I am not a fan of Le Corbusier, and much less of his 'originality'. Here are a few issues that I am uncomfortable with.
Ignoring local conditions:
Incidentetally Correa's profile picture of that time shows him donning Le Corbusier style round spectacles!
Dull, drab repititive houses:
To me the identical houses in Chandigarh look like the mass constructed flats in the erstwhile Soviet Bloc East European countries.
Copied Open Hand Design:
To me the identical houses in Chandigarh look like the mass constructed flats in the erstwhile Soviet Bloc East European countries.
Copied Open Hand Design:
I had problem with an 'original' idea of Le Corbusier while visiting Iran, Morroco and Spain some time back.
In Iran
In Morrocco
Chandigarh
Now compare these with the original and amazing contribution of Le Corbusier to Chandigarh- the 'Open Hand Monument'.
How very original!
The common design of atomic plant chimney & Chandigarh legislative Assembly's cut-chimney.
Original by Le Corbusier?
You must be joking....
Heritage City?
It
is amazing to see how everything used or touched by Chandigarh’s
planner architect Le Corbusier is being revered as a ‘heritage’ item.
One fails to understand how the simple chair or the stool used by Paul
Jeanneret, an associate of Le Corbusier becomes a heritage item?
The
notebooks in which Leonardo Da Vinci used to scribble his notes and
draw sketches of machines 400 years back are surely heritage items. The
pyramids constructed in Egypt thousands of years back are heritage
items.
Egyptian statue- about 4000 years old.
But the 50 year old note books of Le Corbusier. You are not serious! What is a 50 year old article or a drawing in a country like India which has thousands of years of known history.
Let
us see the dictionary definition of ‘heritage’. These are the “Valued
objects and qualities such as cultural traditions, unspoiled
countryside, and historic buildings that have been passed down from
previous generations”. What are the heritage items are, for example, the
remnants of the Indus Valley Civilization not the 50 year old stuff.
Let
us now read this with The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites
and Remains Act, 1958. This Act defines an ancient monument as a
monument which is atleast 100 years old.
May be since Chandigarh is a newly built town and we don’t have any old building to show off our pedigree or class, so....maybe....
Come on, let us have some sense of proportion.
The tyranny of Sector Markets:
Of course my take is that he made a mess of the architecture & planning of Chandigarh. I recently wanted to go to a chemist shop in Sector 35. I could not find one and was told that this sector’s market was earmarked for eateries by Le Corbusier and for going to a chemist’s shop one must travel to a sector where there is a Medical hospital/institution. Similarly I wanted to buy some school stationery in another sector and could not locate any stationery shop as it was a sector ordained for shops of some other speciality. I do hope that I got it all wrong and that the local vocal followers of Le Corbusier would educate people like us.
The tyranny of Sector Markets:
Of course my take is that he made a mess of the architecture & planning of Chandigarh. I recently wanted to go to a chemist shop in Sector 35. I could not find one and was told that this sector’s market was earmarked for eateries by Le Corbusier and for going to a chemist’s shop one must travel to a sector where there is a Medical hospital/institution. Similarly I wanted to buy some school stationery in another sector and could not locate any stationery shop as it was a sector ordained for shops of some other speciality. I do hope that I got it all wrong and that the local vocal followers of Le Corbusier would educate people like us.
Furniture:
Some heritage lovers of this 55 year old city think that everything that Le Corbusier or Jeanneret touched qualifies to be worshipped as a heritage article.
Look at the above chairs. I would call them ordinary. Just very, very ordinary. Chairs of this design are being made by local carpenters in various parts of India since long before we first heard of Le Corbusier and Jeanneret.
Why should we go over board in our praise just because some foreigner "designed"/ or sat in these chairs?
Governor's Palace:
I was amused to read the article "Chandigarh's Unbuilt Monument" in The Tribune, January 10, 2013. The article talks about and provides a photograph of a model of the 'unbuilt' Governor's Palace kept in the City Architecture Museum, Chandigarh.
As a layman, the model looks to be just terrible! The nearest in aesthetics that I can think of is Shri Mukesh Ambani's multi-stored house in Mumbai.
Personally I am so glad that some one put his foot down and tax-payer's money was not wasted and that the 'Palace' was 'unbuilt' before it could be 'built!
Bharat Ratna for Le Corbusier...Ha, Ha & Ha:
Now some one has come with a preposterous suggestion that Le Corbusier and Jeanneret should be awarded the 'Bharat Ratna'......Come on, get serious and stop deifying these departed architects who designed a totally unIndian city ....
