Sunday, August 7, 2016

"Sector 17 Chandigarh as conceived of by Le Corbusier is so ugly... ..."- by K.J.S.Chatrath

A friend was asking me last week if I had made my peace with Le Corbusier. Hell No, was my reply. And here we go-

This is what Times of India quoted Ms. Neena Sahai as saying (TOI, November 24, 2014),

"I do not know why we are so concerned about Le Corbusier's vision. I have travelled and lived in so many countries. I find the City Centre, Sector 17 , the ugliest form of architecture with grey square buildings (emphasis supplied). Except for the assembly building which has some character, the secretariat and High court are extremely ugly buildings..."

Kudos to Ms. Sahai for calling a spade a spade. I must also concede that Times of India, which has been shouting about Le Corbusier, has, perhaps for the first time, realised that a counter view, and a very plausible one too, exists.

And now some retired people want an Urban Arts Commission to be set up for enforcing the 'vision' of Le Corbusier on the Tri-city... ...

Oh God!

By the way, the above is NOT, the over publicized 'Open Hand' designed by Le Corbusier. It is the 'hand of Fatima' a common symbol in the Middle Eastern and north African countries used for warding off evil. This photo was taken by me in 2013 in Casablanca, Morroco.

So much for originality of Le Corbusier!

No comments:

Post a Comment