RIBA Charles Correa Exhibition, Portland Place building show, Indian architecture display

RIBA Charles Correa Exhibition, London, UK

Indian Architecture Show in the UK

1 May 2013

Charles Correa : India’s Greatest Architect – Exhibition

Celebrating the gift of Charles Correa’s archive to the RIBA Library

14 May – 4 Sep 2013

RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London, England, UK

CHARLES CORREA: INDIA’S GREATEST ARCHITECT

Exhibition: 14 May – 4 September 2013, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, W1. Free admission Accompanied by an ‘Out of India’ series of talks and events including a special Mumbai ‘Last Tuesday’ evening on 25 June

Curated by Dr Irena Murray with exhibition design by David Adjaye

Celebrating the gift of Charles Correa’s archive to the RIBA Library

Champalimaud Foundation Centre Lisbon:

photograph : Rui Ochôa/Champalimaud Foundation

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.

Arts Centre, Jaipur, Jawahar Kala Kendra, India

photo from RIBA

Belapur Housing, India

photo from RIBA

British Council Delhi with Howard Hodgkin mural, India

photo from RIBA

Champalimaud Foundation Centre Lisbon, Portugal

photo © Rosa Reis

Kanchanjunga Housing, India

photo from RIBA

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).

Charles Correa, architect:

photograph : Rui Ochôa/Champalimaud Foundation

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.”

Gandhi Ashram, India

photo from RIBA

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. Information and booking will be available soon at www.architecture.com/programmes

Champalimaud Foundation Centre Lisbon, Portugal

photograph © Rosa Reis

Charles Correa Exhibition London

Background Information

Out of India – talks and events
The RIBA’s ‘Out of India’ season of talks and events accompanies the exhibition and runs between 14 May and 4 September. Further details will be available in due course at www.architecture.com/programmes

Exhibition design by David Adjaye
Alongside his high-profile international commissions, David Adjaye’s work encompasses exhibitions, private homes and artist collaborations. In addition he is recognised as an accomplished broadcaster. In 2006 Adjaye profiled Charles Correa for BBC Radio 3. The programme saw him journey through India, taking in Correa’s milestone building projects first hand. He talked to political and religious figures, India’s architectural elite, as well as the men and women who used the buildings and whose lives have been changed by his progressive philosophy. He is uniquely placed to give form to this landmark show.

Curator – Dr Irena Murray
Dr Irena Murray is the Sir Banister Fletcher Director and Director of Research at the RIBA British Architectural Library. Her research looks at the international transmission of architectural knowledge in the modern period. She has worked with major architectural research collections for over thirty years and lectures extensively on the role of architectural ideas in cross-cultural communication.

At the RIBA, she has curated exhibitions Le Corbusier and Baghdad (2009), Learning to Dwell: Adolf Loos in the Czech Lands (2011), and Beyond the Glass Room: Mies van der Rohe’s Villa Tugendhat (2012). Her publications include Le Corbusier and Britain (Routledge, 2008), Looking at European Architecture (CIVA, 2008), Karel Teige, Modern Architecture in Czechoslovakia (Getty, 2000) and Moshe Safdie: Buildings and Archives (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1996).

Visiting the Charles Correa : India’s Greatest Architect exhibition
The RIBA is at 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD. It is open Monday – Saturday 10.00 – 17.00 (Tues until 22.00). Closed Sundays. Admission is free. Exhibitions may occasionally be closed for events, Telephone 020 7307 3642 to check. An exhibition catalogue, including essays by Dr Irena Murray and David Adjaye will be available for £9.99.

Charles Correa

Indian Architecture

Indian Architects

Location: 66 Portland Place, London, UK

RIBA London

RIBA Building London

The RIBA is located at 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD, England, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 [0]207 580 5533
Admission to the exhibitions: free
Opening times: Mon-Sat 10am-5pm

The RIBA Trust manages the cultural assets of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), including the internationally recognised collections of the British Architectural Library. It is the UK’s national architecture centre, delivering the RIBA Awards and RIBA Stirling Prize (live on Channel 4); the Royal Gold Medal; International and Honorary Fellowships; the London Festival of Architecture; a full programme of lectures, exhibitions, tours and other events; and an education programme.

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