Chandigarh was established as the new capital of the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana after partition. [1] Le Corbusier was commissioned to design the master plan for Chandigarh based on modernist planning principles. [2] He organized the city into sectors with open green spaces, prioritizing pedestrian mobility over vehicles. [3] Key features include the Capitol Complex with important buildings separated by plazas, and the city center in Sector 17.

1. CHANDIGARH
A “SYMBOLIC OF THE FREEDOM OF INDIA AND
AN EXPRESSION OF THE NATION’S FAITH IN
THE FUTURE.”
SUKHNEET KAUR SHIVANGANI JASHOJEET CHAKRABORTY GAURAV NARENDRA PARMANI ANKITHA VEEREPALLI AAKANSHA

2. INTRODUCTION: Building the new capital
Immediately following partition in 1947 and the ensuing communal violence, most Sikhs and
Punjabi Hindus who lived in Pakistan migrated to India.
The former British province of Punjab got split between India and Pakistan and the Indian state of
Punjab required a new capital city to replace the old capital Lahore, which became part of Pakistan.

3. It was decided by Pt. Nehru to build a city unfettered by the past. ‟A
symbolic of the freedom of India and an expression of the nation’s
faith in the future.”
A city which would symbolise absolute freedom.

4. The first masterplan
for the new capital
was assigned to
American engineer
and planner Albert
Mayer, who was a
friend of Clarence
Stein of Radburn
fame in New Jersey
He worked on the
masterplan with his
closest assistant,
Matthew Nowicki,
until the latter died in
a plane crash in
1950. His duties were
to take the form of
architectural control
Le corbusier was
approached by
punjab
government
and the prime
minister of india
in
1951
Maxwell fry, jane
drew and pierre
jeanneret were
also involved in
the team of
architects

5. THE BIRTH OF CHANDIGARH: (TEAM 1) American Architects
Albert Mayer and Matthew Nowicki
The flatness of the site allowed almost complete freedom in
creating street layout and it is of interest to note that the overall
pattern deliberately avoided a geometric grid in favour of a loosely
curving system.

6. LE CORBUSIER & NEHRU
 By 1950, the project was almost ready to kick off when
Mayer's co-partner Matthew Nowicki passed away in an
unfortunate plane crash and most of the work at Chandigarh
came to stand still.
 Later, in the same year, Le Corbusier was invited to
complete the task. He tried to retain most of the original
master plan with minor modifications.
 The team involving Pierre Jeanneret, Maxwell Fry, Jane
Drew and Corbusier worked on the minutest details of
Chandigarh–housing, landscaping, public buildings, etc.

7. LOCATION
The site was selected around the small village of Chandi, in Ambala district, at the foot of the Shivalik range.
It fell between two seasonal rivers which formed the natural edges of the city

8. PLANNING CHANDIGARH
Le Corbusier produced a plan for Chandigarh that
conformed to the modern city planning principles of the
Congrès Internationald‘ Architecture Moderne (CIAM).
Corbusier changed the size of sector (superblock)
according to CIAM principle with walkable distances.
Capitol complex was the centre piece of architectural
composition, and is in the North of the city positioned at
the end of JanMarg.
Le Corbusier could then visit India twice a year for a
month at a time (he came to the site 22 times). Thus,
Jeanneret, together with Fry and Drew, as senior
architects working in India for a period of three years and
assisted by a team of 20 idealistic young Indian architects,
would detail the plan and Le Corbusier could concentrate
on major buildings.

9. CONCEPTION : THREE DISCIPLINES

10. DISCIPLINE OF MONEY
Considerations of economy dictated the choice of locally made brick as the
chief material for construction.
In addition, boulders and pebbles from the sandy river beds were used in
random patterns
Since the cost of wood work was 7times more than that of a wall, window
sizes were kept to a minimum.
Standardized designs for doors, windows, sanitary fittings, iron work and
especially precast roof battens were devised to save time and labour.

11. DISCIPLINE OF TECHNOLOGY
Government housing forming the bulk of the new construction.
The architects struggled with temperature and light angles and ultimately oriented most houses
north-west-south-east with sun breakers to cool the interiors and jalis to ventilate roof terraces
and verandahs at night.

12. DISCIPLINE OF CLIMATE
Shade

13. Notice the cross
ventilation that
becomes possible
because of the
horizontal openings in
the building
envelope.
AIR

14. Notice the
Openings in the
building envelope
to improve
crossing
air movement

15. Notice the Open
spaces
surrounding the
building with
vegetation and
water
Hydraulics

17. Master plan
•The Master Plan of UT Chandigarh covers an area of approximately 114 sq. km. This includes the nearly fully
developed 70 sq. km of the area planned by Le Corbusier and his team and the 44 sq. km of its 3% share of the 16
km periphery controlled area.
•Chandigarh has witnessed unprecedented growth and has
further momentum for growth which has to be channelized
systematically in order to enable the city to sustain itself within
the constraints.
•Chandigarh planning was done in grid and iron method and in
such a way that everything was everything was clear about
routed and sector.
• According to the 2011 census, Chandigarh population
is10,55,450 people. The density of population is 9252
persons per square kilometre.

18. The city plan was conceived as post war ‘Garden City’
wherein vertical and high rise buildings were ruled out,
keeping in view the living habits of the people.Le Corbusier
conceived the master plan of Chandigarh as analogous
to human body, with a clearly defined.
Head (the Capitol Complex, Sector 1),
Heart (the City Centre Sector-17),
Lungs (the leisure valley, innumerable open spaces and
sector greens), Intellect (the cultural
and educational institutions),
Circulatory system (the network of roads, the 7Vs) and
Viscera (the Industrial Area).
BASIC PLANNING CONCEPTS

19. •The primary module of city’s design is a Sector, a
neighbourhood unit of size 800 meters x 1200 meters.
• Each SECTOR is a self-sufficient unit having
shops, school, health centers and places of
recreations and worship.
•The population of a sector varies between 3000
and 2000 depending upon the sizes of plots and
the topography of the area.

20. The urban form of Chandigarh derives from the well-ordered matrix of the generic
‘neighborhood unit’ – the sector – and the hierarchical circulation pattern resulting from Le
Corbusier’s theory of the 7Vs (les sept voies).
THE SECTOR
In its first phase Chandigarh was organized in
30sectors. The sector was conceived as an
autonomous unit including housing as well as all
service needed for everyday life: schools, artisans,
shops, leisure.

21. THE CITY LANDSCAPE PLAN OF THE FIRST PHASES, SHOWING THE LEISURE
VALLEY & THE SWATHS OF GREEN SPACES THAT ALSO ACT AS FLOOD CONTROL

24. Growth of the city

27. PLAN

30. CAPITOL
COMPLEX

32. CAPITOL
COMPLEX

33. 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 GRAET CROSS AXIS.
THE CAPITAL COMPLEX, LOCATED IN SECTOR 1, COMPRISES 3 ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECES:
THE“SECRETARIAT",
THE"HIGHCOURT"
THE"LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY",SEPARATED BY LARGE PIAZZAS.
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
IN THE HEART OF THE CAPITAL COMPLEX STANDS THE GIANT METALLIC SCULPTURE OF“THE OPEN HAND”
SIGNIFYING THE CITY 'SCREDOOF“ OPEN TO GIVE AND OPEN TO RECEIVE

34. THE SECRETARIAT
The Secretariat, 254 meters long and 42 meters high,
houses the ministerial chambers and all ministerial
agencies.
Each ministry is separated from the next by a vertical
expansion joint extending the full height of the
building.
The exterior is of concrete, the vertical brise-soleil,
the parapets and the horizontal brise-soleil, the
acroterium which stands out against the sky.

35. THE SECRETARIAT

36. THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
The Parliament or Legislative Assembly was designed as a large box with the entrance portico on
one side, concrete piers on the other, and a repetitive pattern on the façade.
Sculptural forms on the roof, a dramatic, funnel ‟top light over the Assembly, and a tilted pyramid
over the Senate chambers completed the composition.

37. THE HIGH COURT
The exterior polychromy is enlivened on the principal façade,
not only by the brise-soleil of the Courts of Justice but also the
three pylons of the granden trance portico, painted green,
yellow and in red-orange.

39. OPEN
HAND

40. The city centre
• The city centre (Sector17) is the
heart of Chandigarh's activities.
• It comprises the Inter-State Bus
Terminus, Parade Ground, District
Courts, etc. On one hand, and vast
business and shopping centre on
the other.
• There are huge parking areas for
The Commercial Zones So that the
Parking Problems don't create a
havoc on the main roads.

41. ROSE GARDEN
Zakir Hussain rose garden Asia's largest Rose garden and separated over 30
acres of land having 1600 different species of rose.

42. ROCK GARDEN
Sculputre garden and it is spreaded over 40 acres.It consist of man made
interlinked waterfalls and suclpute made up of scrap and waste like bottle glass
bangles etc which are placed in walled paths.

43. An Overview
The original plan of the city was based on
the gridiron defined by a system of seven
types of roads, which was called the 7Vs.
The system was designed to provide safe
mobility to children and pedestrians
within and between the sectors, while also
permitting the benefits of fast movement
for vehicular traffic.

44. ROAD NETWORK OF 7VS WITHIN THE CITY
These sectors are linked by a network of streets
called the 7Vs. The "Vs" are hierarchically
organized routes according to the intensity of
vehicular traffic they support. Thus,
◦ V1 are roads
◦ V2 are special services
◦ V3 are high-speed roads that cross the city
◦ V4 lead to local equipment
◦ V5 roads are neighbourhood
◦ V6, home gateways
◦ V7 the walkways
◦ V8, added later cycle (Le Corbusier joked: "the
7Vs which are in fact 8).

45. Circulation
Network
&
Transportation
Nodes

46. REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY OF THE CITY
The city has good connectivity with
the other surrounding region.
◦ by road
◦ rail and
◦ air.

47. Road connectivity
•Chandigarh is well connected with the national capital by NH-21 which passes through the city.
•The four laning of the highway and the construction of a number of flyovers and bypasses has made it
a fast travel corridor reducing travel time considerably.
•The city is also well connected to the major towns in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh by road.
•The recent up gradation of the National Highway – leading to Shimla and the construction of a bypass
around the towns of Pinjore and Kalka have removed the major traffic bottleneck in the road to
Shimla .
•The Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) in Sector 17 was the main ISBT for a number of decades till the
recent construction of the ISBT in Sector 43.
• The new ISBT provides Interstate bus connectivity on all routes except for a few long route buses
plying from ISBT Sector-17.
• The ISBT in Sector 17 will eventually be used as a local bus terminus.

48. AIR CONNECTIVITY
Located on the south eastern corner of the city and built in the
fifties, Chandigarh’s airport remains under the Ministry of
Defence but also serves as a domestic airport. Over the years,
direct flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Jammu, Srinagar, Jaipur, Leh and
Bengaluru have been introduced with a daily footfall of around
2,000 passengers at the local airport. The proposal to start
international flights has been under active consideration for
some time.
A new, fully air-conditioned terminal building, equipped with
modern facilities, has been built recently with a capacity to
accommodate 500 passengers at a time.
 Chandigarh’s airport today is among the best airports in the
country in the category of B class cities.
The airport is in the process of being further upgraded as an
international airport as a joint venture of Punjab, Haryana and
the Airport Authority of India on 300 acres of land in Punjab.

49. RAILWAY CONNECTIVITY
The rail connectivity to the city is through twin track railway lines from
Delhi and Mumbai upto Ambala , a single track broad gauge thereafter upto
Kalka and a narrow-gauge single track between Kalka and Shimla having
heritage value.
The recently built single track Chandigarh to Morinda railway line provides
rail connectivity to Punjab.
Besides serving the city, Chandigarh‘s railway station located in the north-
eastern periphery of the city near the Industrial Area also serves the goods
and the passenger traffic of the neighbouring region including the towns of
Panchkula and Mohali.
Direct access to the railway station from the Panchkula side has been
facilitated.
With the increase in the frequency and number of trains together with
faster speed and greater comfort, rail has become an important mode of
transport.

50. Traffic composition on roads indicates a very high share of two wheelers on most roads. The
share of cars is also growing. On some of the roads, the share of two wheelers and cars in total
traffic is more than 80% indicating inadequacy of the public transport system.
The household travel surveys indicate high ownership of cars and two wheelers. 86% of
households own at least one car or two wheeler.
At present, modal split in favour of public transport is only 16% of total motorised person
trips which is much lower than that recommended in the National Urban Transport Policy. This
is due to the high growth rate in personalized motor vehicles, This low modal share is likely to
fall further unless an effective public transport system is put in place at the earliest.
The city has the highest car per capita of motorised vehicles in the country. There were more
than 6 lakh motor vehicles registered in Chandigarh in 2005. Two wheelers account for around
71.5% and cars/jeeps around 27% of the total vehicles registered.
PRESENT TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS AND PROBLEMS

51. PRESENT TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS AND PROBLEMS
Chandigarh’s road network is under intense pressure today
due to increase in population, explosive growth in the
number of private vehicles which has increased the number
of personalised vehicles, partly due to the absence of an
efficient and reliable public transport system.
New roads to provide / improve connectivity of the
developments in the peripheral areas generating criss-cross
movement across the city and increased inter sector
commuting.
The 7V and the sectoral concepts have not been followed
while urbanising the rural areas .

52. INTERVENTIONS / ADDITIONS MADE TO THE ROAD
NETWORK OF THE ORIGINAL PLAN
The Vertical V3s have
been extended up to the
interstate boundary to
carve out additional
sectors and connect with
the V3’s of Mohali which
have replicated and
synchronised the 7V
network of Chandigarh .