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

, USA for

. * 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

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.

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