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The headquarters of the British Council in India are in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
in a 1992 building designed by Indian architect Charles Correa
Charles Mark Correa (1 September 1930 – 16 June 2015) was an Indian architect and urban planner. Credited with the creation of modern architecture in post-Independent India, he was celebrated for his sensitivity to the needs of the urban p ...
. The front of the building includes a mural by British artist Howard Hodgkin
Sir Gordon Howard Eliott Hodgkin (6 August 1932 – 9 March 2017) was a British painter and printmaker. His work is most often associated with abstraction.
Early life
Gordon Howard Eliot Hodgkin was born on 6 August 1932 in Hammersmith, ...
.
The British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
was first established in India in 1948. Today it has offices in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...
, Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...
, Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
, 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 ...
as well as its headquarters in Delhi. The Director of the British Council in India is Barbara Wickham OBE
British Council Delhi Building
Charles Correa's design
Correa's design includes a library, auditorium, art gallery and the headquarters of the British Council. Correa arranged these elements over a series of floors in layers that recall the interfaces between India and Britain over 300 years. With employee strength of 800 across 11 locations,s Correa's design referencesHinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, Islam and the European Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...
as well as the importance of cosmic and religious symbolism
A religious symbol is an iconic representation intended to represent a specific religion, or a specific concept within a given religion.
Religious symbols have been used in the military in many countries, such as the United States military chapl ...
to his work. He traces a route through the building from a spiral symbolising Bindu - the energy centre of the Cosmos through the traditional Islamic Char Bagh to a European icon, inlaid in marble and granite, used to represent the Age of Reason.
The British Council Delhi building was a five-year project for Charles Correa (1987 - 1992). During this time Correa completed the Vidhan Bhavan (Madhya Pradesh Parliament
Madhya (Sanskrit for 'middle') may refer to:
* Madhya Pradesh, occasionally Madhya for short, a state in India
* Madhya, the middle tala in Indian classical music
* Madhya, the middle octave in Indian (especially Hindustani) classical music
See ...
), Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
(1987); a house at Koramangala
Koramangala () is situated in the south-eastern part of Bengaluru, it is one of the largest neighborhoods, and is a residential locality with wide, tree-lined boulevards and a mix of commercial structures, and bungalows. Planned as a suburb pos ...
, Bangalore (1985–88); the Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...
(1986–92); and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Pune
Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...
(1988–92).
Howard Hodgkin's Mural
Hodgkin’s mural on the front of the building is in black Kadappa stone and Makrana marble and of a banyan tree spreading its branches across the walls. It is a symbol of the British Council's work rooted in the Indian cultural scene. Hodgkin said of Correa: "Charles Correa is the most perfect architect you could imagine. He first suggested that I think about the mural as an Indian flag turning into a Union Jack. I said no. Instead, I did a mural of a banyan tree. He was totally cooperative and loyal. We are great friends."References
{{Coord missing, Delhi Buildings and structures in New Delhi 1992 establishments in Delhi British Council