Christopher Charles Benninger

Last updated
Christopher Charles Benninger
CCB by RA.jpg
Benninger in 2016
Born (1942-11-23) November 23, 1942 (age 81)
Hamilton, Ohio, U.S.
Alma mater Harvard Graduate School of Design
MIT
University of Florida
OccupationArchitect
AwardsGreat Master Architect of India
IIA Excellence in Architecture
Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) in Architecture, CEPT University
PracticeCCBA Designs
Projects Mahindra United World College
Suzlon One Earth
India House
Supreme Court of Bhutan
CEPT University
College of Engineering Pune
Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad
Design Principles of Intelligent Urbanism
Website ccba.in

Christopher Charles Benninger (born 23 November 1942) is an Indian architect and urban planner. Born in the US, he permanently migrated to India in 1971. Benninger contributed to the field of critical regionalism [1] [2] and sustainable planning in India. [3]

Contents

Following his departure from the position of professor at Harvard in 1971, Benninger came to Ahmedabad, where he was appointed as a Ford Foundation advisor to the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology. [4] At CEPT, he co-founded the Faculty of Planning with Yoginder Alagh and BV Doshi in 1972. He also founded the Center for Development Studies and Activities in 1976 with Aneeta Gokhale Benninger. He serves on the board of directors of CEPT University. [5] In 2024, he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) in Architecture from CEPT University. [6]

He has worked with various banks concerning policies, and with various countries and states to create development plans.

Benninger has written two books, Christopher Benninger: Architecture for a Modern India, a collection of his works, and Letters to a Young Architect, a collection of lectures and articles, which is a bestseller in India [7]

Benninger's architectural studio CCBA Designs is based out of Pune, which specialises in sustainable design solutions.

Personal life and education

Benninger was able to attend United Nations Security Council Meetings as an observer. Sir Robert Jackson, a friend of Benninger's uncle Adlai Stevenson II gifted Benninger a lifetime subscription to the development journal Ekistics , introducing him to a science of human settlement centered around Constantinos Apostolos Doxiadis's theories. Barbara Ward became Benninger's lifelong mentor, inviting him to the 1967 Delos Symposium in Greece. [8] [9]

Benninger graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida in 1966. While at the University of Florida, he was a student founder of the Freedom Party. Under Martin Luther King's leadership, he and his sister, Judith Benninger Brown, actively supported the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), entering segregated cinema halls and restaurants with their African-American friends, and forcing the owners to allow access to African-Americans into their establishments. [10]

Benninger completed his Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1967. He studied under Josep Lluis Sert, Jerzy Soltan and Mirko Basaldella. Benninger studied development economics under John Kenneth Galbraith, past ambassador to India and author of The New Industrial State . After this, he first visited India as a Fulbright fellow in 1968. He continued his post-graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under Horacio Caminos, working on the book Urban Dwelling Environments. He received a master's degree in city planning from MIT in 1971. [11]

In early 2024, Benninger was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from CEPT University.

Benninger is married to Aneeta Gokhale Benninger, an environmentalist, and has one son. [12]

Career

Academic and research work

In 1971, Benninger returned to India as a Ford Foundation consultant to the Ahmedabad Education Society to help set up the School of Planning in 1972 along with Yoginder Alagh and B.V. Doshi. [13] Benninger shifted to Pune in 1976 where he founded the Center for Development Studies and Activities. [14] In 1983, Benninger wrote the theme paper for the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements 1984. In 1986, he successfully argued to the Asian Development Bank the case for extending financial assistance to the urban development sector. [15] Benninger is on the board of editors of Cities journal, published in the UK. [16]

Early projects

One of Benninger's first projects was an Economically Weaker Section (EWS) township in Jamnagar developed with the Gujarat Housing Board in 1972. In 1973, he worked with the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and developed a site-and-services approach to EWS housing in Arunbakkam. In 1976, Benninger assisted Hyderabad Urban Development Authority in its first project, a 2000-unit township for government employees. [17] He designed the SOS Children's Villages in Bawana in 1975 and in Kolkatta three years later in 1978. [2] In 1976, designed the Alliance Fraincase Centre in Ahmedabad. In 1984, he designed the campus for the Center for Development Studies and Activities which he had founded in 1976. [18]

Planning

As a World Bank consultant, Benninger planned out the site and services, core housing, and slum upgradation programmes for the Calcutta Metropolitan Development in 1974. In 1979, he was a part of the team to design and programme Indonesia's first National Rural Development Program, in collaboration with the newly established Urban Development Ministry. Later that year, under Christopher Benninger and Aneeta Benninger, CDSA developed India's pilot Integrated Rural Development Program. [19] [20] In this period, CDSA also prepared social inputs for Area Development Plans in Goa and Almora. [21] With UNICEF, he led a CDSA team to prepare a plan of actionfor the development of Bhutan (1979–80). [15] He was engaged by the UNCHS to develop plans for six cities in Sri Lanka: Jafna, Ratnapura, Kalutara, Hambantota, Galle and Matara. [22] In 1986, Benninger worked on the development plan for Thane and Kalyan with a focus on urban management and poverty upliftment. [23] In 2001, Benninger was appointed to prepare the structure plan for Thimphu. [24] [25] In 2004, the Government of Bhutan along with the Government of India appointed him again to prepare plans for three towns along their shared border. [26] [27] In 2012, he designed the new town of Denchi in East Bhutan. Benninger's work in urban design, city management and town planning resulted in his principles of intelligent urbanism. [28]

Architectural works

Benninger's designs include the Mahindra United World College of India, the Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies, the YMCA International Camp in Nilshi, India, the Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. [29] Liane Lefaivre and Alexander Tzonis have noted Benninger's work as one of the first instances of critical regionalism in India. [30]

Mahindra United World College of India won the Designer of the Year Award [31] in 1999. It also was the recipient of the Business Week Architectural Record Award for Excellence in 2000. Business Week called the Mahindra United World College of India one of the ten super structures of the world in 2000. [32]

Publications

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis</span> Greek architect (1913–1975)

Constantinos A. Doxiadis, often cited as C. A. Doxiadis, was a Greek architect and urban planner. During the 1960s, he was the lead architect and planner of Islamabad, which was to serve as the new capital city of Pakistan. He was later known as the father of ekistics, which concerns the multi-aspect science of human settlements.

UWC Mahindra College is a pre-university international boarding school, located 40 km (25 mi) west of Pune in Maharashtra, India. The college is a two-year programme with about 250 full-time boarders, and follows the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program (DP). It is one of the 18 United World Colleges. The school was established in 1997 with the support of Harish Mahindra and Anand Mahindra of the Mahindra Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ekistics</span> Science of human settlements.

Ekistics is the science of human settlements including regional, city, community planning and dwelling design. Its major incentive was the emergence of increasingly large and complex conurbations, tending even to a worldwide city. The study involves every kind of human settlement, with particular attention to geography, ecology, human psychology, anthropology, culture, politics, and occasionally aesthetics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CEPT University</span> Academic institution in Ahmedabad, India

CEPT University, formerly the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, is an academic institution located near University Area in Ahmedabad, India offering undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in areas of natural and developed environment of human society and related disciplines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Principles of intelligent urbanism</span> Theory of urban planning

Principles of Intelligent Urbanism (PIU) is a theory of urban planning composed of a set of ten axioms intended to guide the formulation of city plans and urban designs. They are intended to reconcile and integrate diverse urban planning and management concerns. These axioms include environmental sustainability, heritage conservation, appropriate technology, infrastructure-efficiency, placemaking, social access, transit-oriented development, regional integration, human scale, and institutional integrity. The term was coined by Prof. Christopher Charles Benninger.

The Center for Development Studies and Activities, (CDSA), is a research and post graduate teaching institution located in Pune, India. Founded by the architect and urban planner Christopher Charles Benninger and geographer and sustainable development planner Aneeta Gokhale Benninger in 1976, the institute became known for its pioneering work in decentralised planning, micro-level planning, and watershed management. The institute has carried out policy analysis for the World Bank, United Nations, various central ministries of the Government of India, the Government of Sri Lanka, the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Asian Development Bank and various countries in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MIT School of Architecture and Planning</span> Architecture school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The MIT School of Architecture and Planning is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 by William Robert Ware, the school offered the first architecture curriculum in the United States and was the first architecture program established within a university. MIT's Department of Architecture has consistently ranked among the top architecture/built environment schools in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Tzonis</span> Greek-born architect, author, and researcher

Alexander Tzonis is a Greek-born architect, author, and researcher. He has made contributions to architectural theory, history and design cognition, bringing together scientific and humanistic approaches in a synthesis. Since 1975, he has been collaborating in most projects with Liane Lefaivre. In 1985, he founded and directed Design Knowledge Systems (DKS), a multidisciplinary research institute for the study of architectural theory and the development of design thinking tools at TU Delft. Tzonis is known for his work on the classical canon, history of the emergence and development of modern architectural thinking, creative design by analogy, and introducing the idea of critical regionalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otto Königsberger</span> German architect

Otto H. Königsberger was a German architect who worked mainly in urban development planning in Africa, Asia and Latin America, with the United Nations. He also proposed some plans for developing new cities like Bhubaneswar and Jamshedpur under the vision of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who wanted to build planned cities in India.

Rakesh Mohan is an Indian economist and former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India. He is the Vice Chairperson of Indian Institute for Human Settlements. He was appointed in November 2012 as an executive director of the IMF for a three-year term, and in April 2010, he joined Nestlé India, as a non-executive director.

Himanshu Parikh is a leading Indian engineer.

Anna Klingmann is a German born, American architect, urbanist, author, and researcher who specializes in destination creation, placemaking, and placebranding. She is considered a preeminent expert on Brandism in architecture and is a consultant for several real estate developers in New York, the Middle East, and Europe. She is the founder and principal architect of Klingmann Architects and Brand Consultants, and author of Brandscapes: Architecture in the Experience Economy. Klingmann coined the term "brandism" which describes how architecture can communicate a company's brand to the public. She also has described the concept of a "brandscape" which describes corporate value systems embodied into the physical landscape. Her description of brandism can also be used not just to describe single structures; entire cities can have a unique brand or "expression of identity." Klingmann argues that "Branded architecture on a massive scale changes a city in profound ways." But Klingmann also believes that branded landscapes can "effect lasting, meaningful changes when drawing upon the dormant or explicit potential of particular cultures and places." In this process, she argues, identity, belonging, heritage and social factors play an important role in the co-designing and curation/branding of place to have a positive impact on residents’ feelings about the value of their place in the world. Anna Klingmann suggests that architects need to take control of this aspect of their work, using it for social good rather than manipulation.

The National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA), is conducted by National Institute of Advanced Studies in Architecture (NIASA), which is a body of Council of Architecture, New Delhi in India. The National Aptitude Test in Architecture is a national level examination for admission to undergraduate courses in architecture. The test measures the aptitude of applicants for a specific field of study in areas like drawing and observation skills, sense of proportion, aesthetic sensitivity and critical thinking, qualities that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are related to architecture.

Mary Jaqueline Tyrwhitt was a British town planner, journalist, editor and educator. She was at the centre of the transnational network of theoreticians and practitioners who shaped the post-war Modern Movement in decentralized community design, residential architecture and social reform. She contributed in developing methods for the application of the ideas of Patrick Geddes, as well as publicizing them. Even Tyrwhitt had never met Geddes, she was able to extract from his many writings key ideas and concepts to disseminate among her colleagues and injected Geddesian thinking into conferences, discussions, curricula, publications, and policy documents.

Liane Lefaivre, a Canadian and an Austrian, is o-Professor of Architectural History and Theory at the University of Applied Art in Vienna Austria, now retired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hasmukh Patel (architect)</span> Indian architect (1933–2018)

Hasmukh Chandulal Patel was an architect credited with making significant contributions to contemporary architecture in India in a career spanning over four decades in the latter half of 20th century. His works are held in high-regard alongside those of prominent Indian architects in the post-independence era like Achyut Kanvinde, Charles Correa, Anant Raje, B.V. Doshi and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bimal Patel (architect)</span> Indian architect and urban planner

Bimal Hasmukh Patel is an architect from Ahmedabad, India, with over 35 years of professional, research and teaching experience in architecture, urban design and urban planning. He is President of CEPT University in Ahmedabad and leads HCP Design Planning and Management Private Limited, an architecture, planning and project management firm. He also founded Environmental Planning Collaborative, a not-for-profit, planning research and advocacy organization.

Piraji Sagara was an Indian painter and sculptor from Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jakoba Mulder</span> Dutch architect and urban planner (1900–1988)

Jakoba Helena Mulder was a Dutch architect and urban planner remembered for her designs of two large city parks and the creation of housing and play spaces in Amsterdam.

Mihir R Bhatt is an Indian architect, researcher and urban planer based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. He is the director of the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI), a local organization dedicated to mitigating the impact of disaster risks in India. Mihir Bhatt is actively involved in cutting edge initiatives and projects aimed at reducing risks and enhancing disaster preparedness and has extensive publications on topics related to vulnerability and disaster.

References

  1. ↑ Misra, Sumantra (2018-11-16). "Critical Regionalism in the Post-Colonial Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent". Issuu . Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  2. 1 2 Bahga, Sanyam; Raheja, Gaurav (2018-12-01). "An account of critical regionalism in diverse building types in postcolonial Indian architecture". Frontiers of Architectural Research. 7 (4): 473–496. doi: 10.1016/j.foar.2018.09.001 . ISSN   2095-2635.
  3. ↑ Rajput, Aman Singh (2020). "Intelligent Urbanism Guiding the Smart City Region Development: Case Study of Bhopal". In Ahmed, Sirajuddin; Abbas, S. M.; Zia, Hina (eds.). Smart Cities—Opportunities and Challenges. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering. Vol. 58. Singapore: Springer. pp. 423–442. doi:10.1007/978-981-15-2545-2_36. ISBN   978-981-15-2545-2. S2CID   219093510.
  4. ↑ "CEPT University". CEPT University . Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  5. ↑ "Board of Management CEPT University". 5 October 2017.
  6. ↑ "CEPT University: Honorary doctorates for noted urban planner Bertaud and architect Benninger". The Indian Express. 2024-01-02. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  7. ↑ "Acclaimed architect Christopher Benninger launches book on architecture". The Indian Express. 2016-07-12. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  8. ↑ "Christopher Benninger: Cyrus Jhabvala Memorial Lecture 2018". THINKMATTER. 28 March 2019.
  9. ↑ Shoshkes, Ellen (April 2006). "Jaqueline Tyrwhitt: a founding mother of modern urban design". Planning Perspectives . 21 (2): 179–197. Bibcode:2006PlPer..21..179S. doi:10.1080/02665430600555339. ISSN   0266-5433. S2CID   143844331.
  10. ↑ Debeljak, Aleš (1998). Reluctant Modernity: The Institution of Art and Its Historical Forms. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-0-8476-8583-7.
  11. ↑ Falvo, Rosa Maria; Akkisetti, Ramprasad (2015). Christopher Benninger: Architecture for Modern India. Skira editore S.p.A. ISBN   978-88-572-2687-3.
  12. ↑ "People". CDSA.
  13. ↑ "Cept School of Planning founders look back over 40 years". DNA India. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  14. ↑ Dutta, Apurva Bose. "Christopher Charles Benninger speaks on Architecture". Archi Times. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07.
  15. 1 2 Benninger, Christopher C. (1988). "Human resources development for the improvement of human settlements". Ekistics. 55 (328/329/330): 12–30. ISSN   0013-2942. JSTOR   43622047.
  16. ↑ Elsevier.com
  17. ↑ Jain, AK (2019). Housing for All. Khanna Publishing House. pp. 74, 78. ISBN   9789386173560.
  18. ↑ Lang, Jon (2002). A concise history of modern architecture in India. New Delhi: Permanent Black : Distributed by Orient Longman Ltd. ISBN   978-81-7824-017-6.
  19. ↑ Benninger, Christopher C. (1987-01-01). "Training for the improvement of human settlements". Habitat International. Special Issue Land Use Control. 11 (1): 145–160. doi:10.1016/0197-3975(87)90044-0. ISSN   0197-3975.
  20. ↑ Settlements, United Nations Centre for Human (1989). Women and Human Settlements Development. UN-HABITAT. ISBN   978-92-1-131118-1.
  21. ↑ George, Kolanjiyil Kuriakose; Oommen, Malayil A., eds. (1997). Economics, development, and the quest for alternatives: essays in honour of professor M. A. Oommen (1. publ ed.). New Delhi: Concept Publ. Co. ISBN   978-81-7022-678-9.
  22. ↑ Benninger, Christopher C. (1988). "Seminar on urban management and finance for South Asian countries". Cities. 5 (2): 194–199. doi:10.1016/0264-2751(88)90008-x. ISSN   0264-2751.
  23. ↑ Centre, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Development; Centre, Asian and Pacific Development; Pacific, Association of Development Research and Training Institutes of Asia and the (1989). Register of Development Research Projects in Asia and the Pacific. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. ISBN   978-92-64-03237-8.
  24. ↑ Benninger, Christopher Charles (2002). "Principles of intelligent urbanism: The case of the new Capital Plan for Bhutan". Ekistics. 69 (412/413/414): 60–80. doi: 10.53910/26531313-E200269412-414386 . ISSN   0013-2942. JSTOR   43619538.
  25. ↑ SONAM, DHENDUP; SHERAB, JATSHO; SONAM, TSHERING (2021). "Exploring Teachers' Perceptions of Professional Development: A Research Study Undertaken in Thimphu District Schools". I-manager's Journal on Educational Psychology. 14 (3): 29. doi:10.26634/jpsy.14.3.17523. ISSN   0973-8827. S2CID   236726094.
  26. ↑ Benninger Architectonics USA Inc. (2004) Gelephu Structure Plan, Bhutan
  27. ↑ Benninger Architectonics USA Inc. (2004) Samtse Structure Plan, Bhutan
  28. ↑ Dudh.gov.bt Archived 2010-06-23 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ↑ G-therapy.org Archived 2010-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
  30. ↑ Tzonis, Alexander; Lefaivre, Liane (2003). Critical regionalism: architecture and identity in a globalised world. Architecture in focus. Munich New York: Prestel. ISBN   978-3-7913-2972-7.
  31. ↑ "Christopher Benninger". New Jersey Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  32. ↑ Businessweek.com [ dead link ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.