Le corbusier

TENTATIVE LIST SUBMISSION

Urban & Architectural Work of

Le Corbusier in Chandigarh

Department of Tourism, Chandigarh Administration Chandigarh, INDIA

TENTATIVE LIST SUBMISSION

STATE PARTY:

INDIA

DATE OF SUBMISSION: October 2006

NAME OF PROPERTY: Urban & Architectural Work of Le Corbusier in Chandigarh STATE, PROVINCE OR REGION: Union Territory of Chandigarh LATITUDE ANDLONGITUDE: 30o 44’ 25" N., 76o 48’ 30"E Submission prepared by
Name: Address: Kiran Joshi Professional: Professor, Chd. College of Architecture, Sector 12, Chandigarh 160012, India Home: House No. 403, Sector 35-A, Chandigarh 160022, India Department of Tourism, Chandigarh Administration, Deluxe Bldg, Sector 9-D Chandigarh 160010, India E-mail: Fax: Telephone: kiranjoshi2020@yahoo.comProfessional: 0091-172-2746260 Professional: 0091-172-2745531, Home: 0091-172-2605098

Institution:

Web: E-mail: Fax: Telephone:

chandigarhtourism.gov.in dtour@chd.nic.in 0091-172- 2741620 0091-172- 2741329

Signature on behalf of State Party
Full Name: Title: Mr. C. Babu Rajeev Director General and Additional Secretary, Archaeological Survey of India, Ministry of Culture, Government of India,Janpath, New Delhi 110011, India

Date:

Signature:
Tentative List Submission -- “Urban & Architectural Work of Le Corbusier in Chandigarh” -2-

Description
Location
The city of Chandigarh is situated at the base of the Shiwalik Range of the Himalayas, at 333m above sea level, approximately 260 km northwest of India’s capital, New Delhi. The site is a gently sloping plain, with twoseasonal rivulets – Patiali-ki-Rao and Sukhna Choe – marking its northwest and southeast boundaries. The city forms the urban core of the “Union Territory of Chandigarh”, which has a total area of 114 sq km. All of the urban and architectural work of Le Corbusier listed in this document is located within Chandigarh’s “Phase One”, an area of approximately 70 sq. km. which can be regarded as the city’s“Historic Core.” HARYANA

PUNJAB

HARYANA
Patiali-ki-Rao Sukhna Choe

The Union Territory of Chandigarh
(Map courtsey Survey of India, surveyed 1978-79)

PUNJAB

Phase One

View of Shiwaliks towards the North-east

Chandigarh’s “Historic Core”

Tentative List Submission -- “Urban & Architectural Work of Le Corbusier in Chandigarh” -4 -

Description
Historical Background
The ideaof building Chandigarh was conceived soon after India’s independence in 1947, when the tragedy and chaos of Partition, and the loss of its historic capital Lahore, had crippled the state of Punjab. A new city was needed to house innumerable refugees and to provide an administrative seat for the newly formed government of re-defined Punjab. Beginning in early 1951, most of Phase One had beencompleted by 1965. Unlike the 14 other contemporaneous new Indian towns, Chandigarh was regarded as a unique symbol of the progressive aspirations of the new republic and the ideology of its struggle for independence. It was accordingly modeled as a city of prestige, as an aesthetic ideal, and, above all, as a social utopia. In the process, it became the first post-colonial city in India to provide agenerous cultural and social infrastructure and equitable opportunities for a dignified, healthy living even to the “poorest of the poor”. The near vacuum of indigenous expertise needed to realize this dream prompted the search for Western skill. Yet, conscious of the specificities of their situation, the search was narrowed to “…a good modern architect who was not severely bound by an establishedstyle and who would be capable of developing a new conception originating from the exigencies of the project itself and suited to the Indian climate, available materials and the functions of the new capital.”
1. Le Corbusier and his associate, Pierre Jeanneret, on the site in Chandigarh. Le Corbusier with Pandit Nehru on the latter’s visit to Chandigarh in April 1952

2.

The Chandigarh...