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'''Christopher Charles Benninger''' (born 23 November 1942) is an [[India]]n [[architect]] and [[urban planner]]. Born in the US, he permanently migrated to India in 1971. Benninger is noted for his contributions to the evolution of [[critical regionalism]] and sustainable planning in India.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-11-16 |title=Critical Regionalism in the Post-Colonial Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent |first=Sumantra |last=Misra |publisher=[[Issuu]] |url=https://issuu.com/sumantramisra/docs/critical_regionalism_in_the_post-co |access-date=2023-08-17}}</ref>
'''Christopher Charles Benninger''' (born 23 November 1942) is an [[India]]n [[architect]] and [[urban planner]]. Born in the US, he permanently migrated to India in 1971. Benninger is noted [[Liane Lefaivre]] and [[Alexander Tzonis]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tzonis |first=Alexander |title=Critical regionalism: architecture and identity in a globalised world |last2=Lefaivre |first2=Liane |date=2003 |publisher=Prestel |isbn=978-3-7913-2972-7 |series=Architecture in focus |location=Munich New York}}</ref> for his contributions to the evolution of [[critical regionalism]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-11-16 |title=Critical Regionalism in the Post-Colonial Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent |first=Sumantra |last=Misra |publisher=[[Issuu]] |url=https://issuu.com/sumantramisra/docs/critical_regionalism_in_the_post-co |access-date=2023-08-17}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bahga |first=Sanyam |last2=Raheja |first2=Gaurav |date=2018-12-01 |title=An account of critical regionalism in diverse building types in postcolonial Indian architecture |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095263518300530 |journal=Frontiers of Architectural Research |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=473–496 |doi=10.1016/j.foar.2018.09.001 |issn=2095-2635}}</ref> and sustainable planning in India<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rajput |first=Aman Singh |date=2020 |editor-last=Ahmed |editor-first=Sirajuddin |editor2-last=Abbas |editor2-first=S. M. |editor3-last=Zia |editor3-first=Hina |title=Intelligent Urbanism Guiding the Smart City Region Development: Case Study of Bhopal |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-2545-2_36 |journal=Smart Cities—Opportunities and Challenges |series=Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering |language=en |location=Singapore |publisher=Springer |pages=423–442 |doi=10.1007/978-981-15-2545-2_36 |isbn=978-981-15-2545-2}}</ref>.


Following his departure from the position of professor at [[Harvard University|Harvard]] in 1971, Benninger came to [[Ahmedabad]], where he was appointed as a [[Ford Foundation]] advisor to the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CEPT University |url=https://cept.ac.in/ |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=[[CEPT University]]}}</ref> In collaboration with [[B. V. Doshi]], he co-founded the Faculty of Planning at [[CEPT University]], where he currently serves on the board of management.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Board of Management CEPT University |date=5 October 2017 |url=https://architecture.live/cept-university-academic-hub-ahmedabad-christopher-charles-benninger/}}</ref> He also founded the [[Center for Development Studies and Activities]] in 1976 with Aneeta Gokhale Benninger. In 2024, he was awarded a [[Honorary degree|Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa)]] in Architecture from [[CEPT University]]. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-02 |title=CEPT University: Honorary doctorates for noted urban planner Bertaud and architect Benninger |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/cept-university-honorary-doctorates-for-noted-urban-planner-bertaud-and-architect-benninger-9091080/ |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>
Following his departure from the position of professor at [[Harvard University|Harvard]] in 1971, Benninger came to [[Ahmedabad]], where he was appointed as a [[Ford Foundation]] advisor to the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CEPT University |url=https://cept.ac.in/ |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=[[CEPT University]]}}</ref> In collaboration with [[B. V. Doshi]], he co-founded the Faculty of Planning at [[CEPT University]], where he currently serves on the board of management.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Board of Management CEPT University |date=5 October 2017 |url=https://architecture.live/cept-university-academic-hub-ahmedabad-christopher-charles-benninger/}}</ref> He also founded the [[Center for Development Studies and Activities]] in 1976 with Aneeta Gokhale Benninger. In 2024, he was awarded a [[Honorary degree|Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa)]] in Architecture from [[CEPT University]]. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-02 |title=CEPT University: Honorary doctorates for noted urban planner Bertaud and architect Benninger |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/cept-university-honorary-doctorates-for-noted-urban-planner-bertaud-and-architect-benninger-9091080/ |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>


He has provided advisory services to the [[World Bank]], [[United Nations Human Settlements Programme|UNCHS]], and [[Asian Development Bank]] for the formulation of [[Investment policy|investment]] and development policies. He has worked on the preparation of regional and urban development plans for [[Sri Lanka]], [[Bhutan]], [[Nepal]], [[Malaysia]], [[Indonesia]], and various Indian states.
He has worked with [[World Bank]], [[United Nations Human Settlements Programme|UNCHS]], and [[Asian Development Bank]] for the formulation of [[Investment policy|investment]] and development policies. He has worked on the preparation of regional and urban development plans for [[Sri Lanka]], [[Bhutan]], [[Nepal]], [[Malaysia]], [[Indonesia]], and various Indian states.


Benninger is also an author in the field of architecture and urbanism. His book, ''Letters to a Young Architect'', a collection of past lectures and articles, has achieved significant popularity amongst architects in India.<ref>{{Cite web |title=10 Must-read books by Indian Architects |url=https://surfacesreporter.com/articles/72034/10-must-read-books-by-indian-architects |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=Surfaces Reporter}}</ref>
Benninger is also an author in the field of architecture and urbanism. His book, ''Letters to a Young Architect'', a collection of past lectures and articles, has achieved significant popularity amongst architects in India.<ref>{{Cite web |title=10 Must-read books by Indian Architects |url=https://surfacesreporter.com/articles/72034/10-must-read-books-by-indian-architects |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=Surfaces Reporter}}</ref>

Revision as of 08:07, 6 January 2024

Christopher Charles Benninger
Benninger in 2016
Born (1942-11-23) November 23, 1942 (age 81)
Hamilton, Ohio, U.S.
Alma materHarvard 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
ProjectsMahindra United World College
Suzlon One Earth
India House
Supreme Court of Bhutan
CEPT University
College of Engineering Pune
Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad
DesignPrinciples of Intelligent Urbanism
Websiteccba.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 is noted Liane Lefaivre and Alexander Tzonis[1] for his contributions to the evolution of critical regionalism[2] [3] and sustainable planning in India[4].

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.[5] In collaboration with B. V. Doshi, he co-founded the Faculty of Planning at CEPT University, where he currently serves on the board of management.[6] He also founded the Center for Development Studies and Activities in 1976 with Aneeta Gokhale Benninger. In 2024, he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) in Architecture from CEPT University. [7]

He has worked with World Bank, UNCHS, and Asian Development Bank for the formulation of investment and development policies. He has worked on the preparation of regional and urban development plans for Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, and various Indian states.

Benninger is also an author in the field of architecture and urbanism. His book, Letters to a Young Architect, a collection of past lectures and articles, has achieved significant popularity amongst architects in India.[8]

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

Early life and education

Christopher Benninger's father, Lawrence Joseph Benninger, hailed from a working-class Czechoslovakian immigrant family to America and was a professor of economics. Benninger's mother, Ernestine Minerva Eberlein, came from a French aristocratic family.

His mother's sister, Roxane Eberlein, was in a relationship with Adlai Stevenson II, a connection that allowed Benninger to attend United Nations Security Council Meetings as an observer. Stevenson's circle of associates brought Benninger close to people such as Sir Robert Jackson, chairman of the United Nations Relief Organization. Jackson gifted Benninger a lifetime subscription of 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. The Delos Symposium featured world thought leaders, including Buckminster Fuller, Arnold J. Toynbee, Barbara Ward, Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, and Doxiadis, who presented their theories and practices of development. They reviewed Barbara Ward's plan for the first Habitat Forum at Vancouver, Doxiadis' plan for Islamabad, and Jaqueline Tyrwhitt's strategies for sheltering the poor in India as a UN human settlements advisor, setting up India's housing department.[9][10]

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), entered segregated cinema halls and restaurants with their African-American friends, forcing the owners to allow access of African-Americans into their establishments.[11]

Leaving Florida for Cambridge, Massachusetts, Benninger entered Harvard's Graduate School of Design as one of 12 students studying under Josep Lluis Sert, Joseph Zaleski, and Jerzy Soltan, who were all Le Corbusier collaborators. He studied art under Mirko Basaldella, the Italian sculptor there. Benninger studied development economics under John Kenneth Galbraith, past ambassador to India and author of The New Industrial State. After completing his Master of Architecture at the GSD in 1967, 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.[12] After this, he returned to India in 1971 as a Ford Foundation consultant to the Ahmedabad Education Society to help set up the School of Planning in 1972.[13]

Personal life

Benninger is married to Aneeta Gokhale Benninger, an environmentalist, and has one son.[14]

Career

Academic and research work

After founding the Faculty of Planning in 1972 in Ahmedabad, Benninger shifted to Pune, India, in 1976 where he founded the Center for Development Studies and Activities.[15] In 1983, Benninger wrote the theme paper for the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements 1984. In 1986, he was engaged by the Asian Development Bank to author their position paper on urban development, successfully arguing the case for extending financial assistance to the urban development sector.[16] Benninger is on the board of editors of Cities journal, published in the UK.[17]

Architectural works

Benninger's designs include the Center for Development Studies and Activities, the Mahindra United World College of India, the Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies, the YMCA International Camp, Nilshi, India, the Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru and the International School Aamby. The Centre for Life Sciences Health and Medicine in Pune radically departs from his earlier work.[18]

The Mahindra United World College of India won international recognition as the recipient of the Business Week/Architectural Record Award for Excellence in 2000. This award was sponsored jointly with the American Institute of Architects. Business Week called the Mahindra United World College of India one of the ten super structures of the world in 2000.[19] The project also won the Designer of the Year Award[20] in 1999.

Benninger's work in urban design, city management and town planning resulted in his principles of intelligent urbanism, which guided his planning of the new capital of Bhutan.[21]

Awards and recognition

Publications

  • Benninger, C. (2011). Letters to a Young Architect. ISBN 9788192156804
  • Christopher Benninger: Architecture for Modern India. Italy, Skira editore S.p.A, 2015. ISBN 9788857226873

See also

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Misra, Sumantra (2018-11-16). "Critical Regionalism in the Post-Colonial Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent". Issuu. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Rajput, Aman Singh (2020). Ahmed, Sirajuddin; Abbas, S. M.; Zia, Hina (eds.). "Intelligent Urbanism Guiding the Smart City Region Development: Case Study of Bhopal". Smart Cities—Opportunities and Challenges. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering. Singapore: Springer: 423–442. doi:10.1007/978-981-15-2545-2_36. ISBN 978-981-15-2545-2.
  5. ^ "CEPT University". CEPT University. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  6. ^ "Board of Management CEPT University". 5 October 2017.
  7. ^ "CEPT University: Honorary doctorates for noted urban planner Bertaud and architect Benninger". The Indian Express. 2024-01-02. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  8. ^ "10 Must-read books by Indian Architects". Surfaces Reporter. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
  9. ^ "Christopher Benninger: Cyrus Jhabvala Memorial Lecture 2018". THINKMATTER. 28 March 2019.
  10. ^ Shoshkes, Ellen (April 2006). "Jaqueline Tyrwhitt: a founding mother of modern urban design". Planning Perspectives. 21 (2): 179–197. doi:10.1080/02665430600555339. ISSN 0266-5433.
  11. ^ Debeljak, Aleš (1998). Reluctant Modernity: The Institution of Art and Its Historical Forms. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8476-8583-7.
  12. ^ Falvo, Rosa Maria; Akkisetti, Ramprasad (2015). Christopher Benninger: Architecture for Modern India. Skira editore S.p.A. ISBN 978-88-572-2687-3.
  13. ^ Nichol, Jon; Lang, Sean (1990), "Germany, 1919–45", Work Out Modern World History GCSE, London: Macmillan Education UK, pp. 170–183, ISBN 978-0-333-46875-3, retrieved 2023-11-28
  14. ^ "People". CDSA.
  15. ^ Dutta, Apurva Bose. "Christopher Charles Benninger speaks on Architecture". Archi Times. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07.
  16. ^ Benninger, Christopher C. (1988). "Human resources development for the improvement of human settlements". Ekistics. 55 (328/329/330): 12–30. ISSN 0013-2942.
  17. ^ Elsevier.com
  18. ^ G-therapy.org Archived 2010-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ Businessweek.com
  20. ^ "Archlib.njit.edu". Archived from the original on 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  21. ^ Dudh.gov.bt Archived 2010-06-23 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ "Contact". UWC Mahindra College | Discover your Purpose. 2020-03-03. Retrieved 2021-11-16.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Charles_Benninger&oldid=1193920254"