BHARAT BHAVAN, BHOPAL

Ar. Charles Correa

Aditya Ambare
5 SEMESTER 3RD YEAR
TH

Amity School Of Architecture, Amity University

Rajasthan.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge my parents for their help.

Apart from this for their constant love and support.

I would like to offer my special thanks to Mr. Pritam Lenka for helping me in beginning of this project
without it wouldn’t have been possible to understand the requirements of this projects and steps which
have to be taken in process.

Advice given by Alok Maurya Sir has been a great help .

I am particularly grateful for the assistance given by Amarnath and Alok Sir for providing vital information
which helped me to complete my project.
 ABSTRACT
Bharat Bhavan, designed by Ar. Charles Correa and completed in 13th Feb 1982 has today
became place for all ages and people with different tastes. Located on a gently sloping plateau
overlooking the upper lake can be at 1st sight perceived as just a public park as at the road level
you don’t see any complex showcasing the purpose of the building. Here instead of the structure,
the green terraces and view of the lakes catches the eye and lends you in and then you realize
that there is more than what meets the eye. From entrance as you go forward, you can either you
can go straight to the enjoy the view of the lake up close. Or you can go down and enjoy many
forms of arts, music and theatrical plays which go on their around the year.
Charles Correa the architect found here the possibilities of a series of terraced gardens, which
would be seen cascading down to the lake. The visitors enter at the highest level and walk down
a pedestrian spine, flanked by a pattern of courtyards, to reach the various parts of the complex.
Each curve and space defines itself. Each of the part of the building is distinct yet flows easily
one another, linked by meandering paths. The total effect is one of the surprise and pleasure.
There is always a moment when the eye can rest and the mind contemplates.
The complex was aimed to create a space for interaction between people involved in the literary
field, visual arts and theatre artistes, thus complex by noted architect, Charles Correa was
devised like a campus, and incorporated structures on cascading levels around terraced gardens
leading down to the Upper Lake, Bhopal (now renamed Bhojtal). The building was highlighted
by concrete domes and exposed brickwork, and was designed to merge into the landscape of
slopping rocks surrounding .The building is today seen as an important example of modern
Indian architecture.
 INTRODUCTION

Figure 1 LOCATION
Figure 2 VIEW

Bharat Bhavan is an autonomous multi-arts complex and museum in the state of capital Bhopal,
established and funded by the Government of Madhya Pradesh. Opened in 1982, facing
the Upper Lake, Bhopal, it houses an art gallery, a fine art workshops, an open-air amphitheatre,
a studio theatre, an auditorium, a museum tribal and folk art, libraries of Indian poetry, classical
music as well as folk music.

Inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India, Shrimati Indira Gandhi on 13th February 1982,
Bharat Bhavan is multi art centre set up to create an interactive proximity between the verbal,
visual and performing arts. It provides space for contemporary expression, thought, quest and
innovation. Bharat Bhavan seek to provide a creative and thought provoking milieu to those who
wish to contribute something new and meaningful, in contemporary scene in the fine arts,
literature, theatre, cinema, dance and music. It houses some of the best and most lasting that is
being created in our towns, villages and forests.

In the last twenty seven years Bharat Bhavan has organized hundreds of programs including
music concerts, readings, exhibitions and film shows. It has produced more then 50 plays of
which hundreds of shows have been organized at Bharat Bhavan and also at other cities of the
country.
Besides regular series of programs and multi-art festivals, World Poetry Festival, International
Print Biennial (eight events), Biennial of contemporary Indian Art (five events), Commonwealth
Countries’ Theatre workshop, National Drama Festivals, Sarangi Mela, Jaipur Gharana Music
Festival, Purush Dance Festival, National Dance Festivals, Swayamsiddha (centered on the
creativity of women ), Kavi Bharti (trinal of Indian poetry / 4 events), Samvaya (trinal of literary
criticism/ 4 events), seminar on literary Journalism, several symposiums on major etc. are some
of the major events organized by Bharat Bhavan.

ACCESS
Bharat Bhavan is situated at J. Swaminathan Marg , Shamla Hills (Near Upper Lake ) Bhopal,
The Capital of Madhya Pradesh, India.

Approximate distance from Raja Bhoj Airport : 12 K.M

Bhopal Railway Station /Habibganj railway Station : 08 km
Nadira Bus Stand :06 km

Contact : Bharat Bhavan, J. Swaminathan Marg, Shamla Hills (Near Upper Lake) Bhopal, The
Capital of Madhya Pradesh, India
 ZONING


Figure 3 ZONE PLAN

 YELLOW – ROAD LEVEL ( ZERO LEVEL )

 BLUE- COURTYARD LEVEL ( - LEVEL )
 PINK- TERRACE ( + LEVEL)
 BROWN – BOTTOM LEVEL ( - LEVEL)
 +/- MEANING ABOVE OR BELOW THE ROAD LEVEL
 ANALYSIS

The site for this Art Centre is on a gently sloping plateau overlooking the lake in Bhopal. The
natural contours of the site have been used to create a series of terraced gardens and sunken
courtyards – off which are located a number of cultural facilitites. These cover a wide spectrum
and include a museum of Tribal Art, a library of Indian Poetry ( in all the 17 major languages),
galleries for Comtemporary Art, workshops for lithography and sculpture, and a studio for an
artist –in-residence.

Figure 4 PLAN
In addition, Bharat
Bhavan houses a full
fledged theatrical
repertoire company,
and extensive
facilities for the
performing arts,
including the
Antarand (indoor
auditorium) and the
Bhairang (open- air
amphitheatre),
overlooking the lake.
As one progresses
through the terraced
gardens and
courtyards, one
comes across these
various facilities in a
casual manner,
making them easily
accessible to the citizens of Bhopal.
The terraces and courtyards once again reflect Correa”s concern with progression through space
– the maze or puzzle- where parts are casually revealed and the complex of internal strees act
rather like a village layout. In this way the architect makes the building reflect Bhopal’s own
organizational layout.

Figure 5 3D VIEW

Another device, the top lit “cannon”, provides the lighting and ventilation to the sunken covered
spaces. In addition to these the opening to the courtyards and terraces have two sets of shutters:
the inner ones consisting of a combination of glass and openable panels for ventilation, and the
outer ones with large wooden doors which can be closed for security.
Figure 6 SECTION

The centre, which started in !975 and was completed

in 1981, is one Correa’s most sophisticated
expressions of the idea’s “ Maze of Progression”; of
his early structural and design statements. It also
combines these with respect for landscape and site
which becomes even more profound in his later
works. For these reasons Bharat Bhavan is one of his

Figure 7 OAT
key projects.

Figure 8 SECTION VIEW

Figure 9 DETAIL OF STAIRS

 Figure 10 WORKSHOP AREA

Figure 11 FOUNTAIN Figure 12 ART STATUE

Figure 13 ENTRANCE
  BHARAT BHAVAN, BHOPAL

Figure 14 THEATRE AT NIGHT

 Page 12
 BHARAT BHAVAN, BHOPAL

WINGS OF BHARAT BHAVAN

The complex includes an art gallery of Indian painting and sculpture, a fine art workshop, an
open-air amphitheatre (Bahirang), a studio theatre (Abhirang), an auditorium (Antarang), a
museum tribal and folk art, libraries of Indian poetry, classical music as well as folk music.
Besides this, Bhavan also hosts various artists and writers under its artist-in-residence program at
the "Ashram". Over the years, it has also become a popular tourist attraction
Some of the wings include:

 Roopankar - Museum of Fine Art: Gallery of contemporary folk and tribal art, and a modern
art gallery. Graphic art Work Shop, and Ceramics art workshop
 Rangmandal - theatre repertory
 Vagarth - Center of Indian poetry, library, archive, and translation centre
 Anhad - A library of Classical and Folk music, audio and video archives, organzes dance
recitals and classical music series like, Parampara, Saptak
 Chhavi - Center of Classical Cinema
 Nirala Srijanpeeth - the chair for creative writing, founded by by the Government of Madhya
Pradesh

ROOPANKAR is the only museum of its kind in India which houses contemporary folk and
tribal art together with urban art. Its objectives is not just a historic collection of works of art, but
also creative participation in the art scene emerging in the last decades of the century. Roopankar
has two fully equipped workshops for print making and ceramics. Facilities for bronze casting
and stone carving are also available. Camps and
workshops are organized off and on to bring
urban and folk artists face to face and to open
new avenues of creativity through dialogue and
confrontation.

Several solo and group exhibitions of Indian and

foreign artists have been organized by

 Page 13
  BHARAT BHAVAN, BHOPAL

Roopankar. Notable among Its events are the Bharat Bhavan International Print Biennial, started
in 1989 and the Bharat Bhavan Biennial of Contemporary Indian Art, started in 1886. Roopankar
has organized exhibitions in Japan and Moscow and in some parts of India with some major
activities in Bhopal, like all- India Artists Camps for painting, sculpture, ceramics and graphics
in which tribal, folk and urban artists have worked together and exhibitions of Mexican, Finnish,
German and Russian Art have also been held. Solo exhibitions include those of J. Swaminathan,
K.G. Subramaniam, N.S.Bendre, Henry Moore, Krishna Reddy, Maqbool Fida Husain, Ram
Kumar, Tyeb Mehta, V.S.Gaitonde, Satish Gujaral, Manjit Bawa and Ramesh Pateria.

There are about 6,000 tribal and folk art objects and nearly 2,500 urban art works in the
collection of Roopankar Museum

RANGMANDAL is a professional repertory. It owns an impressive theatre library and data

bank.

 Page 14
 BHARAT BHAVAN, BHOPAL

Rangmandal is not a mere production–oriented repertory. It believes in imparting practical

training to its member to participate in all aspects of mounting a production and explore new
dimensions of theatre. Its objective is a sustained theater movement that becomes a way of life
rather than a sporadic activity. It seeks to draw upon and contribute to indigenous traditions and
styles of drama. It works on the conviction that theater must have a local complexion and flavor,
a national spirit and a universal vision. The artists have traveled and collected material on folk
drama forms.

Rangmandal has presented more than 1000 shows of over 50 plays. Rangmandal also has to its
credit several successful performances in Bundeli, Chhattisgarhi and Malavi dialects of Hindi.

 Page 15
  BHARAT BHAVAN, BHOPAL

Many contemporary theatre person of international renown have organized workshops for
Rangmandal. Among them are Peter Brook, Eugenio Barba, Fritz Bennewitz, Barry John, Badal
Sircar, Ratan Thiyam, Niranjan Goswami, Astad Deboo, Bharat Sharma, Tapas Sen and
Prabhakar Bhave. The artist of Rangamandal have had the benefit of working with such directors
as B.V.Karanth,Fritz Bennewitz, John Martin, Kavalam Narayan Pannikar, Habeeb Tanveer,
Bansi Kaul, Neelam Mansingh choudhary, Rajendra Gupta, B.M. Shah, Jaidev Hattangadi,
Georges Lavadant, Alakhnandan, Shymanand Jalan, Rudraprasad Sengupta and M.K.Raina etc.
Its plays have been staged in several towns of Madhya Pradesh and have also been invited to
almost all the major cities of India. Three of its plays have been telecast by the Doordarshan.

The off-stage activities of Rangmandal include play-writing workshops, a symposium on Drama

Music, an All-India Street Theatre Mela, a Theatre Workshop for Amateur Theatre Groups of
Madhya Pradesh etc.

Rangmandal has also hosted muilti-lingual drama festivals and several guest performances by
well-known theatre groups of India and abroad.

VAGARTH is the centre for Indian Poetry. It aims to collect and preserve the ancient and
contemporary poetry in the Indian languages, whether in the spoken, written or printed form.

 Page 16
 BHARAT BHAVAN, BHOPAL

Vagarth’s library consists

of more than 13,000
books. These include
books of poetry in Indian
Languages, English
translations of poetry in
foreign languages, works
on poetics, literary
criticism and culture. Rare
manuscripts of some
renowned Indian poets,
hundreds of audio and Videos recordings of reading in Bharat Bhavan by significant Indian poets
are also collected in Vagarth’s archives.

Solo and combined poerty readings, dialogues centered on eminent artists and writers, talks,
translation workshops and fellowships, writers camp and financial assistance to under-resourced
literary journal are among Vagarth’s major activities. In the last 27 years scores of literary events
have been organized, including solo readings by Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Sitakant Mahapatra,
Akhtar ul-Iman, Bhavaniprasad Mishra, A.K.Ramanujan, Naresh Mehta, Kadammanitta
Ramkrishnan, Ayyappa Paniker, Trilochan Shastri, Vinda Karandikar, Harbhajan Singh, Ghulam
Mohammed Sheikh, Nagarjun and Ramakant Rath Ashok Vajpeyi, Vinod Kumar Shukla, Kedar
Nath Singh, Shaharyar, Nirmal Verma, Krishna Baldev Vaid, Krishna Sobti, Manohar Shyam
Joshi etc. Apart from these were seminars centred on the works of Jaishankar Prasad, Jainendra
Kumar, Maithilisharan Gupta, Hajari Prasad Dwivedi, Shamsher Bahadur Singh, Shrikant
Verma, Ajneya and Phanishwarnath Renu. Besides, there have been combined poetry readings
under Poorva, Uttara, Apara, Pradakshina, Samavad, Vachan and Kavi Bharati, a Trinal of
Indian Poetry. Vagarth has also hosted international literary events: a World Poetry Festival and
Asian Poetry Festival. In order to promote a creative dialogue between the various Indian
languages, Vagarth has orgnised several poetry translation workshops. Notable among the talks

 Page 17
  BHARAT BHAVAN, BHOPAL

orgnised by Vagarth are

those by Namvar Singh,
B.Rajan, Vagish Shukla, Al
Young, Yashdev Shalya,
Naresh Mehta, Anantha
Murthy, Daya Krishna and
Mukund Lath etc.

Vagarth Also Organised an

Art Appreciation Workshop,
in which eminent experts in
the field of classical music
and dance, modern creative
dance and choreography,
theatre, dramatics,
architecture, journalism,
literature and ancient and
contemporary painting and
sculpture participated.

ANAHAD is the center for

Indian classical, folk and
tribal music. Anahad aspires
to preserve the tradition and
promote its immense
contemporary creativity in
all its glory and diversity. It
aims to become a centre for
the enjoyment and appreciation of music. It also seeks to provide a lasting and creditable forum
for research into and experiment with the possibilities of music. Anahad actively mediates the
interdependence and exchange between the classical and the folk.

The chief activity of Anahad is organising performances of classical and folk music and dance. It
organises several series of music concerts. Highly accomplished senior musicians are invited to
perform in the classical music series Parampara. Saptak, another music programme, hosts well
established and prominent musician while Arambh, as the name suggests, features promising
young artists. In the last twenty seven years such virtuosi as Dhondutai Kulkarni, Asgari Bai,

 Page 18
 BHARAT BHAVAN, BHOPAL

Mahadev Mishra, Damyanti Joshi, Nisar Hussain Khan, Shradchandra Arolkar, Mallikarjun
Mansur, Kumar Gandharva, Gangu Bai Hangal ,Balwant Rai Bhatt, Yunus Hussain, Mashkoor
Ali Khan, Zakir Hussain, Rajiv Taranath, Gokulotsava Maharaj, Vidhyadhar Vyas,,
M.S.Gopalkrishnan, Ustad Alla Rakha, Kishori Amonkar, Vilayat Khan, Pandit Ravishankar,
Bhimsen Joshi, L.Subramaniyam and Pt.Ramnarayan have performed at Bharat Bhavan. Scores
of other musicians of various generations have participated in Anahad’s regular concert series.

Several Special programs have also been organised by Anhad, centred on top-notch artists,
gharanas, styles, and musical instruments. These include Bhimsen Joshi Prasang, Krishnrao
Shankar Pandit Prasang, “Pranam” a music concert on Mallikarjun Mansur, Thumri Prasang,
Sarangi Mela, Sushir Vadya Samaroh, 'Jaipur' - a symposium on Jaipur gharana music tradition,
'Purush' - a dance festival centered on the male dancers and Nakkara Samaroh. Dialogues and
lecture-demonstrations have been organised from time to time to expand and enhance the
knowledge and appreciation of music and dance.

Anahad possesses an archival collection of two thousand hours of audio and video recordings,
books on music and dance and over a hundred long playing records of foreign music to aid
reference and research.

. CHHAVI is a recently opened centre for classic cinema. It regularly organises the screenings
of the classical films from all over the world. It has organised several Film Festivals based on
various themes.

NIRALA SRIJANPEETH is the chair for creative writing, Instituted in Bharat Bhavan by the
Government of Madhya Pradesh. The incumbents have been writers of repute including Nirmal
Verma, Dilip Chitre, Krishna Sobti, Kedarnath Singh, Krishna Baldev Vaid, Kamlesh, Ramanath
Tripathi, Vinod Kumar Shukla, Doodhnath Singh, Ramesh Chandra Shah, Manzoor Ehtesham
and Rameshwar Mishr 'Pankaj' . Nirala Srijanpeeth has orgnised several literary events, the
notable once being Antar Bharti- a series of six camps for young writers in the Indian
Languages; a story writing camp at Pachmarhi and a symposium on the theme, Time and
Creativity.

 Page 19
SERVICES- THERE IS COURTYARD ON THE LEFT SIDE FOR SERVICES
CAFETERIA HAS ITS SERVICE ENTRY

PARKING FACILITIES- PARKING IS PROVIDE ACROSS THE ROAD IN

FRONT OF ENTRY

LANDSCAPE- TERRACE GARDEN, BENCHES AND TREES CHABUTRAS

FOR SITTING, LIGHTING LAMPS ARE PROVIDED
 BHARAT BHAVAN, BHOPAL

REFERENCES
1. http://bharatbhawan.org

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Bhavan

3. http://archnet.org/library/documents/one-
document.jsp?document_id=13863

4. http://www.okestudio.in/bharat-bhavan-bhopal-charles-correa/

 Page 21