Christopher Charles Benninger (born 1942) is one of India's highly decorated architects. His award-winning projects are,
The Mahindra United World College of India, The
Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies, The Suzlon One Earth world headquarters, The National Ceremonial Plaza at Thimphu, Bhutan and India House, architects' residence and design studio.
Career
Benninger studied under
Josep Lluis Sert and worked in his studio. On the invitation of
B. V. Doshi, in 1971 he resigned from his tenured post at Harvard and shifted to
Ahmedabad, India as a
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
Advisor to the Ahmedabad Educational Society, where he founded the School of Planning. In 1976 he shifted to
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
, India, where he founded the
Center for Development Studies and Activities. 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
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field offic ...
to author their position paper on
Urban Development
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of peop ...
, arguing successfully the case for extending financial assistance to the urban development sector. Benninger is on the Board of Editors of ''CITIES'' journal (UK).
Architectural works
Benninger's designs include the Center for Development Studies and Activities, the
Mahindra United World College of India
UWC Mahindra College (sometimes known as the ''Mahindra United World College of India'', or MUWCI) is a pre-university international boarding school, located west of Pune in Maharashtra, India. The college is a two-year programme with about 250 ...
, the
Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies, the
YMCA International Camp, Nilshi, India, the Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies and the
International School Aamby. The Centre for Life Sciences Health and Medicine in Pune is a radical departure from his earlier work.
The Mahindra United World College of India won international recognition as the recipient of the ''
Business Week''/
Architectural Record
''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in a ...
Award for Excellence in 2000. This award was sponsored jointly with the
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
. ''Business Week'' called the Mahindra United World College of India one of the ten super structures of the world in 2000. The project also won the Designer of the Year Award 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.
Awards and recognition
Benninger is the sixth winner in India of the Golden Architect Award for Lifetime Achievement (2006), conferred in May 2007 by the A+D and Spectrum Foundation. Six Indian architects had previously been honored with the Great Master's Award. Over several years he was recognized as one of the top ten architects in India by ''Construction World'' Magazine. He was conferred with the Singapore Lifetime Achievement Award by the Singapore-based Business Excellence & Research Group (BERG) in 2015.
Awards
* 2000 , Top 10 Best Buildings of the World , The Business Week Architectural Record Awards of
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
, USA for
Mahindra United World College of India
UWC Mahindra College (sometimes known as the ''Mahindra United World College of India'', or MUWCI) is a pre-university international boarding school, located west of Pune in Maharashtra, India. The college is a two-year programme with about 250 ...
.
* 2001 , The
Aga Khan Award for Architecture
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) is an architectural prize established by Aga Khan IV in 1977. It aims to identify and reward architectural concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of Muslim societies in the field ...
for
Mahindra United World College of India
UWC Mahindra College (sometimes known as the ''Mahindra United World College of India'', or MUWCI) is a pre-university international boarding school, located west of Pune in Maharashtra, India. The college is a two-year programme with about 250 ...
as the top 20 best projects of the world.
*2002 , The World Architecture Awards, Berlin for Mahindra United World College of India as a finalist.
*2006 , Recognition for Excellence in Design, U.K. - Lifetime achievement award.
*2006 , Golden Architect Award for Lifetime Achievement by A+D and Spectrum Foundation
*2010 , World Architecture Community, U.K. - Citation for Nabha House, Haryana Cultural Centre, New Delhi, India.
*2011 , Holcim Sustainability Awards, Switzerland for Lifecare Multi-specialty Hospital, Udgir - Certificate of Appreciation.
Publications
* ''Letters to a Young Architect'' , 2009
Letters to a Young Architects is a sensitive memoir of Christopher Benninger's life in India and his personal concerns about
Architectural Theory and contemporary urban issues.
* ''Architecture for Modern India'' , 2015
This is a book about the practice of Architecture in South Asia and the kinds of artifacts CCBA Designs has produced over the past many years.
See also
*
Ekistics
Ekistics is the science of human settlements Doxiadis, Konstantinos ''Ekistics'' 1968 including regional, city, community planning and dwelling design. Its major incentive was the emergence of increasingly large and complex conurbations, tending ...
*
Suzlon One Earth
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benninger, Christopher Charles
1942 births
Living people
American urban planners
Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni
MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni
Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty
Architects from Ohio
20th-century American male artists
21st-century American male artists
20th-century American architects
People from Gainesville, Florida
New Urbanism
American emigrants to India
People from Butler County, Ohio