modern architecture 5_chandigarh

Jordan University of Science and TechnologyCollege of Architecture and Design / Department of Architecture Arch. 331 Modern Architecture

Instructor: Dr. Raed Al Tal Summer 2012

The City of Chandigarh

"The Functional City," which broadened CIAM's scope from architecture into urban planning

Based on an analysis of thirty-three cities, CIAM proposed that the social problems faced by cities could be resolved by strict functional segregation, and the distribution of the population into tall apartment blocks at widely spaced intervals.

These proceedings went unpublished from 1933 until 1942, when Le Corbusier, acting alone, published them in heavily edited form as the "Athens Charter."

At the time, the CIAM charter was designed to free cities of the post-Industrial Revolution overcrowding

and inhuman conditions which had characterised many European and American cities of the late 18th

and early 19th centuries. 

The CIAM city called for:

1- ample space, 2- light and green areas,

3- and stressed on the need to lead a dignified human existence. 

*the cities that appeared after este3mar, wanted to establish their own architectural identity (national identity).

The City of Chandigarh

Chandigarh was planned by Le Corbusier With the help of his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, and that of the English couple Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew as a CIAM (Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne) city.

It was built in 1953 and serves as the capital of two states, i.e. Punjab and Haryana

In brief, the CIAM city divided human functions into work, living, ciruclation and leisure, and the city in its strict zoning of functions was to reflect this division of human life into cycles.

*chantey cities – people’s density – lots of people living on the same spot – anti hygieneChandigarh is important because it reflected CIAM’s principles.It was an empty piece of landWhen this kind of cities was built, people either accepted or rejected living in them – segregation, separation, displacement.

Chandigarh responded well to the needs of a new capital city of modern India and dovetailed neatly with the founding principles liberty and equality of

the new republic.Called The City Beautiful serves as a capital of two states

Chandigarh answered to two agendas:

CIAM on the one hand

and the new India on the other, and was supposed to represent the best of both. 

Designed for a population of 500,000, Chandigarh today is the cultural, commercial, administrative and educational centre of north India, second in importance only after Delhi. 

*new world – post independence – reflects modernity, equality, liberty.*public spaces reduced social hierarchy (tabaqeye)

over-scaled spaces

Corbusier divided the city into units called "sectors", each representing a theoretically self-sufficient entity with space for living, working and leisure

The sectors were linked to each other by a road and path network developed along the line of the 7 Vs, or a hierarchy of seven types of circulation patterns. At the highest point in this network was the V1, the highways connecting the city to others, and at the lowest were the V7s, the streets leading to individual houses. Later a V8 was added: cycle and pedestrian paths.

*V1 – highway, outside the city, connects two cities.V2 – ring road around the cityV3 – main streets, throughwaysV7 – neighborhood streets, next to houses & parkingV8 – for bicycles – Lucio Costa Divided into blocks – grid Iron system, regularity, setbacks

The Open Hand Chandigarh’s Emblem"Open to give, open to receive".

*Le Corbusier designed every part of the city even the sculptures.He mixed modern with traditional design, he mixed his designs with historical heritage to give india their national identity.

Palace of Assembly, Chandigarh, India.

Legislative Assembly building

*water surfaces existed in the indian / hindu mythology – many of their buildings were floating over waterThe arches were taken from bulls.

Palace of Justice, Chandigarh

CAT BUILDING, CHANDIGARH

high court, chandigarh