Jawahar Kala Kendra, Arts center in Jaipur, India

Jawahar Kala Kendra is an arts center in Jaipur, India, consisting of eight separate building blocks connected by open courtyards. The complex houses galleries, an amphitheater, studios for artists, and several halls for performances and exhibitions.

Charles Correa prepared the design in 1986 and the building was completed in 1992 for the Government of Rajasthan. Its plan adapts the layout Maharaja Jai Singh II drew up for Jaipur in the mid-17th century, a nine-square Vedic mandala in which one square was moved east because of a hill and two were merged for the palace. Correa pivoted one square to form the entrance.

The name honours Jawaharlal Nehru: kala is art, kendra is centre. Folk forms such as Khayals, Rammats and Tamashas are staged here, and the annual Lok Rang festival brings national folk troupes. A mural at the theatre entrance maps planets onto the mounds of a palm, linking astrology and astronomy.

The complex offers a library with art books, a cafe serving vegetarian meals, and rooms where artists stay during residency programs. Visitors can walk between the courtyards and explore the exhibition spaces when no private events are taking place.

Correa arranged each building block according to astrological ideas, with every section dedicated to a planet and reflecting its symbolic function. The central opening in the layout deliberately remains empty, representing the sun around which all other spaces organize themselves.