Built in 1992 and designed by the eminent Indian architect Charles Correa, the British Council Building in New Delhi stands out among the surrounding mid-rise buildings. Its basic shape seems almost brutalist, just a concrete rectangle with sharp corners and little decoration, but, looked at from the front, it seems hardly out of place. The green grass and trees complement the sandy-colored building and courtyard, and and the tiered white levels behind the front face of the building add interesting depth.

I am fascinated by the mural on the front, and I wonder what its artist intended for it to represent, if anything. It almost seems like a hydra glaring out from behind the brick facade, possibly a nod to the Indian perception of the old British Empire, like a multi-headed hydra on which the sun never set. Monster analogies aside, the way that the building divides itself into three parts is pleasing to the eye, which is drawn down the center corridor, past the door, and up, to the mural and sky.