Chandigarh-planned city for cultural crisis ?

Ref.: 280
Área temática: 04 Abstracts donde los autores no han indicado el área temática.
Fecha de recepción: 04/11/2008

AUTORES (* Autor principal)

MALIK, Bipin * (India) - INDO GLOBAL COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE

ABSTRACT

When Swiss born French architect Le Corbusier arrived in India in 1951, country was just breathing after 400 years of British Rule. People born in free India were still infants while grown up had tested the colors of invaders and were torn between cultural impacts of new masters as well centuries old traditions of past. Le Corbusier wanted to give Indians a "city free from past traditions". He already had written enough and now also had an excuse to design something for "Modern India". Taking clues from the already designed city plan of Albert Mayer, an American .Le Corbusier finished the shape of the city in mere 15 days sitting in rest house near historic gardens of 17th century pinjore gardens. He infect suggested to bewilder Indians that their city can be planned from his Paris office. But he had to agree to be in India at least for 8 weeks in a year.
Now acclaimed a Modern City even seeking UNESCO status of heritage by being put-on it'stentative list, initially had no respect for its contextual relation with the" way of life" forwhom it was required to be built by the master architect. In fact le Corbusier was busy from 1951 to 1958 in designing and building his own glory in the" Capitol Complex" a group of buildings consisting of secretariat, high court building assembly building, governor's palace, symbolic Open hand all joined with fancy valley's of "contemplation and reflections". A visual dramatic foreign vocabulary of architectural expression had no relation to the cultural, social, and aesthetic values of locals, yet people converged to this new" Mecca "of Modern movement in architectural world. city which was planned for "orderly" 500,00 has increased to 1.2 millions and further is surrounded by" Chandigarh urban complex "which further adds to almost 5 times to what it was initially designed. To worsen the situations is numerous followers in India LC left who make hue and cry even when one talks of introducing something new which otherwise situation and need of people demand. City is to be frozen to keep the legacy of LE CORBUSIER
Paper will analyze the concept development for the city based on the ignorance of Le Corbusier about keepingwhich will be brought contextual borders of Indian way of life out by analyzing minds of turbulent society burdened with partition of country and what a new foreign architectural expression in terms of city Chandigarh gave them in the guise of "freedom from past ".A boxed city, sometimes referred as Nice sanatorium needs actual assessment of new and old architectural impacts affecting life socially, culturally.

BIBLIOGRAFÍA