Architect Drawings : A Selection of Sketches by World Famous Architects Through History

Correa, Charles (1930)
Housing sketch, 1999
An architect, planner, activist, and theoretician, Charles Correa ‘has done pioneering work on
urban issues and low-cost shelter in the Third World.’ 8 ‘He was Chief Architect for “Navi
Mumbai,” the new city of 2 million people, across the harbor from Bombay, and in 1985 Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed him Chairman of the National Commission on Urbanism.’
Correa studied architecture at the University of Michigan and at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He has maintained a private practice in Bombay since 1958. Continually interested in
education, he has taught at universities in India and abroad, including Harvard University,
University of Pennsylvania and Cambridge University; he currently holds the position of Farwell
Bemis Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His biography lists that he has
received numerous honors and awards, including an Honorary Doctorate from the University of
Michigan (1980), the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Gold Medal (1984), and the
Praemium Imperiale of Japan (1994).
The work from Correa’s architectural practice is varied with such projects as the Mahatma Gandhi
Memorial at the Sabarmati Ashram, the Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur, and the State Assembly for
Madhya Pradesh. He has also designed numerous housing projects for Delhi, Bombay, Ahmedabad,
and Bangalore.
Correa says his sketch (Figure 8.7) ‘is about housing – an area sadly neglected by architects today,
but one of vital importance to us in India. It illustrates some of the key issues (and compulsive
imagery!) that have been seminal to my own work.’ He explains how the sketch explores issues such
as open courtyards that act as additional rooms in a warm climate, and points out that the ‘casual and
rhythmic layering’ of domestic architecture is very flexible. Correa views this building as revealing
the movement of the human occupants within it.
The minimal sketch is rendered with a blunt pencil on a fairly rough surface; this can be seen in the
thick lines that leave white texture. The pencil mark is not dense because the graphite skips over the
valleys in the paper. The relatively slow lines describe the edges of the forms. Surprisingly controlled,
the sketch seems to be comprised of very few marks. It appears Correa rarely lifted the pencil off the
paper; he had a strong concept in mind before he began. The diagrammatic qualities of the image
seem to represent his thinking quite succinctly. Since he was concerned with the ‘malleable,’ or flexible,
use of the building, his sketch (as an analogy) may have acted as a blank slate, allowing the humans
to participate with the architecture. The minimal technique may reinforce this notion.
This beautiful sketch is fascinating. Those with little artistic skill or dexterity have historically
envied the image-making abilities of artists and architects; most specifically, the ability to draw a freehand
representation that matches the intended image. Without guidelines and with a precision hand,
the sketch was drawn from either observation or a very clear image in the mind’s eye. Correa’s
remarkably precise imagination springs from his enormous experience and talent. Seeing the outline
of the design was enough for Correa to place himself in the sketch and imagine the look and function
of the building. His ability to view the potential of an idea with a simple sketch is a remarkable
skill; it requires much practice as well as a thoughtful relationship with his sketching instruments.
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