Prof. Christopher Benninger

Member of the High Powered Committee of the GOI for the Arts at the New Parliament Complex Master Architect of India, M.Arch at Harvard University and M. Planning at MIT Founder of CEPT School of Planing Founder of CDSA Chairman of CCBArchitects, Pune

Christopher Benninger is the architect urban designer of the national capital complex in Bhutan, including the Supreme Court of Bhutan, National Ceremonial Plaza and Ministerial Buildings. He was the finalist for the Videsh Bhavan competition in 20001 [unbuilt]; Chairman of the Committee to build the National War Memorial on the Central Vista which was inaugurated in 2019; and is the architect for the Parliament and Secretariat Complex in Burundi. He was the Chairman of the Committee that selected Fumihiko Maki to design the State Capitol Complex in Andhra Pradesh. He has built architectural complexes across the subcontinent over his half-century in India.

The new Parliament building draws its context from the Central Vista and surrounding heritage buildings while it salutes India's democratic values

In Praise of Diligence, Knowledge and Sensitivity

On the 28th of May, 2023, the people of India awake to the realization that they own a new Parliament Building, which is their temple of democracy, being inaugurated at the hands of their Honorable Prime Minister Shr. Narendra Modi in the presence of their Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

India's new Parliament Building, replaces the old British colonial Council House. Designed by Herbert Baker, that reflects the structure of British rule with its Chamber of Princes, Council of State and a Legislative Assembly, portraying a fictitious narrative in which our democratic system is illustrated simply as an adaptation of erstwhile imperial rulers, sending the wrong message that India is a mere extension of Westernideation invented and nurtured from English cultural mores and traditions. One of the themes of the new Parliament Building is India's ancient democratic roots in its village panchayats and councils.