One of the most important building designed by Charles Correa in the peak of his career.

1. Kanchanjunga
Appartment
1980-1985

2. Context
By developing climatic solutions for different sites and programs, Indian architect Charles Correa designed the Kanchanjunga
Apartments. Located in Mumbai, the 32 luxury apartments are located south-west of downtown in an upscale suburban setting
embodying the characteristics of the upper echelon of society within the community.
In Mumbai, a building has to be oriented east-west to catch prevailing sea breezes and to open up the best views of the city.
Unfortunately, these are also the directions of the hot sun and the heavy monsoon rains. The old bungalows solved these
problems by wrapping a protective layer of verandas around the main living areas, thus providing the occupants with two lines of
defense against the elements.
However, the garden terraces of Kanchanjunga Apartments are actually a modern interpretation of a feature of the traditional
Indian bungalow: the verandah.
Kanchanjunga is an attempt to apply these principles to a high-rise building.

3. Context
Three-dimensional overview

4. Period
Fashionable areas in Bombay in 20th century were the inner suburbs on the east - Parel , Sewri and Byculla.
The mills and their effluents began to push British and Parsis out of the area.
This led to Worli with these area for working class people and the upper class people the merchants shifted to Malabar Hills
As the distances grew in the city transport system had to be modernised by 1925 trains came into function also motorised buses
started running from afghan church to Crawford market
The city improvement trust developed the suburbs of matunga, dadar, sion and Wadala to house about 200000 new people
New roads connected inner cities to suburbs.
In the first years after independence the inner city was as congested as the rest of Bombay in 1980’s due to the increasing
population during 1970 formation of Navi Mumbai took place.
Charles Correa was appointed as chief architect in the construction of Navi Mumbai an urban growth centre for 2 million people
across the harbour from existing Mumbai city
In 1984 he founded the urban design and research institute in Bombay dedicated to the protection of built environment and
improvement of urban community
1985 chief minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed him as chairman of national commission on urbanisation
During final four decades of his life correa has done pioneering works in urban issues and low cost shelter in third world.

5. The Architect: Charles Correa
Credited for the creation of modern architecture in post-Independence India, he was
celebrated for his sensitivity to the needs of the urban poor and for his use of traditional
methods and materials.
In a career that spanned five decades and an array of prestigious projects, Mr. Correa was
the quintessential Renaissance man — architect, urban planner, activist and theoretician. He
swore that he would never design a glass building, and believed in “open-to-sky” spaces. All
his projects breathe this concept. They are responsive to climate and people, with emphasis
on plenty of light and air. He extended these ideas to whatever he touched; his projects
range from low-cost houses and educational institutions to state-of-the-art research centres
and industrial townships, to cultural centres and urban hubs.
Correa's work in India shows a careful development, understanding and adaptation of
Modernism to a non-western culture. Correa's early works attempt to explore a local
vernacular within a modern environment. Correa's land-use planning and community
projects continually try to go beyond typical solutions to third world problems.

6. The style of the building
Bombay was the first Indian city to see the emergence of the apartment building, an indicator of both the city’s early embrace of
modernity and its long-standing space crunch. Multi-storey buildings helped contain the urban sprawl, and the apartment evolved
over the years, both as a housing typology and an agent of social change.
The design is not the result of the usual ‘problem-solving’ approach taken in most projects. The idea underlying the design of the
building is expressed in a diagrammatic section showing dwelling units interlocked one above the other. It is a continuation of
ideas developed from observation of previous practices in dealing with the climate. The ideas used in the design of the building
were, possibly, incubated in the architect’s mind long before he was commissioned for the project.
A great deal of transparency has been achieved by the use of large opening and terrace garden on every floor. Like most architects
of his generation he has been influenced by Le Corbusier, but by his response to the Mediterranean sun with his “great sculptural
decisions placed facing the elements”.
It responds directly to the present society, escalating urbanization and climatic conditions of the region. Mumbai, being a coastal
city, the weather is mostly humid all year round. So accordingly Charles Correa has designed the structure.It pays homage to
vernacular architecture that stood on the site before the development in a number of ways.