Christopher Charles Benninger

Christopher Charles Benninger is an American-Indian architect and planner.

Christopher Charles Benninger
Born (1942-11-23) November 23, 1942
Hamilton, Ohio, US
NationalityAmerican-Indian
Alma materHarvard GSD
MIT
OccupationArchitect
AwardsGreat Master Architect of India
PracticeCCBA Designs
BuildingsMahindra United World College, Suzlon One Earth, India House
ProjectsRoyal Supreme Court, Bhutan; College of Engineering Pune; Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad
Suzlon One Earth, designed by Benninger, in Pune, Maharashtra

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 Advisor to the Ahmedabad Educational Society, where he founded the School of Planning.[1] In 1976 he shifted to Pune, India, where he founded the Center for Development Studies and Activities.[2] 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 to author their position paper on Urban Development, arguing successfully the case for extending financial assistance to the urban development sector. Benninger is on the Board of Editors of CITIES journal (UK).[3]

Architectural work

Benninger's designs include the Center for Development Studies and Activities, the Mahindra United World College of India, 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.[4]

The Mahindra United World College of India won international recognition as the recipient of the Business Week/Architectural Record Award for Excellence in 2000. This award was sponsored jointly with the American Institute of Architects. Business Week called the Mahindra United World College of India one of the ten super structures of the world in 2000.[5] The project also won the Designer of the Year Award [6] 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.[7]

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.[8] Six Indian architects had previously been honoured with the Great Master's Award.[9] Over several years he was recognised as one of the top ten architects in India by Construction World Magazine.[10]

See also

References
  1. Lang, Jon T., A concise history of modern architecture in India, 2002, Page 45
  2. Archpresspk.com Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Elsevier.com
  4. G-therapy.org Archived 2010-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Businessweek.com
  6. "Archlib.njit.edu". Archived from the original on 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  7. Dudh.gov.bt Archived 2010-06-23 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "AESA HONOUR FOR BENNINGER". Times of India. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  9. "Expressindia.com". Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
  10. Constructionupdate.com Archived 2012-07-22 at Archive.today
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