, where the immortals dwell, is a paradigm of such mythic power that it has been central to the beliefs of almost every society, since the beginning of time. Such spaces have an infinite number of variations: one step out of a room…into a verandah…and then on to a terrace…from which one proceeds to an open courtyard, perhaps shaded by a tree…or by a large pergola overhead. True Enlightenment cannot be achieved within the closed box of a room – one must be outdoors, under the open sky.
Charles Correa, February, 1995 Part of the ‘CHARLES CORREA’ exhibition catalogue held in BORUSAN Art Gallery, Istanbul, May 22 – June 24, 2000
SPEAKERS –
Catherine Desai | First works: Charles Correa in Gujarat
This talk focuses on the early phase of Correa’s career in Gujarat, among the first five constructed projects, four were built in Ahmedabad or surrounding towns. Examining both his seminal and less often discussed buildings, we see that far from being hesitant beginnings or false starts for mature work to come, they are powerful, diverse and sophisticated statements of architectural intent, that remain of relevance to contemporary practice. What might an analysis of these first buildings, overshadowed by more famous works, reveal?
Liane Lefaivre | Charles Correa and Regionalism of the Global South
Talking about the architect and planner Charles Correa within the rise of regionalism as a major movement following WWII in the Global North and the Global South. Highlighting how Correa distinguished himself from many Northern architects by addressing environmental concerns in his designs. He experimented with more efficient techniques adapted from his early mentor and life-long friend Buckminster Fuller. Also discuss how Charles became committed to the idea of large-scale top-down planning, exemplified in projects like Navi Mumbai and lastly see how his towering contribution only gets more relevant with time in this present era of horrendous climate change and wretched poverty and homelessness.
Ranjit Hoskote | Charles Correa’s Approach to the Sacred Everyday
Charles Correa’s lifelong preoccupation with the sacred – not as a counterpoint to normal experience, but as a current within the every day – has remained under-regarded in the study of his vision and oeuvre. This talk will reflect on the interplay between inquiry and wonderment, and the hope of cosmic belonging, which animate many of Correa’s projects, including Salvacao Church in Mumbai, IUCAA in Pune, the Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur, and the 1986-87 exhibition project ‘Vistara’.
Discussant – Mustansir Dalvi
Session 04 – Buildings As Ideas
For architecture is not created in a vacuum. It is the compulsive expression of beliefs (implicit or explicit) central to our lives.
Vistara, The Architecture of India (1986)
SPEAKERS –
Pradeep Dalal | Like the shade of a great tree: Howard Hodgkin’s Mural for the British Council Library in New Delhi, 1987-92.
Many of the buildings designed by the architect Charles Correa from the 1980s onward feature visual art as a significant aspect of the architecture. This talk will focus on the collaboration with the artists such as Janghar Singh Shyam who was commissioned to paint the shell domes of the Bharat Bhavan and walls of the courtyard at the Vidhan Bhavan, Bhopal. He also worked with the artist Howard Hodgkin to produce an immense mural for the façade that the artist later described as an “ecumenical tree of no particular species and no specific symbolism.” For both Correa’s architecture and Hodgkin’s mural, this collaboration was “the product of an infinitely refined imagination in the face of nature.”
Kaiwan Mehta | Humility and Multiplicity – Architecture’s Tryst with Indianness
The talk will build a conversation on two buildings by Charles Correa – the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya at Sabarmati Ashram, in Ahmedabad, and the Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur. The Sangrahalaya exemplifies humility in architecture, reflecting Gandhi’s core value- the self is public, and the public is not out of the self. Its simplicity and structure foster introspection and connection. In contrast, the Jawahar Kala Kendra represents multiplicity and creative expression, embodying Nehru’s vision of ‘unity in diversity’ and emphasizing the enjoyment of knowledge and not being trapped in myopic traditions. Correa captured a nation, in a tryst with its destiny – the difficulties and pleasures of being Charles Correa in India.
Sunil Shelar | The Ritualistic Pathway – 3 projects with different topologies
Since the earliest civilization, the ritualistic pathway was, and is, the central aspect of life on the subcontinent. Planetary positions held great importance and meaning in planning a building or a city. This talk will focus on how Charles Correa was fascinated by this knowledge and its significance regarding the design and organisation of buildings. The 3 buildings here are different in terms of their function, yet the ritualistic pathway, the climate, and the quintessential square remain central to their genesis.
Ashok Vajpeyi | A Home of Arts as a Non-building
This talk will be about Bharat Bhavan, a multi-arts centre in Bhopal designed by Charles Correa, to come up at a place that almost joined the old city to the new city. He called it a non-building since the whole building could not be seen in its entirety from anywhere. The presentation would trace the Correan aesthetics, imagination, and the multiple artistic uses many spaces could provide for and gently provoke.
Ajit Kembhavi | Architecture, Astronomy and the Cosmos: From Conversations to a Masterpiece
In his talk, he will recount the heady days when the ideas were first conceived in Mumbai and Bengaluru, the twists and turns through which the project of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) progressed in Pune, the eventual completion, and the additions which have been made to the buildings from time to time, all in coherence with the original conception. He will end by summarising the progress of the IUCAA 2.0 building, which is now under construction and is probably the last design by Charles Correa.
Discussant – Rajnish Wattas
Session 05 – An Urban Manifesto
“For the city which we experience is, of course, much more than just a physical plant – it is also a set of powerful mythic images and values…that give sustenance, and enrichment to our lives. This, in the final analysis, is what cities are about. What culture is about. And what, hopefully, urban centres will once again become.”
Charles Correa, The City as: City, Housing and Urbanisation (1999)
SPEAKERS –
Vidyadhar Phatak | Charles Correa – An Urbanist
Though committed to his architectural practice, Charles Correa made significant contributions to urban development in India. Notable of these are the planning of Navi Mumbai, policy initiatives of MMRDA, National Commission on Urbanisation, Delhi Arts Commission, and Regional Plan of Goa. In this talk, the speaker intends to present his understanding and interpretation of Correa’s thinking about three themes viz. Indian Urbanisation, Urban Structures and Role of Land, Markets and Governance in shaping cities.
Jagan Shah | The National Commission on Urbanization: An Unfinished Project for Modern India
Through his talk, Jagan Shah will highlight the quality of the NCU’s contribution to modern India’s urban history. In stark contrast with more recent attempts at national policymaking, the NCU is overt in its affirmation of constitutional values, social justice, and equitable growth, which is a testament to the deep influence wielded by its Chairman, Charles Correa. The talk correlates the NCU’s work with Correa’s writings and with contemporaneous events such as the planning of Navi Mumbai to argue that the 1980s were a decade of tremendous progress on the urban policy as a lever for livelihood creation and poverty alleviation and that the progress has been subverted by the forces of globalisation and neoliberalism that have dominated policy discourse over the past three decades. The talk will conclude with reflections on the guiding principles of the NCU and their continued relevance for the future of India’s cities.
Discussant – Rahul Mehrotra
Session 06 – Space As A Resource
SPEAKERS –
Rohan Varma | The Bill of Rights for Housing in the Third World: Charles Correa’s Manifesto for Housing the Masses
This talk de-centres and expands this debate on habitat beyond its typically limited geography and timeframe by focusing on its development through an understudied manifesto written from the context of the Global South: Charles Correa’s 1985 ‘Bill of Rights for Housing in the Third World’. It also makes a case for revisiting Correa’s work and writings that advocate for an approach to housing that blurs the dichotomies between the formal and informal and top-down and bottom-up practices. Dirk Van Gameren | Housing Lessons Charles Correa’s patient search for a habitat for all
A remarkable part of Charles Correa’s built, and unbuilt work are his projects for housing. His ‘recherche patiente’ is arguably one of the main contributions in our times to that most crucial challenge for both architects and urban planners: to address the continuing demand for good, accessible and affordable housing. The talk will focus on this long and patient search for optimal models for housing. Different lenses will explore how to understand his thinking and designing, looking from the way the built form shapes public and collective spaces, the inclusion of open space in the private realm of the dwelling, to how material structure and detail emphasise the climatic and functional experience of space in and outside the individual dwelling.
Rohan Shivkumar | Lovely Villa: A film on growing up in Charles Correa’s LIC Colony
Every house is haunted by the spirits of those are yet to come, and of those that came before. We are all marked by the architecture of the homes we live in. ‘Lovely Villa’ is the name of the apartment building where the filmmaker grew up, as he studied to become an architect. It is in the LIC colony designed by Charles Correa and represents an imagination of the ideal community for a modern India. This is a film about the relationship between architecture, everyday life, family, coming of age and the memory of ‘home’.
Director, Charles Correa Foundation, Principal, RMA Architects
Panjim/Mumbai/Boston
Nondita Correa Mehrotra is Director of the Charles Correa Foundation and practices in India and the United States. She studied architecture at the University of Michigan and at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and worked for over two decades with Charles Correa. She is a principal in the firm RMA Architects Mumbai + Boston. She has incorporated an active academic life into her career as well, teaching studios at the University of Michigan and at MIT and is currently teaching at RISD. Augmenting her teaching, several of her essays have been published in architectural books. She has been on numerous juries, including the Master Jury of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture; the Lafarge-Holcim Awards Jury in 2020; and the 2023 AIA NY Design Awards. She is also an External Design Advisor to the Harvard Allston Land Company, a peer review process for Harvard University’s new campus. Mehrotra was among 5 finalists for the design of the symbol for the Indian Rupee, an idea she had initiated with the Reserve Bank of India in 2005.
William Curtis
Architectural Historian, Critic
Cajarc
William J. R. Curtis is an award-winning historian, critic, painter and photographer. He has taught at many universities including Harvard, the A.A. London, and Cambridge where he was Slade Professor of Fine Art. Curtis’s best-known books are Modern Architecture Since 1900 and Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms, both referred to as ‘classics’. He has written extensively on architecture ancient and modern on the Sub-Continent, including Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, Muzharul Islam, a monograph on Raj Rewal,(1986, Om Books, 2024), the seminal text ‘Towards and Authentic Regionalism’(1986) Archnet > Publication > Towards an Authentic Regionalism and the award winning monograph Balkrishna Doshi: an Architecture for India (1988). Curtis has received numerous awards, among others: The Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society Gold Medal in Architecture and Allied Arts, USA (1999); and the Golden Award for Global Contribution in Architecture (CERA, A+D, India, 2014), in recognition of his defence of modern architectural heritage in India.
Kulbhushan Jain
Emeritus Professor, CEPT University
Ahmedabad
Kulbhushan Jain, architect-urbanist and conservation consultant studied and worked with Louis Kahn. He taught at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, for more than four decades and held various positions including Director, School of Architecture, and Chairman, Doctoral Programme. He has been visiting professor at MIT, Cambridge, USA; UBC, Vancouver, Canada and POLEMI, Milano. He has worked as consultant to NID, Ahmedabad; INTACH, New Delhi and MMT, Jodhpur. Jain has published several books, articles and conference papers. He has been a member of several juries for national and international design competitions.Jain’s major conservation projects include Mehrangarh Fort (1990-2023) with Museum design, Jodhpur; Fort of Nagaur (1990-2023) including rehabilitation of Ranvas; Jaisalmer Fort (1985-2005) including restoration of Rani ka Mahal and Amber Fort (2005-2010) including comprehensive planning, Jaipur.
Rahul Mehrotra
Founder Principal, RMA Architects, Professor, Harvard University
Mumbai/Boston
Rahul Mehrotra is the founder principal of RMA Architects and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Mehrotra’s most recent books are titled Working in Mumbai (2020) and The Kinetic City and other essays (2021). The former is a reflection on his practice, evolved through its association with the city of Bombay/Mumbai. The second book presents Mehrotra’s writings over the last thirty years and illustrates his long-term engagement with, and analysis of, urbanism in India. This work has given rise to a new conceptualization of the city which Mehrotra calls the Kinetic City.
Mustansir Dalvi
Poet, Editor, Academician, Professor, Sir JJ School of Architecture (retd)
Mumbai
Mustansir Dalvi is Professor of Architecture at Sir JJ College of Architecture (retired). He is on the Board of Governors of the MMR-Heritage Conservation Society and a Trustee of Art Deco Mumbai. Dalvi holds degrees in architecture and a diploma in Indian Aesthetics from the University of Mumbai. He received his PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay. He is the author of The Romance of Red Stone: An Appreciation of Ornament on Islamic Architecture in India (2011) and The Past as Present: Pedagogical Practices in Architecture at the Bombay School of Art (2016). Dalvi is the editor of 20th Century Compulsions (Marg, 2016), a collection of writings about early Indian modernist architecture. His latest book, Citizen Charles: a biography Charles Correa, by Niyogi Books, is scheduled to be published in October 2024.
Malvika Singh
Author & Publisher, Seminar
New Delhi
Publisher of Seminar, a prestigious monthly magazine of ideas and alternatives, founded in 1959. Author of Perpetual City: A Short Biography of Delhi. Author of Bhutan: Through the Lens of the King, New Delhi: Making of a Capital, Delhi: India in One City, Snowdon’s India, portraits of 100 celebrated Indians – images by Lord Snowdon. She has worked as Editor for various books. She is a Trustee of the Ranthambhore Foundation and Founding member of Rehwa Society, working to revive the Maheshwari sari in India. She also has extensive experience as a journalist both in the print media as well as in films and television. She has served on multiple advisory boards of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India; designed and produced products for The National Museum Shop, New Delhi. Served on the board of the National Culture Fund. Government of India. Served as a member of the Board of Trustees, India Brand Equity Foundation. She was Member of the Advisory Board of the Chief Minister of Rajasthan for one term spanning five years, and was responsible for art, culture and for the redefinition of the state’s tourism policy. Malvika was decorated as a DAME in the civil merit honours list of the King of Spain, 2009. She is Consulting Editor to LIMITED EDITIONS, an imprint of Academic Foundation. She has edited a series of social histories written by professionals with an extraordinary story to tell, and also by extraordinary people sharing their personal stories.
Rajnish Wattas
Principal Chandigarh College of Architecture (retd)
Chandigarh
Rajnish Wattas, former principal of the Chandigarh College of Architecture is an architectural critic and modern architectural and landscape heritage expert. He has authored a huge compendium of professional writings and published hundreds of essays, travelogues and features in leading journals and newspapers. He is co-author of two books Trees of Chandigarh and Sukhna — Sublime Lake of Chandigarh and co-editor of ‘LE CORBUSIER REDISCOVERD: Chandigarh and Beyond. Has lectured at prestigious forums including Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, the American Institute of Architects and Illinois Institute of Technology IIT, Chicago among others. On various expert groups, he evolved the ‘Master Plan of Chandigarh – 2031’ as a team member and presently a member of the ‘Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee’ and Governor’s Advisory Council. He is co-founder of the ‘Chandigarh Tree Lovers’ and an acclaimed photographer with photo exhibitions and photo essays to his credit.
Tridip Suhrud
Professor & Provost, CEPT University
Ahmedabad
Dr. Tridip Suhrud is a Professor and Provost of CEPT University, Ahmedabad. He is also a Director of Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad and serves as Chairman of the Governing Council of MICA. His recent works include the critical editions of M K Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj and the Autobiography, a two-volume project on editing and translating the diary of Manu Gandhi (one part published), has translated into English the canonical Gujarati novel Sarasvatichandra and is currently working on a possible nine volume project, Thumb Printed (three volumes published) on the testimonies of indigo cultivators of Champaran.
Catherine Desai
Architectural Historian, CEPT University
Ahmedabad
Catherine Outram Desai is an architect in research-based practice. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at CEPT University where she teaches undergraduate and master’s programs in architectural design and history & theory. Her books include The Architecture of Hasmukh C. Patel and the forthcoming texts In-between Histories: Reading Indian Modern Buildings and Complete Works of Hema Sankalia. Her current academic research opens and reconsiders narratives of Indian architectural modernity through large-scale drawings and analysis of historic buildings and landscapes. She is a founding member of Ahmedabad Commons, a collective that opens buildings for public visits and debates issues of conservation and access to the city.
Liane Lefaivre
Architectural Historian, Critic
Paris
Liane Lefaivre is Professor and Chair of Architectural History and Theory at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (retired). She and Alexander Tzonis have been writing about global regionalism since the early 1980s when they coined the term “critical regionalism,” a concept often misconstrued. Among their books on the subject are Architecture in Europe (Thames and Hudson 1993, Architecture in North America ( Thames and Hudson, 1995), Tropical Architecture, Critical Regionalism in the Age of Globalization ( Wiley, 2001), Critical Regionalism (Prestel, 2003 ), Regionalism in a Globalized World (Routledge, 2011). Among her recent publications are Rebel Modernists. Viennese Architecture since Otto Wagner (Lund Humphries, 2017) and, with Alexander Tzonis, a collection of their articles since the 1960s entitled Times of Creative Destruction. Architecture and the City in the 20C (Routledge, 2018) and an expanded edition of Regionalism in a Globalized World (Routledge, 2020) which is being updated and published in French (Parenthèses, 2025).
Ranjit Hoskote
Poet, Cultural Theorist & Curator
Mumbai
Ranjit Hoskote is a poet, translator, cultural theorist and curator. His collections of poetry include Central Time (Penguin, 2014), Jonahwhale (Penguin, 2018; in the UK by Arc as The Atlas of Lost Beliefs), Hunchprose (Penguin, 2021) and Icelight (Wesleyan University Press, 2023). Hoskote is the author of more than thirty books, including the acclaimed translation of a 14th-century Kashmiri woman mystic’s compositions, I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded (Penguin, 2011) and, a translation of the 18th-century Urdu poet, Mir Taqi Mir, The Homeland’s an Ocean (Penguin Classics, 2024). In 2011, Hoskote curated India’s first-ever national pavilion at the Venice Biennale. With Rahul Mehrotra and Kaiwan Mehta, he co-curated the exhibition, ‘The State of Architecture: Practices and Processes in India’ (NGMA, Mumbai, 2016). He has been a Fellow of the International Writing Program, University of Iowa, and researcher-in-residence at BAK/ basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht.
Pradeep Dalal
Artist/Architect, Director, Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant
New York
Pradeep Dalal is an artist and writer based between New York and Mumbai. His work has been shown at venues including Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Oakville Galleries, Sala Diaz, Art Cake, EFA Project Space, Callicoon Fine Arts, and Murray Guy. His photographs have been featured in publications including Blind Spot, BOMB, Cabinet, Grey Room, Nueva Luz, and Rethinking Marxism. With Fia Backström, he co-authored Photography in the Sensorium (Dancing Foxes Press, 2021). His artist book Bhopal, MP was excerpted in Chandigarh is in India (The Shoestring Publisher, 2016). Dalal studied architecture at CEPT University and at MIT and worked on the design of the British Council Library in Charles Correa Associates in the late 1980s. From 2015 to 2020, Dalal co-chaired the Photography Department in the MFA program at Bard College. At present, he is Director of the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.
Kaiwan Mehta
Architectural Critic
Mumbai
Born in Mumbai, Kaiwan Mehta is a theorist and critic in the fields of visual culture, architecture, and city studies. He is completing his doctorate at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bengaluru, under the aegis of Manipal University; and has now published as well as exhibited his research work and ideas internationally. He authored Alice in Bhuleshwar: Navigating a Mumbai Neighbourhood (Yoda Press. New Delhi, 2009). Since March 2012 he has been the Managing Editor of Domus India (Spenta Multimedia) and writes prolifically on architecture, aesthetics, and cities. He has been elected as the Jury Chairman for two consecutive terms (2015–17 and 2017–2019) for the international artists’ residency programme across 11 disciplines at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany. Mehta recently co-curated the national exhibition on architecture with Rahul Mehrotra and Ranjit Hoskote – “The State of Architecture: Practices and Processes in India” (UDRI, 2016) at the NGMA, Mumbai. He has authored the book The Architecture of I M Kadri (Niyogi. New Delhi, 2016). He is currently the Dean of Balwant Sheth School of Architecture, SVKM’s NMIMS (deemed to be) University.
Sunil Shelar
Principal, Sunil Shelar Architects
Bangalore
Since the earliest civilization, the ritualistic pathway was, and is, the central aspect of life on the subcontinent. Planetary positions held great importance and meaning in planning a building or a city. Charles Correa was fascinated by this knowledge and its significance with reference to the design and organisation of buildings. In his introduction to the Vistara exhibition, he underscores the fact that as vistaras (expansion of knowledge) happen, the central aspect gets richer and more meaningful. The 3 buildings here are different in terms of their function, yet the ritualistic pathway, the climate, and the quintessential square remain central to their genesis.
Ashok Vajpeyi
Poet, Literary- Cultural Critic
New Delhi
Ashok Vajpeyi, a Hindi poet-critic, translator, editor and culture-activist, is a major cultural figure of India. With more than 30 books of poetry, criticism in Hindi English to his credit, he is widely recognised as an outstanding promoter of culture and an innovative institution-builder. He has organised more than a thousand events to his credit relating to literature, music, dances, theatre, visual arts, folk and tribal arts, cinema etc. He has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Dayawati Kavi Shekhar Samman, Kabir Samman, Shakti Chattopadhyay Puraskar, K Ramakrishnan Award etc and awarded D.Lit. by the Central University of Hyderabad and ITM University. Also, he has been decorated by Poland with the outstanding national award ‘The Officer’s Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland’ and the French Govt. by the award of ‘Officier De L’Ordre des Arts Et Des Lettres’. He set up the renowned Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal; has been the first Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University and Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi. A retired civil servant, now the Managing Trustee of the Raza Foundation.
Ajit Kembhavi
Astrophysicist, Founding Member, IUCAA
Pune
Professor Ajit Kembhavi is an astronomer. He is Professor Emeritus at the Inter- University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, where he was Director during 2009-2015. He was the Director there until August 2015. He is one of the founder members of IUCAA and played a major role in setting it up and developing it into a world-class institute. He did his Ph. D. from TIFR with Professor Jayant Narlikar. Kembhavi works on galaxies, quasars and other extragalactic objects, Big Data and the application of AI to astronomy, biology and chemistry. He has published a large number of research papers and several books in English and Marathi. Kembhavi is involved in many national and international collaborations and is one of the key persons responsible for India joining the Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT) project as a partner and taking up the LIGO India project. Kembhavi has been a member of the Space Commission and is a member of ISRO Apex Science Board. He was Vice-President of the International Astronomical Union and former President of the Astronomical Society of India. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India.
Vidyadhar K Phatak
Dean, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University (retd)
Mumbai
Vidyadhar Phatak worked in various public organisations such as CIDCO and MMRDA for 37 years till 2004. During this period, he had an opportunity to work with Charles Correa on New Bombay, and policy development for housing and regional structure of MMR. He was a member of National Commission on Urbanisation (1988) and a Study Group on ‘Cotton Textile Mills in Mumbai’ (1995). Charles was the Chairman of Both. Thereafter till 2016 he worked as freelance consultant on various aspects of urban development. From 2016 to 2019 he was Dean, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University. His book on “Planning for India’s Urbanisation” was published by CEPT University Press in April, 2024.
Jagan Shah
CEO, the Infravision Foundation
New Delhi
Jagan Shah is CEO of The Infravision Foundation. His previous roles include Senior Adviser (Capacity Building) at The World Bank and Senior Infrastructure Adviser in the UK’s Department for International Development. As Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs, he co-created the Smart Cities Mission and incubated centres for digital governance, sanitation and climate adaptation. He has designed AfD’s ‘City Investments to Innovate Integrate and Sustain’ program and CDRI’s Infrastructure for Resilient Island States facility and led the preparation of the Draft Master Plan for Delhi 2041. Shah studied architectural design and history, theory & criticism in New Delhi, Cincinnati and New York. He is Adviser to My Liveable City and a Trustee of Clean Air Asia.
Rohan Varma
Lecturer & Researcher, TUDelft
Amsterdam/Mumbai
Rohan Varma graduated as an architect from the University of Mumbai and worked for Charles Correa between 2008 and 2010 before receiving his master’s in architecture from the TU Delft as a Tata and Mahindra Scholar. He currently divides his time as the Principal Architect of VARMA Architects with his work at the TU Delft, where his doctoral research and teaching activities focus on affordable housing in the rapidly urbanising cities of the Global South. In 2018, he co-curated an international travelling exhibition on the housing designs of Charles Correa. More recently, in 2020, he was appointed as a Delft Global Fellow, and in 2022, he, along with his colleagues at TU Delft, won the global edX Prize for the online course ‘Global Housing Design’. In 2023, he was appointed editor of the journal Delft Architecture Studies on Housing.
Dirk Van Gameren
Dean, Faculty of Architecture, TUDelft, Partner, Mecanoo Architecten
Delft
Dirk van Gameren is a professor of housing design and dean of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at Delft University of Technology, and partner at Mecanoo Architecten. At TU Delft, he leads the Global Housing Study Centre that focuses on the issues related to designing and building affordable housing in the rapidly expanding cities of the Global South. Dirk van Gameren is founding editor of the DASH Delft Architectural Studies on Housing book series. He curated in 2018 the exhibition Living Ideals, designs for housing by Charles Correa that has been travelling to various cities in India. In autumn 2022 his study Dutch Dwellings, the architecture of housing, was published by Park Books.
Rohan Shivkumar
Dean of Architecture, KRVIA
Mumbai
Rohan Shivkumar is an architect, urban designer and filmmaker practising in Mumbai. He is the Dean of the Architecture at the KRVIA, Mumbai. He is interested in exploring different ways of reading and representing the city. His work ranges from architecture, urban research and consultancy projects to works in film and visual art. His research includes projects in Dharavi, the National Park, and the spaces of Dr Ambedkar in Mumbai. Rohans’ work in film includes the interdisciplinary research and art collaboration ‘Project Cinema City’. He also curates film programmes and writes on cinema, architecture and urban issues. His films include ’Nostalgia for the Future’, ‘Lovely Villa’, and ‘Squeeze Lime in Your Eye’. His work has been featured in many events including the Chicago Architecture Biennale, the Sharjah Architecture Triennale, the Seoul Architecture Biennale, the World Social Forum, the Dhaka Art Fair and Documenta.
