Christopher Charles Benninger was a great Indian architect, planner and academic. He passed away on October 2, in Pune, his hometown. Though he was born in the USA in 1942, was educated there, and began his career as a professor at Harvard University, his karmabhumi was India. He first came to India in 1968 as a Fulbright Scholar, and came back for good, in 1971, to help with founding the urban planning programme at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology in Ahmedabad, known today as CEPT University. Christopher made India his home and enriched it through the institutions he built, his prolific practice, his delightful writings, his work as a teacher and mentor, and his warm professional camaraderie. In a book that will soon be published, Christopher says, “I grew up in a period of history full of human progress and great expectation, seeing the UN formed, penicillin, the Salk vaccine, moon landing and other monumental events in human history. surrounded by people making pathbreaking discoveries. All of this set a world vision and life path in my mind of great expectations. I truly believed that all diseases would become curable in my lifetime; I truly believed poverty would be eliminated; I truly believed that world peace was possible; I truly believed that we could achieve a near utopic society.” No wonder Christopher felt at home in the Ahmedabad of the early ’70s. The air was still full of post-independence optimism. New institutions were being established all around — for building India’s space programme; for research in cosmic ray physics; for professionalising management; for advancing modern architecture and planning; for promoting industrial design, and many more. From the time that Christopher arrived in 1971, he threw himself into the work of modernising and building India. To set up the urban planning programme at CEPT, he had to write the curriculum, hire faculty, scout for students, plan teaching schedules, make rules and, ‘try to bring a sense of order into natural chaos’. He was barely 30 years old. After five years in Ahmedabad, he moved to Pune to start the Centre for Development Studies and Activites (CDSA), with his wife Aneeta Gokhale. Over the next 20 years, he built CDSA into a fine research, teaching and professional institution. It engaged with many Central government organisations like the Planning Commission and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and worked with many international agencies like the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) and the World Bank. CDSA’s town plans, slum improvement programmes and integrated area development plans spanned across India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Keeping with the ethos of those times, they were all aimed at a planned transformation of India and poverty alleviation in conditions of resource scarcity. In the 1990s, Christopher rediscovered his passion for architecture and set up a practice called CCBA Designs, with his partner Ramprasad Akkisetti. Over the next 30 years, he produced an extraordinary body of work. The campus for CDSA, designed in 1987,used parallel walls and pitched roofs to form wonderfully flowing spaces and courtyards. It sat effortlessly on Pune’s hilly terrain and was marked by its simplicity and austerity. His projects, starting from the Mahindra World College, used a far more exuberant and experimental approach. The institutions, apartments, factories, offices and health facilities that he designed often used angular or flowing geometries. They used modern technologies and sophisticated materials. This year, Christopher was awarded the Indian Institute of Architects’ highest honour, the Baburao Mhatre Gold Medal. Christopher would always support causes that he believed in. He was keen to see CEPT University modernise and improve. To this end, he supported my candidature for president of the CEPT University. As I took on the difficult task of tackling vested interests and setting things right, Christopher was vocal in his support. This was not just based on our friendship but was principled. I knew that he would oppose me if he did not agree with what I was doing. Unlike many stalwarts who supported me privately, he was willing to speak up publicly on my behalf. Christopher was deeply admired for his exemplary practice and institution building. He was also admired for his deep commitment to India. But, those who knew Christopher well admired him most of all for the absolute honesty and integrity he showed in his personal life. He was married to Aneeta and remained deeply committed to her well-being and that of their son Siddharth. At the same time, he never concealed the beautiful 30-year-long relationship he had with his partner Ramprasad. Christopher’s was a life lived with courage and conviction. At heart, he was still the young man who dreamed of achieving a near utopic society. Bimal Patel is architect, urban planner and former president, CEPT University, Ahmedabad
