Chandigarh Ahmedabad – Le Corbusier - Vereniging van ...

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horizontal connection between contiguous sectors, but not within the sector interiors. [ Evenson, Norma, 1966 ] Architecture Control A defining characteristic of Chandigarh architecture is the use of building materials as they are -- brick, concrete and steel are in no way disguised. An elaborate system of controls governs construction activity and provides for a basic framework within which the architectural character of the city's built environs emerges. HOUSING Lower category residential buildings are governed by a mechanism known as "frame control" to control their facades. This fixes the building line and height and the use of building materials. Certain standard sizes of doors and windows are specified and all the gates and boundary walls must conform to standard design.This particularly applies to houses built on small plots of 250 square metres or less. All these houses are built on a terrace pattern and while they are allowed a certain individual character, the idea is to ensure that the view from the street, which belongs to the community, is one of order and discipline. Individuals are given the freedom to create the interiors to suit their requirements for dwelling, working, relaxing. All buildings along the major axes of the city are brought under architectural control. A person building a house in Chandigarh must employ a qualified architect and the design is submitted to the Chief Architect for approval. Particular scrutiny was applied to residential buildings constructed along Uttar Marg (the northernmost avenue of the city at the very foot of the mountains), those abutting on Leisure Valley and along certain V-3 roads. COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS All buildings located in the City Centre and commercial or institutional buildings located along V-2 roads are subjected to controls. The system of the City Centre is based on a grid of columns, fixed 5.26 meters shuttering pattern on concrete and a system of glazing or screen walls behind the line of columns. The interior planning is left to the owners, and in the exterior, certain variations are permitted to give variety to the architectural composition. Along the V-2 roads, other types of treatments have been evolved for facades. All commercial buildings and all buildings constructed along the V-4 roads in other sectors are also under strict control. For shops, complete designs have been provided from the inception of the city. SCHEMATIC DESIGN CONTROL In cases where special types of buildings occur in the architectural control areas, a schematic design is prepared on the basis of which the developer prepares the final designs in consultation with the Chief Architect. This has been so far applied to the design of cinema theatres in the City Centre and to petrol stations. Aditya Prakash, one of the architects who worked with Le Corbusier, observes: "It has always been realised that Chandigarh must be well planned both in the private as well as in the public sector. From the very beginning, all the commercial buildings of Chandigarh are under architectural control, but private housing by and large had been left to its fate (of course, under the normal bye-laws and zoning) hoping that good taste engendered by the government buildings will prevail and good architects will settle in Chandigarh and fulfil the needs of private builders. [Now, many years later] Having introduced so many controls, the process is still continuing. The existing controls are being refined or new controls introduced. In all these controls, whereas restrictions are imposed on things which are generally unsightly, provision is always made to permit a good architect to use his skill to provide the otherwise prohibited things on the exterior so that they enhance the aesthetic appeal of the building or at any rate do not mar its beauty." Functional distributions and placement of different activities within the city was based on human analogy so as to enable the city to function as an organic entity. The industrial area was placed on the southeast to eliminate entry of heavy traffic into the city. A 150 meters belt of trees thickly planted with trees provided an organic seal around residential sectors to eliminate noise and industrial pollution Along with the Periphery Control Act and the Tree Protection Act, the more obtrusive types of signboards and advertisements were banned. These three measures were intended to check environmental and visual 19 / 27
pollution and thereby protect the city's character and safeguard its quality of life. After Le Corbusier DEVELOPMENT PATTERN Out of the Union Territory's 114 square kilometers, 75 square kilometers constitute the Capital Project area. When Corbusier designed the project he thought that the maximum population would be approximately five lakh. The Capital Project was developed in three phases. Sectors 1 to 30 were developed in the first phase; within this area one finds the Secretariat, the High Court, the Assembly, the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, the Punjab University, offices of the Chandigarh Administration, many colleges and schools, hospitals and dispensaries, the city's main commercial area and many other smaller markets, residential neighborhoods, playing fields and stadiums and large public gardens. The first phase was developed with a relatively small population in mind. Residential plots in this phase are of various sizes -- the smallest is 250 square meters while larger plots measure 8,000 square meters. In some sectors one finds even larger plots. Sectors 31 to 47 make up Phase II. While many important offices and institutions, including the Chandigarh Medical College and hospital, have been located in this sector, the complexion of this part of the city is overwhelmingly residential. These sectors have a greater density of population and many multi-storey apartment complexes catering to different income groups. Most of these complexes have been constructed by the Chandigarh Housing Board. No plot in Phase II measures more than 1,000 square meters; the majority are 500 square meters. Chandigarh's third phase is still on the drawing board. Planners are in favour of using these remaining sectors exclusively for high-rise apartment complexes. So far, neither the Administration nor the Municipal Corporation has sought to raise revenue in the form of property tax but as the demands on city infrastructure grow such a step may have to be introduced. The city's requirement by way of water and electricity, maintenance of roads and parks and other civic amenities grows with each passing year and providing all these things costs money. Every city translates class stratification into geography. Le Corbusier recognised this and his plan shows how he deliberately worked with it. The most desirable building sites were those on the northern edge of the city, nearest the Capitol Complex and commanding the finest view of the mountains. It was here that the houses of ministers and High Court judges were located and the largest private plots were laid out. Provision was made occasionally in these areas for the inclusion of servant-class villages in order to enable these people to reside near their employers. There was also some attempt to mix income levels in order to avoid too rigid a stratification. By and large, however, the economic class of a neighborhood was determined by its distance from the northern edge of the city, giving the city a hierarchic pattern and also compelling the poorest government servant employees to travel the longest distance to work each day and that too with built-in eyestrain since he has the sun in his eyes when he a travels northward to his office in the morning and he has the sun in his eyes again when he travels southward to his home in the evening. SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS & VILLAGES As a city, Chandigarh has been a remarkable success story, providing a high quality of life to its citizens and it has grown very rapidly. These two factors have combined to attract not only middle and upper class families but also workmen, skilled and unskilled, and petty tradesmen from more economically depressed areas of the country. To them, Chandigarh represents employment. Their labour has literally built the city and they provide all manner of services to the more affluent citizens. Unfortunately, with their tiny incomes, they have little option but to create their own "housing" -- squatting on vacant lands and erecting makeshift shacks of mud and thatch, using their ingenuity to get water and electricity. Unfortunately, their self-reliance and inventiveness is outside the law and the insanitary and haphazard conditions of their life are in stark contrast to the planned character of the city as well as 20 / 27
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Page 15 and 16: a grid system of beams and columns.
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Page 19: etained in the city's green belts.
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Chandigarh Ahmedabad – Le Corbusier - Vereniging van ...

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