Reflections

It is not a mere accident of history that Le Corbusier came to India about the same
time that Gandhiji left to us his few possessions filled with profound messages. But,
we had made our choice.
The modern movement of architecture in Europe, of which Le Corbusier was one of
the founders, was essentially a response to the new materials and technology of the
late 19 th century. Its intellectual underpinnings were rationality and functionality. But,
with Le Corbusier and later with Louis Kahn, the modern movement came to India in
a highly stylized form. It was heady wine for our nascent profession. While Europe
was busy rebuilding its war-ravaged cities and thousands of houses for the homeless,
we, in India, were set on a course, which kept a whole generation of architects
occupied, for almost three decades, with a form of architecture, which neither gave
expression to our cultural heritage nor to the aspirations of our people.
It is no wonder then, that most of the contemporary works of architecture in the
exhibition are described in architectural terms: 'expression of purist spatial order', 'a
bold expression of cubist aesthetics', 'a bold statement of urban form' etc. They are
seldom described in terms of people and places. One is tempted to call this a period of
architectural colonization and what a paradox of history that it began when we had just
got our political independence.
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