LE CORBUSIER'S CHANDIGARH "Give him a pencil, For he is not a writer of words, But an artist of drawings."
Le Corbusier, that French man, called by Prime Minister Nehru to shape Punjab's new capital "Chandigarh", was a man of drawings. "I prefer drawing to talking, For it is faster and effective."
It didn't take long for this foreigner to put himself in an Indian's shoes and feel the happiness we felt from being free from the struggle for independence. Chandigarh, a city planned by Corbusier, speaks of joy, spaciousness and openness, calling one and all to show itself as a symbol of unity. It depicts a city unfettered by the traditions of past and is a symbol of nation's faith in future. India, had already had, in New Delhi; a city lay out on geometric lines, but there it had been imposed from outside, by colonial power. At Chandigarh, this geometric order appears as an expression of India's own will to action in the modern world. One can hardly overestimate the psychological value of this dramatic break with the traditional order or disorder of the Indian city. In Chandigarh he applies the 7v's concept (v= voie, road) for fluidity in traffic flow. Starting with the very large interurban artery V1, it ends with the fine capillary network of V7 in green belt, which irrigates the different sectors. The focal point of the city and the major task in the planning of Chandigarh, was designing the capitol complex, the visual and symbolic focus of the town. It was a complex of government buildings, standing against blue silhouette of the lower Shivalik ranges on the Himalayan foothills. Comprising of the Secretariat, Assembly hall and the High court, the complex was an embodiment of spirit of exaltation, power and permanence experienced by the Indians on acquiring self government. Designed as a great pedestrian plaza the grid and the axis both give the capitol the much needed importance it requires, in the city's culture.
The elongated horizontal facade of the Secretariat building Approaching the long, horizontal concrete slab bearing six - eight storied blocks separated by expansion joints, the Secretariat gives a sculptural experience. One can feel the grandness and horizontal elongation of the building. Dragging both the height and the length of the structure Corbusier follows his principle of human idiom. For him, while everything is on scale, nothing is disproportioned. Architecture is about human scale.
The stairway tower off from the building's alignment In the Secretariat, Corbusier emphasised the unity of the elements resulting from repetition of the individual squares/fenestrations of the stairway tower; which is projected out. Keeping the tower off from the building's alignment, he has broken up the monotony of the long western facade of the secretariat. While on one hand Corbusier focuses on bringing parts together, in order to form a whole, on the other hand he tries to break free from the
activities by incorporating a terrace which helps in gaining the independence in relation to the street and serves as a place of relaxation. The terrace roof is always presented by Le Corbusier as natural complement of the free standing supports (pilotis) conceived as sun patio or a roof garden in individual houses. It serves quite a different purpose in buildings of collective use like the secretariat. Here it serves as a place where tenants, employees or workers can meet in leisure moments. It thus becomes paradoxically an essential element in the system of internal circulation, a town planning instrument taking over an important share of role played by the street and the square.
View of the Assembly building from the terrace roof of the Secretariat.
While standing on this very terrace, one gets a fantastic diagonal view of the Assembly building. Presenting a stark contrast from the plain, quiet skyline of the secretariat, the assembly building adds dynamism and can be seen more as a play of forms. Here the organs shaped independently of one another are placed together. He imbricates the organs within the unit of the block, individualised them in the form of plastic objects, and linked by strict proportional ratios, allowing cells to proliferate in apparent freedom. The slabs are arranged obliquely in relation to the glass wall. The resultant effect of instability is sufficiently powerful to bring to life masses, which, judged by mere cubic content of material utilised, seem to exclude all idea of mobility.
View of the Assembly building and it's reflection in the water.
The pilotis undergo a final metamorphosis comparable to that of sun breaks in the light wall of Ronchamp chapel. They no longer perform the function for which they were originally designed (i.e. lifting the building above the ground) serving simply to support a parasol roof, they are justified at Chandigarh only as purely poetic elements. When seen from the front, standing on the huge platform, which earlier served as a vehicular entry to the assembly hall, one can see the pilotis as sleek elements allowing the flow of vehicular and pedestrian movement around the hall
The various elements of geometry altering the skyline of the Assembly building, with the sleek pilotis.
"To put it in a nutshell, We must have plenty of room in order To live in full daylight, So that the animal in us Won't feel cooped up. So that it can move about, Have space around it and in front of it" In the Assembly hall, one can see a play of forms in light realised in most literal and most sensitive of manners. It is only through light and the movement of light that the forms come to life and through them the space also. Looking at the two buildings, a shear contrast in terms of approach towards skyline, facade treatment and geometry can be noticed. Both the structures are strong enough to attract anyone's attention and the grid as well as the axis roads emphasise their positioning even further. Though with time one can see that the buildings are not meant for the harsh summer climate. The Secretariat building has its facade spoiled by the protruding air conditioning systems and the vast space in front of the assembly hall too, is now a waste; absorbing the sun's heat and making it impossible for the people to utilise it. Thus, while the buildings speak of a different nature and vocabulary, they seem to have failed the test of timeless building architecture. Though one can't neglect the fabric of the planning and the structures, use of techniques which now come under modern architecture and the sensitiveness towards light, shade and plant selection, which give life to these modern concrete masses. One can't pass by this city without realising that had the artist not taken his pencil and shaped the grid the way he did, India would not have seen a step ahead towards modern town planning architecture.
Meetali Gupta USAP,GGSIPU,DELHI NOTE: ALL PICTURES ARE SELF CLICKED REFERENCES: LECORBUSIER (BOOK) ARTICLE- "BEYOND THE CORBUSIAN CULT " BY VINAYAK BHARNE