Well known architect Hafeez Contractor talks about the man who inspired him the most, Charles Correa.
Charles Correa, image, left, was the true representative of Indian architecture internationally.
All of us architects have learnt a lot from him. As students, we used to study his work and learn from it. We would go and see his buildings and learn from it.
With his demise, we have lost a great architect. It has created a huge void created as far Indian architecture is concerned internationally.
I don’t think there is anybody else who has, or who can, represented Indian architecture the way he did.
I never had the pleasure of long discussions with him but we used to chat for a few minutes when we met. And those chats - whether they were for a minute or half a minute - were great.
It was Charles Correa who judged the first prize I got as an architect. It means a lot to me because he was the judge and because I was awarded for a building - the LakeCastle in Mumbai -- that a lot of people had criticised.
After that, I have received many prizes but this one was special.
There’s nothing similar in our styles, though I wish I there was (laughs).
I liked his work.
When I got the news of his demise this morning… It’s a very sad day for me. We will always miss him. That much I can say.
He fought against the many issues the come up with officialdom (that architects face).
It’s a fight that we have to keep on fighting; you lose some and you win some.
The unfortunate thing is that the other side does not have to do anything else whereas we have to do our work also and fight. That’s the difficult part.
He had a practical approach to a lot of things. One incident I remember is when the Coastal Regulation Zone law came about. A committee was formed and he was one of the first to talk against it and ask how such a law could be enacted. He was insistent that Mumbai had a symbiotic relationship with the sea that needed to be kept in mind.
He also fought for Mumbai’s mill land. He wanted it used in a different way. His way was very creative and it would have given urban Mumbai a different space. But it didn’t happen.
All these things are very important. He would stand for what he thought was right and what he thought was needed. That’s a great thing and we need people like that.
The most important thing is that, as far as the Indian architecture is concerned, he was its international face. That is the great big void that is has been created now.
Images: (top) Charles Correa, (bottom) Hafeez Contractor. Photographs courtesy Facebook.
