Cast in concrete: The significance of Chandigarh's architecture

Thursday September 14, 2017 , 7 min Read

One of the most important urban planning experiments of the 20th century, Le Corbusier's Chandigarh is an Indian city unlike any other.

A resident of Chandigarh since 2003, it took me 14 years to take a closer look at Chandigarh’s architecture. Chandigarh is a city of post-independent India, a symbol of freedom and modernism dreamed by then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. After the Partition of Punjab between India and Pakistan in 1947, India-occupied Punjab required a new capital, which led to the idea of Chandigarh. Three architects - Pierre Jeanneret, Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew - led by Swiss-French architect and urban planner Le Corbusier were appointed. There were two Indian architects M.N. Sharma and Aditya Prakash who were also associated with the project.

Le Corbusier was a pseudonym for Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, one he used to establish his belief in the possibility of reinvention of oneself. Corbusier was a revolutionary architect of his time and led the “Purist” movement in the field of arts and architecture. The movement urged artists and architects to build objects and buildings in their basic forms, devoid of many details.

Corbusier was a keen admirer of concrete and steel, symbols of modernism in his eyes. Seventeen of his projects in seven countries have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex. Corbusier worked on Chandigarh till his death in 1965.

The city was built to house 5 lakh people intitially, but houses over 12 lakh residents today. The primary feature of the city is its division into a grid, where each grid represents a sector, self-sufficient and able to function as a city. High-rise structures were ruled out at the planning stage, a rule that is followed till now. While Sectors 1-30 were designed to be low density sectors, built across an area of 9,000 acres and supposed to carry a population of 1,50,000 people, Sectors 31-47 were spread over an area of 6,000 acres and built to accommodate 3,50,000 people.

Even as the administration grapples with the question of allowing construction of high-rise structures due to the influx of people into the city, the fact remains that Le Corbusier's starkly simple design is what gives Chndigarh its character. This photo essay is an attempt to understand the significance of Chandigarh’s design and look beyond the excessive use of concrete across prominent buildings in the city.

The Legislative Assembly

The assembly building houses the rooms where parliament sessions are held. Photography is prohibited inside the building. The facade is a series of symmetrical boxes, in keeping with Corbusier’s principle of designing the facade free from the structural function of the building. The secretariat’s roof offers a clear view of the assembly building, with the Himalayas forming a picturesque background. The Open Hand is visible in the distance.

The assembly’s rooftop opens up to two light sources: a tilted pyramid and a hyperbolic dome. The light sources have now been covered and artificial sources of light have been installed. The pyramid represents the Haryana assembly and the dome represents the Punjab assembly. The two structures are proof of the plastic potential of concrete. The hyperboloid is just 15 cm thick.

A corridor situated on the right hand side of the Legislative Assembly.

The War Memorial

As one proceeds towards the Legislative Assembly, the silhouette in the picture above, one comes across the Martyr’s Memorial on the right, which was built to commemorate the martyrs of the Partition.

The Tower of Shadows

“The sun must penetrate every dwelling several hours a day even during the season when sunlight is most scarce. Society will no longer tolerate a situation where entire families are cut off from the sun and thus doomed to declining health,” Le Corbusier wrote this in article 26 of the Athens Charter titled, “A minimum number of hours of exposure to the sun must be determined for each dwelling.”

The Tower of Shadow is built on an area of 15.5 square metres with concrete panels on three sides that act as point breakers for the sun’s light. It is a metaphor representing Corbusier’s idea about the sun’s influence on a man’s daily life. “To introduce the sun is the new and most imperative duty of the architect," Le Corbusier said.

Gandhi Bhawan

The Secretariat

The Open Hand

The High Court

The Government Press

Government Press, Chandigarh, handles the printing work of the governments of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, and is a service department.

The facade of the building is all glass, with spaces for windows.

Neelam Theatre

Sector 17

Rotaries

The red bus from the previous picture has now reached point B after taking a 3/4th round of the roundabout.

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