Charles Correa was perhaps India’s foremost Modernist. However, he did not simply adapt Western practices to a subcontinental version: he transformed Modernism and owned it.
As a student in the 1980’s I had the benefit of hearing his guest lecture at the UTS International Series. Mr Correa must have been around my age at the time. I was inspired by concepts of community empowerment by involvement and his self determination to make designs local, and paradoxically in the one moment, internationally relevant. I saw India’s struggle to embrace a modern art movement similar to Australia’s struggle to find an artistic expression that is peculiarly Australian, at a time when Glenn Murcutt’s tin roof pavilions were leading the way.
As a student at UTS, our job was to serve the red and white wine which we had especially labelled for each guest speaker. I lament not retaining just one bottle of the Charles Correa labelled Mudgee Shiraz and the fact that those international series talks are rare events.
RIP Mr Correa.
Gary Finn
Architect Partner
Sydney Access Consultants
http://www.fs-architecture.com.au
Shop 7/438 Forest Road, Hurstville NSW 2220
Phone (02) 95863111 Mobile 0414 414101 info@SydneyAccessConsultants.com.au
Member of Master Builder’s Association Associate of the Australian Institute of Architects
Accredited member of the Association of Consultants in Access, Australia