Le Corbusier, with the Plan for Chandigarh

An article by Himanshu Burte, New Delhi. Source: http://urbanarchitecture.in/

The first early example of what we can call a “rational” city, Chandigarh can be either loved or hated. In the first of a series of articles on architecture and architects that have, for better or worse, influenced the way Indian cities look and behave, Himanshu Burte critically examines Corbusier’s Chandigarh

Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (1887-1965) was not trained to be an architect. But as Le Corbusier he became perhaps the most influential architect of the 20th century. An early and forceful proponent of a new approach to architecture in the 1920s called “modernism”, the Swiss born French architect famously said, “A house is a machine for living in.” By the mid-20th century, modernism had become the dominant way of building worldwide, including India. Rare in his command of a new rationality, technology and poetry in architecture, Corbusier invented a language of the industrial age. Before modernism, architectural imagination in the West was dominated by centuries-old Greek, Roman and other historic styles of building. Lutyens’ New Delhi, built during the period 1911-29 (the early years of modernism), is a good example of prevalent architectural thinking that modernism attacked.

Chandigarh, which Corbusier planned and designed in the 1950s, epitomised his belief that architecture and urban planning must have a rational problem-solving approach. At the same time, he sought meaning and monumentality through the honest expression of the construction material itself. Though modernist architecture was not new to India when Corbusier made his first visit, his work in Chandigarh and Ahmedabad was to greatly influence Indian architecture.

More …

“Only after the last tree
has been cut down
Only after the last river
has been poisoned
Only after the last fish
has been caught
Only then will you find
that money cannot
be eaten.”

Cree Native American Prophecy

Web-links for Architecture, Planning and Urban Design: 

1. Project for Public Places: A useful website for international case studies of successful (and unsuccessful) public places: <a http://www.pps.org
2. Planetizen: A daily updated resource for articles on urban planning and urban design. Mostly US-centric, but has news items from around the world as well: http://www.planetizen.com 
3. Architecture Week: A weekly e-magazine on architecture and design: http://www.architectureweek.com
4. Architectural Record: A web edition of the Architectural Record Magazine, the official monthly publication of the American Institute of Architects. It is a good resource of recent international projects, products and firms. Has links to categorized case studies too: http://archrecord.construction.com/
5. Urban Land Institute: The web-site of the Urban Land Institute, a US-based non-profit organization. The web-site has interesting case studies, articles on real estate, development and urban planning. It is mostly US-centric, but can be useful as a reference: http://www.uli.org/
6. Architect: The online edition of architect Magazine provides architecture news, market intelligence, business and technology solutions, continuing education, a building products database, and other architecture resources for the practicing architect: http://www.architectmagazine.com/
7. Architectural Review: The online edition of Architectural Review magazine. It has more emphasis on international projects and products: http://www.arplus.com/home.htm
8. Great Buildings Collection: This gateway to architecture around the world and across history documents a thousand buildings and hundreds of leading architects with photographic images and architectural drawings, integrated maps and timelines, 3D building models, commentaries, bibliographies, web links, and more, for famous designers and structures of all kinds: http://www.greatbuildings.com/
9. Council of Architecture, India: The official web-site for COA: http://www.coa.gov.in/
10. The Indian Institute of Architects: The official web-site for IIA: http://www.iia-india.org/
11. Arounder: AROUNDER gives travelers a vivid sense of what a city has to offer: historical cathedrals and works of art, museums featuring famous artists, local cafes and stores, breathtaking mountain-top views, quiet parks and gardens. Each issue contains a series of interesting panoramas giving you a full immersive view of the cities. Navigation is easy with Google maps of the city and surrounding area. Every issue also links to local merchants with virtual tours of hotels, restaurants, spas and stores.: http://www.arounder.com/
12. Harvard Design Magazine: The official publication of Harvard University Graduate school of Design (GSD).:http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/research/publications/hdm/current/index.html
13. Urban Design Group: Founded in 1978, the Urban Design Group is a campaigning membership organisation. It believes that urban design is not the job of any single profession. Making successful places depends on breaking down professional barriers and building collaborations between the people with the power to make things happen.: http://www.udg.org.uk/
14. Institute of Urban Designers India: Institute of Urban Designers – India (IUDI) as a national level association of urban design professionals, academicians and practitioners has come into being.: http://www.udesindia.org/
15. Urban Design Compendium: As a companion to the two Urban Design Compendium publications this site provides guidance on good urban design – summarising the principles of urban design, how they can be applied and the processes which lead to successful places. Chapters of the publications can be downloaded throughout and you can also download full copies of both publications.: http://www.urbandesigncompendium.co.uk/

Hiranandani Powai

A few weeks ago, on my way to Andheri, I visited Hirandani, Powai to grab a quick lunch. Having visited after a gap of many years, the place reminded me of “Santana Row” in San Jose (though the volumetric scale of the two developments is quite different). Santana Row is a private development outside Downtown San Jose. It has been developed as a vibrant, mixed-use development, of high-end residential, commercial, restaurants, stores, night-clubs and retail stores, complete with beautiful tree-lined streets and paved intersections and open spaces and kiosks.

It is giving the real Downtown a run for their money, catering to mostly high-end clientelle and the youth. Being privately developed, it is devoid of all the obvious urban design flaws that are prvalent in the “real Downtown”. But even with all the ‘prim and proper’ buildings and streets, Santana Row gives the feeling of a False City; a Film set.

Santana Row, San Jose, CA

For that matter, Hirandani Powai has done a better job, mainly because it is very well connected to the city, and remains a thorough-fare and not merely a destination. But the apparency of the “Instant City” is immediately manifest where the privately developed street meets the orignal city. The transition is very abrupt and sudden, revealing the pseudo-urbanism with a harsh blow to the sensitivity of the urban-scape.

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Switzerland’s vote to outlaw the construction of minarets is sparking charges of racism.

http://www.theweek.com/article/index/103555/Ban_Muslim_architecture

The use of the minaret in Muslim Architecture was for the following reasons:

(1) To serve as a high-point in the mosque for the priest to go up and deliver the call for prayer.

(2) To serve as a landmark and visual orientation. Since all of the houses and structures in Arabia and most cities were low height.

(3) To metaphorically proclaim that the earth (signified by the dome) is controlled by a much higher power, towards which all mankind should aspire.

(4) Using these elements repetitively establishes an architectural language that is uniform throughout the world; much like Islam, whose principles are uniform throughout the world, with local, cultural influences and nuances, evident architecturally through the various methods of dome and minaret construction and ornamentation.

For all practical purposes, the use of the minaret is obsolete, since the call for prayer is through microphones in today’s world. The minaret remains as the metaphorical design element in Muslim Architecture, whose importance in urban planning and architecture cannot be denied.

The reason for the ban on minarets is quite senseless, to say the least. A culture establishes itself through its architecture. The Swiss are trying to uproot a culture by destroying its architecture.

I condemn this decision as an architect, an urban designer, and as a thinking human.