when you walk to the edge of all the light you have and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown you must believe that one of two things will happen there will be something solid for you to stand upon or you will be taught to fly patrick overtons lines glide into the mind every time you gaze upon the work of charles correa who passed away on tuesday his iconic architecture across the world conveys both solidity and flight many cliches have rushed into the void left by his death and like all their breed they are both apt and inadequate yes he was the greatest architect of independent india was there a comparable indian one before that but his oeuvre tells you that he stands with the worlds greatsread also charles correa mumbai witnessed his visionary design ideas yes his was a godgiven mastery of light and space but his contribution was not just to architecture but to the whole skyline correa was about cities and the way they should be built his works were only the handmaidens of his urban vision if you had the good fortune to visit the retrospective of his work at londons royal institute of british architects held in the summer of 2013 youd have realized the limitations of all that has written about him globally the diversity and the detail were awesome in themselves but more notable was the urban aesthetic that canopied them all earlier that year correa had donated his entire archive of 6000 architectural drawings and other material to riba the largest gift ever by a nonbritish architect to this hoary institution with its historic collection of 25 million items in 1984 correa had received the royal gold medal the big drool of architectural honours ironically in that year the other charles the prince of wales dismissed modernist architecture as a monstrous carbuncle a description that our charles tried all his life to exciseread also former cm digambar kamat reminisces about his old friend charles correa consider the champalimaud centre for the unknown in lisbons historic betel district apart from its breathtaking design it reveals correas genius in melding past and present its built at almost the exact spot from where vasco da gama sailed out on his unmapped voyage to india this stateofthe art facility for neurosciences and cancer too is dedicated to another genre of discovery its huge portholeshaped windows frame a panoramic view of river segueing into ocean another aspect presents the hilltop chapel where portugals legendary mariners prayed before setting out into the unknown the tropical gardens inspire both research and recovery the complex marks a historic spot but does not appropriate it tourists and citizens have open access to the beach and to the centres own beauties this is another marker of correas design for urban living the essential interaction between private and public spaces for him these were the complementary yin and the yang which interlocked to release a third