Module – III
Architecture in post Independent India; Works of Foreign Architects
in India and their influence –
Le Corbusier (Palace of Assembly, Chandigarh),
Louis Khan (Eg; IIM, Ahmedabad),
Joseph Stein (Eg; India Habitat Centre, New Delhi).
Reinterpreting the Indian Vernacular; Works of Indian Architects –
Charles Correa (Eg; Gandhi Ashram, Ahmedabad),
B.V. Doshi (IIM, Bangalore),
A.P. Kanvinde (IIT, Kanpur),
Raj Rewal (CIDCO housing, Mumbai)
Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret ,1887 –1965)
Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer
One of the pioneers of modern architecture.
Prepared the master plan for the city of Chandigarh in India, and contributed specific
designs for several buildings there.
Seventeen projects by Le Corbusier in seven countries were inscribed in the list of
UNESCO World Heritage sites as "an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern
Movement".
Five Points of a New Architecture:
Pilotis – Replacement of supporting walls by a grid of reinforced concrete columns
The free designing of the ground plan—the absence of supporting walls.
The free design of the façade—separating the exterior of the building from its structural
function—sets the façade free from structural constraints.
The horizontal window, which cuts the façade along its entire length
Roof gardens on a flat roof
Other ideas
Architectural Promenade
Radiant City
Modulor ( anthropometric scale of proportions)
Design of Chandigarh
Le Corbusier’s largest and most ambitious project
Capital city of the Haryana & Punjab State of India
Le Corbusier was contacted in 1950 by Prime Minister Nehru of India, and invited to
propose a project.
Corbusier worked on the plan with two British specialists in urban design and tropical
climate architecture, Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, and with his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret,
who moved to India and supervised the construction until his death
Chandigarh Capitol Complex
Located in the sector-1 of Chandigarh
Government compound designed by the architect Le Corbusier
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It is spread over an area of around 100 acres and is a prime manifestation of Chandigarh's
architecture.
It comprises three buildings, three monuments and a lake
Palace of Assembly or Legislative Assembly
Secretariat
High Court
Open Hand Monument
Geometric Hill
Tower of Shadows
Total sectors : 30 (1st phase) + 17 (2nd phase)
Area: 114 km²
Population: 9.6 lakhs
Each sectors measures 800 metres by 1200 metres,
covering 250 acres of area.
Each Sector is surrounded by V-2 or V-3 roads, with no
buildings opening on to them.
Le Corbusier conceived the master plan of Chandigarh as analogous to human body
Head (the Capitol Complex, Sector 1),
Heart (the City Centre Sector-17),
Lungs ( the leisure valley, innumerable open spaces and sector greens),
The intellect (the cultural and educational institutions),
The circulatory system (the network of roads, the 7Vs)
Viscera (the Industrial Area).
The concept of the city is based on four major functions: living, working, care of the body and
spirit and circulation.
Residential sectors constitute the living part
The Capitol Complex, City Centre, Educational Zone (Post Graduate Institute, Punjab
Engineering College, Panjab University) and the Industrial Area constitute the working part.
The Leisure Valley, Gardens, Sector Greens and Open Courtyards etc. are for the care of body
and spirit.
The circulation system comprises of 7 different types of roads known as 7Vs.
Later on, a pathway for cyclists called V8 were added to this circulation system.
The High Court of Justice(1951-1956).
The building was radical in its design; a parallelogram topped with an inverted parasol.
Along the walls were high concrete grills 1.5 metres thick which served as sunshades.
The entry featured a monumental ramp and columns that allowed the air to circulate.
The pillars were originally white limestone, but in the 1960s they were repainted in bright
colors, which better resisted the weather.
Punjab and Haryana High Court or palace of Justice at the Capitol Complex
(Palace of Justice)
The Secretariat
Largest building that housed the government offices
constructed between 1952 and 1958.
It is an enormous block 250 metres long and eight levels high, served by a ramp which
extends from the ground to the top level
The ramp partly sculptural and partly practical; since there were no modern building
cranes, the ramp was the only way to get materials to the top of the construction site.
The Secretariat had two features which were borrowed from his design for the Unité
d'Habitation in Marseille; Concrete grill sunscreens over the windows, and a roof
terrace.
Secretariat building, part of the Capitol Complex
Palace of Assembly (1952–61)
Faced the High Court at the other end of a five hundred meter esplanade, and faces a
large reflecting pool.
This building features a central courtyard, over which is the main meeting hall for the
Assembly.
On the roof on the rear of the building is a signature feature of Le Corbusier, a large
tower, similar in form to the smokestack of a ship or the ventilation tower of a heating
plant.
Le Corbusier added touches of colour and texture in the meeting hall and large gateway
decorated with enamel.
The Palace of Assembly
The Open Hand Monument 26 metres high.
The metal structure
with vanes is 14 metres
high & Weighs 50 tons
Designed to rotate in
the wind
The Shadow Tower, Capitol Complex. Le Corbusier constructed it in such a way that not a single
ray of sun enters it from any angle (specifically in summer). The north side of this tower remains
open because the sun never shines from this direction. Le Corbusier used the same principle for
other Capitol Complex buildings as well.
Geometric Hill
Entry gate to the
Palace of Assembly,
Capitol Complex
