ABSTRACT

Charles Correa Memorial & Research centre

The project started with the thought experiment: How to represent a person through a
building? As is evident in Gandhi Smarak Sangrahlaya(Gandhi Memorial Museum) designed
by Charles Correa himself, qualities like simplicity and honesty can be expressed through a
thoughtful combination of hard materials like stone and brick. Complementing the spaces for
photographs, books and letters, there are intermediate spaces for silent contemplation - of
Gandhi or something else. The humility of Gandhi is represented through human scale of the
structure and honesty through exposed material work.
The challenge here is to represent a person who, unlike Gandhi, is already articulate enough
to express himself in his buildings. The objective of the project is to imbibe the core of his
individuality into a built form without imitating his architectural approach. A representation
of a person in any other form than the self is bound to be a interpretation, and that is true for
this project as well. The project does not shy away from being an interpretation, but rather
enjoys the idea of interpretation of an architect by a student of architecture. The result, thus,
does not have to resemble Correa-like work but instead is an interpretation of Correa as a
person.
The objectives of this project are:

To understand and interpret a person into a built form

To conserve and exhibit the works of Charles Correa
To provide space for lectures, discussions and symposia
To provide support to new firms and independent researchers

In addition to exhibition spaces for Correa's built projects, unbuilt projects, drawings, life
achievements and executed/unexecuted theories, a library and a research centre for
architecture and urban design are added to the program to initiate and encourage
architecture, urban design and community within the city and work as a consultant for the
local urban development authority. This can be done by providing support to students to
pursue their own research and support new firms by providing workspace and resources.

The preliminary requirements are listed below:

Exhibition of alma mater and built/unbuilt architectural works project-wise in

chronological order along with their process sketches, drawings, photographs,
paintings and models
-- Public access
Archive of all works with Architect's sketches, drawings and photographs
-- Limited access
Exhibition of realized/unrealized urban theories(and their expected impact)
-- Public access
Reception, Information and Publications
-- Public access
Office(Administration)
-- Limited access
Research centre
-- Limited access
Incubation centre
-- Limited access
Auditorium - to organize seminars
-- Public access