Jump to content

Christopher Charles Benninger

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 150.107.25.47 (talk) at 08:57, 6 January 2024 (Added name of institution cofounder). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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 for his contributions to the evolution of critical regionalism[1] [2] and sustainable planning in India[3].

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] 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.[5] 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. [6]

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. He 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 past lectures and articles which is a bestseller in India [7]

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.[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), entered segregated cinema halls and restaurants with their African-American friends, forcing the owners to allow access of African-Americans into their establishments.[10]

Benninger completed his Master of Architecture from Harvard's 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]

Personal life

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. Benninger shifted to Pune, India, in 1976 where he founded the Center for Development Studies and Activities.[13] 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.[14] Benninger is on the board of editors of Cities journal, published in the UK.[15]

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.[16] Liane Lefaivre and Alexander Tzonis have noted Benninger's work as one of the first instances of critical regionalism in India.[17]

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.[18] The project also won the Designer of the Year Award[19] 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.[20]

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. ^ Misra, Sumantra (2018-11-16). "Critical Regionalism in the Post-Colonial Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent". Issuu. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  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). 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.
  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. doi:10.1080/02665430600555339. ISSN 0266-5433.
  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. ^ Dutta, Apurva Bose. "Christopher Charles Benninger speaks on Architecture". Archi Times. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07.
  14. ^ Benninger, Christopher C. (1988). "Human resources development for the improvement of human settlements". Ekistics. 55 (328/329/330): 12–30. ISSN 0013-2942.
  15. ^ Elsevier.com
  16. ^ G-therapy.org Archived 2010-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ Businessweek.com
  19. ^ "Archlib.njit.edu". Archived from the original on 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  20. ^ Dudh.gov.bt Archived 2010-06-23 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ "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=1193926231"