Ten years since Charles Correa’s passing, his buildings remind us that he was ahead of his time

It is ten years since architect Charles Correa passed away on June 16, 2015, at the age of 84.

The day after he died, The Indian Express carried a front page photograph of the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, a major medical and research institute in Lisbon. Although this iconic building was designed by Correa, the article was not a recognition of his passing.

The picture was featured in the context of controversial businessman Lalit Modi’s visit to his wife who was undergoing treatment for cancer at the Champalimaud Centre. Correa’s obituary was buried in the folds of the paper.

The disjunct was jarring. Therein lay the tragedy of Charles Correa and his work. He lived ahead of his time.

His work cried out to be understood, shared and celebrated. Yet the very same Madhya Pradesh Assembly building in Bhopal that won him the Aga Khan Award for Excellence in Architecture was sought to be altered by the legislators who used it. They were convinced that it did not comply with vaastu principles and attributed the deaths of some of their colleagues to ill luck due to the building design.

Likewise, Jeevan Bharati towers in New Delhi was envisioned as a grand public space at varied levels linking the surrounding avenues to the inner reaches of...

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