Contemporary architecture

2. About le Corbusier:
 Charles Edouard Jeanerette now popularly known as le Corbusier
 Born on 6th of October’ 1887 at la Chaux de fonds in Swissjura
mountains 4 kms from French border
 He started working under contractor Perret, le Corbusier’s so called
master
 He as a child prepared himself for a manual occupation
 He left his school at the age of 13½ yrs
 Joined an art school later

3. An introduction to Chandigarh:
 Since Punjab was divided into two parts, the capital was left in Pakistan
therefore Punjab in India required new capital
 Le Corbusier was approached by Punjab government and the prime
minister of India
 Chandigarh is a bold experiment in modern civic design
 Chandigarh has provoked fresh thinking and in fact shown new way of life
 Maxwell fry, Jane drew and Pierre Jeanerette were also involved in the
team of architects
 When le Corbusier assumed control of the Chandigarh project in 1951,
however the design of the city had already been devised by the New York
firm of Mayer, whittles, and glass who received a contract for the master
plan of Chandigarh in 1950

4. Master plan:
 In 1951 it was given to le Corbusier
 In Chandigarh le Corbusier system of self supporting neighbourhood unit known
as a sector has worked very well
 Sector which is introverted in character communicates only at 4 junctions with
the adjoining neighbourhood units
 All the houses open up inside
 Grid planning is done
 Chandigarh planning was done in an manner that everything was easily clear
about the routes and sectors
 7 v’s road system is used
 The roads are classified as v1 ,v2 ,v3………V7
 V1 connects Chandigarh to other cities

5. Plan of the city
 V2 are the major avenues of the city e.g. Madhya Marg etc.
 V3 are the corridors streets for vehicular traffic only
 V4…..v7 are the roads within the sectors
 Chandigarh has been planned on the scientific principles and to apprise the
coming generation of these principles
 The main feature of this edict are its-
 Human scale
 Self sufficient sectors
 Roads system
 Areas of special interest
 Architectural control

6. The sector
 Taking Chandigarh as an example, we may see at once the democratic idea
which allows us to devote an equal care to housing all classes of society to
seek new social groupings, new patterns of education and public welfare, and
made more possible by practical application of the scientific idea which
through industrialism, gives us such benefits as piped water, electricity and
cheap transport.
 Each sector is designated by number, the capital complex being number
1,with the remaining sectors numbered consecutively beginning at the north
corner of the city.
 At present there are 30 sectors in Chandigarh, of which 24 are residential.
 The sectors at the upper edge of the city are of abbreviated size.
 In all type of housing ,partly because of the glazing expense, partly to keep out
sun.

7. The sector
 As the most economical and readily available material for building at
Chandigarh was locally made brick.
 This became the material of construction.
 The flat roof was employed throughout in Chandigarh housing because of
its usefulness as a sleeping area
 70% of the building would be private in all the sectors.
 Residential lots ranging in dimensions from 75 sq. Yards to 5000 sq. yards.
 This is because the capitol complex is contained within the boundaries of
sector 3 extended to its full dimensions.

8. Government housing
 Le-Corbusier was responsible for the general outlines of the master plan
and the creation of the monumental buildings, while Pierre Jeanerette,
Maxwell fry and Jane drew were charged with the task of developing the
neighborhood sectors with their schools, shopping bazaars, and the tracts
of government housing.
 In the program presented to the architects,13 categories of houses were
specified, each corresponding to a level of government employment.
 Small windows openings have been consistently employed
 Chandigarh but is spread over an area of 114sq km including Manimajra
and Burail
 The birth of Chandigarh has not influenced only the north west region but
the whole country in the matters of architecture and urban planning
 Projects he handled were capitol complex, housing, museum, city plaza
etc

9. The capitol complex
 The area of the greatest symbolic significance in Chandigarh was the
capitol complex , which in its final form was based on the design of
a grate cross axis
 The most important group of the buildings constituting the capitol- right, the
parliament, left, in the background, the secretariat
 In the foreground, the pool of the palace of justice
 The artificial hills in the front of the secretariat have not been created and
laid out in accordance with Corbusier’s conceptions
 Although the scene is harmonious in effect, there are still missing the
buildings that belong here ,such as , for instance, the towers of shadows

10. Site plan Secretariat:
 Here the secretariat building is treated as a horizontal platform like the plain
of Chandigarh itself, carrying on its roof the provincial assembly hall rising in
a parabolic arch, a form echoing the distant hills
 As a response to the sun, the capitol complex can be interpreted as an
interlaced array of sun breakers
 Inspiration from unite
 It lies in the foot of shivalik hills just next to artificial lake
 Governor’s palace was supposed to be in the site but the idea was
abandoned
 The capitol area was designed as the great pedestrian plaza with motor
traffic separated into sunken trenches leading to parking areas
 Although the site is very big, it is not designed with allowance for expansion

11. The secretariat:
 The first design for the secretariat presents the building as a tall thin slab carrying
a surface braise solei divided by a central horizontal band
 The design which was accepted established the building form as a long
,horizontal concrete
 slab
 The secretariat, the longest building in Chandigarh, 254m long, and 42m high
forms the administrative center, with ministerial offices grouped in the center
and offices for employees arranged on either side
 The building was completed in 1958
 The building is composed of six eight storey blocks separated by expansion
joints
 The central pavilion, block 4, contains the offices of the ministers
 The rough concrete again interposes in the fenestration of the two main
facades ; more than 2000 units of unique design
 Approach to the building is through roadways below ground level to a large
parking area in front of the central block, and a floor is left open at this level to
form an entrance hall

12. The secretariat:
 Block 1 and 2 rises directly from the ground
 Block 3,4 and part of 5 face on the excavated area of the parking lot
and have the lower storey open between pilotis
 For the rest part of block 5 and whole of 6 the level goes till plaza height,
and lower portion of these blocks are left open to a height of two
storyes
 The top of the building is developed as a roof garden containing the
service blocks and cafeteria for employees
 The plastic emphasis is given to the building by free standing exterior
ramps enclosed in rough concrete walls
 For supplementary communication within the building , each of six
blocks is equipped with interior stairways and limited elevator service
 Horizontal circulation is by means of a central corridors
 For minister’s block the bay size is increased and the column is
thickened

13. The high court
 The high court formed a part as “ a great architectural venture using very
poor materials and a labor force quite unused to modern building
techniques
 An entire structure has resulted in the use of double roof
 The upper roof cantilevered out of the office block in the manner of
parasol shading the lower roof
 The space between the two roofs is left open to enable currents of air to
move between the flat roof of the office block and the underside of the
parasol roof which slopes towards center in the form of rows of arches
 In the plan the building took the form of abbreviated l – shaped with long
façade facing the capitol plaza to contain court rooms
 The building is a rectilinear frame within which the interior functions are
defined

14. The high court
 The eight court rooms are identically expressed on the main façade and separated
from the larger high court by a monumental columned entrance rising the height of
the building
 Building rises directly from the earth
 The main façade is defined by a full height concrete brise soleil
 The arch form is restricted to the underside of the parasol roof
 It is the visual drama of the piers rising sixty feet from the ground to meet the
heavy outward thrust of the roof which creates the focal emphasis of the present
plan
 On the main façade the deep fixed concrete brise soleil gives a strong and scale
less pattern to the building
 It is the concrete screen which gives the main façade its overall unity

15. The high court
 Behind the brise soleil , the windows of the court rooms are of fixed glass, but
between are narrow vertical spaces containing shutters which open and close on
hinges
 It is noted that the orientation of the high court is such that the main façade faces
north west , and this does not receive direct sunlight
 The rough concrete of the building is treated in variety of manners for much of the
surface including the underside of the parasol roof and the exterior side walls , the
mass of sheet metal characterize the surface
 In portions of the interior and on the ramps , wooden boards have been inserted
within the metal forms to give the concrete surface the impress of their jointed
pattern, while other surfaces, including those of massive entrance piers are
finished with gunnite cement

16. Architectural features:
 Parasol roof
 Forming arches
 Double roof
 Gap left between
 Two roofs
 Colored massive pillars
 Full height entrance
 Double roof
 Approached through roads
 Rough concrete finished ramp
 The entrance lobby is paved with whitish flag stone set in the rows of
varying widths
 New scheme for painting the columns and portico walls in bright
contrasting colors

17. Architectural features:
 The inside wall to the left of the piers was to be black
 The adjacent pillar painted green
 The center pier would be yellow
 The right hand pillar is red
 And the remaining portico wall is primary blue
 The great entrance hall of the high court is also been found in lacking
protection during the monsoon season
 The narrow curving ramp at the end of the entrance hall, which forms the
main vertical circulation is exposed
 The horizontal circulation, consisting of open corridors on the rear facade ,is
also ineffectively sheltered

18. The assembly hall:
 The assembly was conceived as a rectilinear structure
 It is square in plan with a monumental portico facing the main plaza
 On the lateral facades both the portico and the office block would be defined by
solid end walls
 The large chamber is in hyperbolic form of the cooling tower with an average
thickness of 15 cm
 The small council chamber are in rectilinear frame
 The upper portion of the tower is extending above the roof line
 An assembly chamber is 128 ft in diameter at its base and rises to 124 ft at its highest
point
 This tower was designed to insure the natural light, ventilation and proper acoustics
 Of all buildings of the capitol complex , the assembly is the most intricate in plan
 Separate circulation accommodation of all groups is provided
 Employing a system of individual entrances, stairways, lifts and ramp a complete
segregation of members is provided
 There are two separate galleries for men and women in council chamber

19. Sector-17, Chandigarh:
 The city center consists of different squares tied together by broad avenues.
 At the present time, when this center is still devoid of any sort of vegetation, the
unshaded open areas can be quite unpleasant.
 This sector-17 is virtually uninhabited, but it is enlivened during the daytime by
the many shops, bazaars, restaurant, cafes, banks and department stores.
 There is doubt that at present the city center still looks like an experiment.
 The urban circulation here is in sharp contrast to the ‘oriental’ bazaar streets, the
narrow alleys full of noise and plunged in shadow.
 Of all the cities of India , only Chandigarh can claim to be an absolutely
modern town , ”untouched by the tradition of the past,” as Jawaharlal Nehru so
aptly remarked .
 The execution of the buildings for the city centre was assigned to different
architects. Pierre jeanneret conscientiously supervised and organized the
schemes determined by le Corbusier.
 The plans can vary as required, but must respect a sufficiently large open
surface along the facades as anti-glare protection.

20. Sukhna lake, Chandigarh
 The club house- north of the capitol no additional structures were to be
erected, in order not to impede the view of the Himalaya.
 This was an express condition laid down by le Corbusier.
 The club house was however necessity.
 Le Corbusier designed a complex lying 3 meters beneath road level, so that
the house is scarcely visible from the promenade.
 The causeway- Chandigarh is surrounded by the rivers Patiali and Manimajra,
which carry water only during the monsoon season.
 The reinforced concrete construction is simple and plain, and its severe lines
harmonize entirely with the natural setting.
 At all other times of the year they are dry.
 During the hot months of may and June, enormous amounts of dust used to
blow into the city.

21. Sukhna lake, Chandigarh
 Trees and shrubs were planted as a protective zone along these rivers, so
that the city is now free of the inconvenience of this flying sand.
 One of these rivers has been dammed.
 In 1955 the water boulevard was extended in the shape of a causeway, or
dam, the retaining wall being more than
 20 meters high and 4 kilometers long.
 This dam, with its width on top of 24meters, thus yielded a promenade.
 The artificial lake created behind the dam has modified the climate of the
city.

22. Bibliography
 https://thearchiblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/contemporary-
architecture-of-india-chandigarh-city-planning-le-corbusier/
GOVIND M SUTHAR
B.ARCH VI SEMESTER
ASAP AUR
Ar. GARIMA SINGH
SUBBMITED TO: SUBBMITED BY: