Brinda Somaya remembers Charles Correa

This week, the architectural profession lost its great master, Mumbai its greatest champion and India a famous son. Charles Mark Correa will be greatly missed.

So much has been written about his work as an architect, as a planner, as an urban designer and as an author that I can do no justice by merely listing his works. To me, personally, he made architecture a magic word and instilled in all of us architects a sense of pride in our profession. His true genius was how he never grew old. He was so relevant to society and community in every decade of his life. He moved effortlessly with time and that showed in his buildings.

Every new project of his was for us a learning experience about space, volume, context, function and relevance to that site and its history.
From the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya in Ahmedabad, which he designed when he was 28 years old, to his final projects in Lisbon and Toronto, which he completed in his eighties, he did it all with excitement and genius. I remember going to his office a few years ago to discuss some publications.

Sabarmati Ashram

A few minutes into our conversation, he began talking about his project in Portugal. And, before we knew it, we were caught up in his excitement as he ran us through his thoughts, his images of the building complex and why it was so meaningful to all concerned being a research and diagnostic centre. It was an afternoon I will never forget because that’s the gift, amongst many others, that Correa had. He included his listeners in his dreams, his thoughts, his beliefs and inspired us to go forward like foot soldiers and see what each one of us could do as our profession marched ahead. He made us strive and believe in ourselves and in others.

I loved reading his books, his essays and hearing him talk. Like his work, his writings were also inclusive and so easy to read and understand. No complex words and sentences, no complicated structure, no looking down on the rest of the world. Just wonderful stories and essays with titles like ‘Learning from Ekalavya, ‘Roots and Bridges’ and ‘What one learned from Corbusier’. How privileged are all of us today to have lived when he did, seen his work and heard him at seminars and conferences.

Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown

He never spoke to listeners, he included them in his conversation which seamlessly covered architecture, literature, poetry, music, and in between anecdotes with his unique humour, lightening the deep and important messages he was conveying to all of us.

At his funeral mass, the priest said that while we will miss him, we must also celebrate his life and work hard towards fulfilling his vision. I think what we citizens owe him is to ensure that the city he loved so dearly, that he always returned to, will finally take his dreams and hopes for Mumbai further. Society failed him with the mill land decisions and other urbanisation policies suggested by him. His concern for the poor and their needs, particularly housing, still remain unaddressed in our urban areas.

Perhaps Mumbai will now make amends by ensuring that the Eastern Seaboard Development with the Port Trust lands does not go the way of the mill lands. That would be Mumbai’s final tribute, our tribute, to the man who brought our profession and country respect and admiration from all over the world.

(Brinda Somaya is the principal architect of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants)