About the Book
For the first time this classic is available in a richly illustrated edition. It is a must read for India freaks and serious architects everywhere, the Second Edition of India's only architectural book ever to rank in the Top Ten Best Selling Non-fiction Books, entitled Letters to a Young Architect, is now appearing with one hundred and thirty-two colour, and black and white, illustrations. An all inclusive Index makes it easy for readers to locate people, places and ideas they wish to study. The author, Christopher Charles Benninger, is respected as one of India's leading architectural theorists and practitioners. He has won the Great Master's Award, the Architect of the Decade Award, the Indian Institute of Architects Award, the American Institute of Architects/Architectural Record/Business Week Award and many more. This book was awarded the Best Architectural Book of 2012 by Archidesign. The Chinese translation was released in January 2013 and the Gujarati version in November 2013. The book's narrative is a poetic and sensitive memoir of a stranger's adventures in Asia and his transformation in India. The book debates concerns about architectural theory, design and contemporary urban planning. Through the medium of written discourses and talks presented over the past decade, a lucid collection of essays emerge that testify the commonality of mankind's condition. This is a collection of autobiographical narratives and ideas, reflecting a journey of the spirit from America and Europe to India, and the philosophical considerations that matured from these experiences. His travels are not only stories of the dusty roads he traveled on, but also of the passions and emotions of those he met along the way. Letters to a Young Architect reflects on the role and direction of architecture in framing a new man and a new society in the new millennium. Benninger notes his encounters with gurus like Kevin Lynch, Charles and Ray Eames, Jose Luis Sert, Walter Gropius, Arnold Toynbee and Buckminster Fuller, and the manner in which their personal passion for humanity shaped the lives of others. Benninger is a strong believer in tradition, in gurus and in students and in a lineage of values, ideals, principles and of practices which have been matured from generation to generation. He is concerned with the education of architects; the nature of architecture itself; and the role of urbanism and planning in the creation of a new society. The role of Indian masters like Balkrishna Doshi, who guided him in his search, is a touching tribute to the Indian "Guru-Shishya" tradition. Christopher Benninger prepared the Capital Plan for Thimphu, Bhutan; for six cities in Sri Lanka and many towns and cities across Bhutan, India, and Sri Lanka. His well known architectural works include the Suzlon One Earth, the United World College of India, the Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies, the Indian Institute of Management at Kolkata, the Centre for Development Studies and Activities in Pune and the Kirloskar Institute of Advanced management Studies in Pune. He founded the School of Planning at CEPT University in Ahmedabad, India after a stint teaching at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University where he studied architecture.
About the Author: Christopher Charles Benninger was born in America in 1942 to a French mother and Czech father, who was a well known economist. Benninger studied urban planning at the Massachusetts institute of Technology and architecture at Harvard University where he later taught, becoming at tenured professor at age 27. He founded the School of Planning at CEPT University in Ahmedabad, India in 1971, age age 28, and the Centre for Development Studies and Activities in Pune, India. He has been an advisor to the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the Indian Planning Commission, the Royal Government of Bhutan and numerous state governments and urban development authorities. His architectural work appears in Domus, Ekistics, Habitat International, Architecture Plus Design, the India Architect and Builder, Insite, Inside Outside and many more. He is on the Editorial Board of CITIES [UK], and has served on the Board of Directors of the Fulbright Foundation in India. His award winning architectural works include the United World College of India, The Suzlon One Earth, the Centre for Development Studies and Activities at Pune, the YMCA International Camp Site, the National Ceremonial Plaza t Thimphu, Bhutan, India House, and the Bajaj Science Centre, the Indian Institute of Management at Kolkata and the Indian Institute of Technology at Hyderabad. He has prepared plans for cities in Sri Lanka, Bhutan and India. His book, Letters to a Young Architect was on the Top Ten Best Selling Non-fiction Books in India for more than five running months and is translated into Chinese, Gujarati and appears on Kindle.
