About Book
The Third Edition reprinted in 2024 brings homage to the color purple. Its significance – in Charles Correa’s essay ‘Great City… Terrible Place’ he refers to Doxiadis’ slides with the red and blue dots, representing people. Living in cities often presents the opportunity for red people to be influenced by blue people and turn them purple. That’s what cities are about – turning people purple!
“A Place in the Shade explores architectural and urban issues in India, from the house as a machine for dealing with our often hostile climate, to the metaphysical role of architecture as a Model of the Cosmos. This reflective, provocative and consistently readable collection of essays argues that our habitat must respond to the over-riding parameters of climate, culture and financial resources — and that our physical environment should accommodate notions of inclusion and diversity, and that priceless quality of synergy which characterizes the city. Charles Correa identifies the defining issues of the urbanization process that is so rapidly transforming India. He writes, ‘You cannot look at cities without wandering into architecture on the one hand and politics on the other.’ Tragically, over the last few decades, urban real estate has become the primary source of financing for political parties and the politicians who run them. But our towns and cities are assets too precious to be squandered in this manner. Like the wheat fields of Punjab and the coal fields of Bihar, cities are a crucial part of our national wealth. Their success — or their failure — will determine our future.” This anthology of Correa’s essays, along with The New Landscape are seminal writings and are more relevant than ever today.
About Author
Charles Correa, was born on 1 September 1930 in Secunderabad. He began his higher studies at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. And went on to study architecture at the University of Michigan (1949-53) where Richard Buckminster Fuller was his teacher. After which he pursued his MArch (1953-55) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After MIT Correa returned to India to start his own practice (1958-200) where he worked till his He taught and lectured at many universities, both in India and abroad, including MIT, Harvard University, the University of London, and Cambridge University, where he was Nehru Professor.
Charles Correa had a 60 years long career in architecture and his 100+ buildings in India along with a number of projects abroad are highly celebrated.