Architecture is a humane social practice that offers the gift of connection, a celebrated American architect known for work deeply rooted in landscape, culture and place, said in the city on Friday.
“So how should we assess the practice of architecture in that society? Perhaps best by its cultivation of literacy, of education, of civic gathering, of individual and collective worship, of physical and mental well-being, and this ultimately by the demonstrated commitment to architecture as a humane social practice. A practice that provides the gift of connections,” said Marlon Blackwell, widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in contemporary architecture.
On Friday, he delivered a keynote address at the ninth edition of the Charles Correa Memorial Lecture, hosted by the Ambuja Neotia Group, in association with The Charles Correa Foundation.
Instituted in memory of one of India’s most influential architects, the annual lecture series has evolved into a platform for dialogue on design, urbanism and the role of architecture in shaping communities.
“How should we assess a society? Perhaps best by a society’s care for its children, for its elderly, for the less advantaged, by its equitable provision for a full quality of life to all, and this in part, to its architecture, to the equitable provision of quality of life for all. By its human and social architecture,” said Blackwell.
A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) and a professor at the University of Arkansas, Blackwell has, in a career spanning over three decades, received international recognition for projects that place people, place and purpose at the centre of design.
Reflecting on Correa, Blackwell said: “Charles Correa understood something many architects spend a lifetime pursuing — that the most meaningful buildings belong to the people who inhabit them. To speak in his memory, in a city that celebrates his legacy, is both an honour and a privilege.”
He gave an audio-visual presentation, taking the audience on a virtual tour of public spaces and private homes designed by him.
One of them was the Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the largest urban parks in the US.
Blackwell embraced “the sometimes challenging history” of the place, a formal penal farm, and leveraged the formal and material culture of the southern porch and industrial agricultural technology to create a series of structures that animate the landscape as amenities for civility, opportunity and inclusion.
“Charles Correa’s work demonstrated that architecture can be deeply contemporary while remaining rooted in its context and people. Through this lecture series, we seek to keep that spirit alive,” Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman of the Ambuja Neotia Group, said in his welcome address.