TKMD: started basic details w/ infobox

2026-03-27T02:51:29Z

started basic details w/ infobox

New page

{{Short description|Famous brutalist building}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox building
| name = Visvesvaraya Centre
| alternate_names = Visvesvaraya Towers, VV Towers
| image = Visvesvaraya Tower Bangalore 5-31-2008 4-49-07 PM.JPG
| image_size =
| image_alt = 
| image_caption = Visvesvaraya Centre as seen from the South-West, on B. R. Ambedkar Veedhi
| coordinates = {{coord|12.982425|77.595785|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| architectural_style = [[Brutalist]]
| address =
| completion_date = 1983
| demolished_date =
| cost =
| owner = [[Government of Karnataka]]
| height = {{convert|85|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| material = [[Concrete]]
| size =
| floor_count = 21 
| floor_area =
| architect = [[Charles Correa]]
| architecture_firm =
| parking =
| public_transit = [[Cubbon Park metro station]]
| website = 
| references =
| footnotes =
}}

The '''Visvesvaraya Centre''' (better known as Visvesvaraya Towers) is a government office complex in [[Bangalore]]. The complex was built on the site of the former house of [[M. Visvesvaraya|Sir M. Visvesvaraya]], after his death, and gets its name from him.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/others/an-architectural-gem/articleshow/61093558.cms |title=An Architectural Gem|access-date=1 September 2024 |agency=Bangalore Mirror |publisher=India Times |date=16 October 2017}}</ref> Initially constructed for the [[Life Insurance Corporation]], it was later bought by the [[Government of Karnataka|state government]] to house government offices.

== Design ==
The complex was designed by [[Charles Correa]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2015-06-18 |title=A master architect |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/A-master-architect/article60175969.ece |access-date=2024-09-01 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> It features two prominent [[concrete]] towers of 22 stories (southern) and 12 stories (northern), connected by a three story podium block.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nair |first1=Janaki |title=Past Perfect: Architecture and Public Life in Bangalore |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |date=2002 |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=1205–1236 |doi=10.2307/3096440 |jstor=3096440 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3096440 |access-date=1 September 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The podium features open air stairs, and was designed to be a public meeting space, with its multi-level roofs functioning as a courtyard. The eastern section of the podium houses a canteen, where the employees in the building have lunch. B. R. Ambedkar Veedhi, Rajbhavan Road and Infantry Road bound the complex on the western, southern and northern sides. In 2021, the Directorate of Urban Land Transport proposed the construction of a public plaza in the southwest corner of the plot, called VV Towers Plaza, facing Police Thimmaiah Circle. The plaza was completed by Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Corporation in 2023, however it was not opened to the public.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Reddy |first1=Y Maheswara |title=Space Conquest |url=https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/others/space-conquest/articleshow/99697266.cms |access-date=1 September 2024 |agency=Bangalore Mirror |publisher=India Times |date=2023-04-23}}</ref> The plaza featured a public seating area, sculptures and bicycle parking.<ref name=":0" />

== Legacy ==
The towers were constructed in the 1980s, when the Bangalore Urban Art Commission (BUAC), inspired by the [[City Beautiful movement]], insisted on low rise and neoclassical buildings. The brutalist architecture of the towers and the high rise structures stood in sharp contrast to the [[neoclassical architecture]] of [[Vidhana Soudha]], [[Attara Kacheri]] and the General Post Office. The BUAC considered the buildings an eyesore. The towers also represented a shift in the city's expansion, from urban sprawl to high rise towers, following the lead of the [[Public Utility Building, Bangalore|Public Utility Building]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nair |first1=Janaki |title=The Promise of the Metropolis |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-569044-6 |page=222 |edition=Paperback}}</ref> In 2001 the BUAC, ironically housed in the towers, was disbanded.{{fact|date=April 2025}}

The towers are considered important as they are one of Charles Correa's first major projects in the country.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/india/correa-remembered-vv-towers-2134990|title=Correa will be remembered best for VV towers |access-date=1 September 2024 |agency=Deccan Herald |date=18 June 2015}}</ref>

== Present status ==
The complex is home to various state government departments. The general public is not allowed into the premises, unless they have an appointment at one of the offices.

== Gallery ==
{{Gallery
| title = Visvesvaraya Centre
| align =
| footer =
| state =
| height =
| width =
| perrow =
| mode =
| whitebg =
| noborder =
| captionstyle =
| File:VV_Short_Tower_West_Face.jpg
| The western face of the shorter of the two towers in Visvesvaraya Centre, as seen from the adjacent sidewalk on B. R. Ambedkar Veedhi.
| alt1 =
| File:Visvesvaraya_Centre_Southern_Face.jpg
| The southern face of the taller of two towers, as seen from the sidewalk on Raj Bhavan Road.
| alt2 =
| File:VV_Towers_Minsk_Square.jpg
| Visvevaraya Towers with Prestige Minsk Square, as seen from the Minsk Square plaza
| alt3 =
| File:VV_Towers_Northern_Face.jpg
| The northern face as seen from Infantry Road.
}}

== References ==

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Bengaluru]]
[[Category:Skyscraper office buildings in India]]
[[Category:Brutalist architecture in India]]
[[Category:Charles Correa buildings]]

Visvesvaraya Centre - Revision history

TKMD: started basic details w/ infobox