India needed a new capital city post-Partition - Chandigarh

Edwin Lutyens was invited by India’s colonial masters to lay out the central administrative area of New Delhi in the 1920s and 1930s. All of the important public buildings (old Viceroy's House, the King's Way linking up with India Gate, Connaught Place and the official home of the national President, the Secretariat Building for governmental ministries, Parliament House, large churches) were carefully planned between sweeping roads and green parkland.

Pre-Partition, New Delhi looked wonderful and was well accepted. But would another pre-planned European-style garden city with low rise buildings be welcomed, AFTER India gained independence from Britain? I was not sure.

With the partition of the sub­continent in 1947, the previous capital of the Punjab (Lahore) now found itself within Pakistan; thus the new East Punjab in India had no capital. After the trauma of partition, Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, believed a new capital city could be built in optimism and modernity.

Roads designed to smooth the flow of Chandigarh's traffic

To select a suitable site, a Committee assessed the existing Punjabi towns for redev­el­opment, but all were unsuitable. The present site of Chandigarh was selected in 1948, partially because of its location in centre of the state and its wonderful location in the Himalayas foothills. Fortunately the new city would be only 240 kms north of New Delhi.

The American company of Albert Mayer was commissioned in 1950 to prepare the master plan that would have cluster housing, self–contained neighbour­hoods, curvilin­ear roads, markets and central­ly located open spaces. Then the work was given to European architects led by Le Corbusier (1887–1965) in 1951. Le Corbusier’s master plan included the Capital Complex and the main buildings for government employees, schools, shopping centres, hospitals and a university. A rectangular grid pattern was introduced to speed up the traffic.

Le Corbusier’s master plan was to be realised in sections, depending on the city's population and its future growth rate. Each neigh­bour­hood would be self-sufficient, having shops, school, health centres, centres of worship and recreational facilities. The shops would be located along the major shopping street that would extend from one neighbourhood to the next. Green parks would stretch across the entire city; a lake and reflecting pools would further soften the feel of the city.

 

Chandigarh Rock Garden

Thus Chandigarh became the first, pre-planned, garden city in post-Partition India.  Since then The Beautiful City, as it is called, has become the seat of three governments, gaining in land, population and political importance. The trend towards population growth was particularly noticeable throughout the 1960s, so the land allocated to each family had to be reduced in size. Despite an initial promise not to have high rise buildings, the administ­rat­ion eventually had no choice; they had to provide multi-storeyed flats and other medium density housing alternatives for 1 million residents. Nonetheless it has been clever urban planning and a clean break from Britain’s colonial rule.

The Market Square concept was introduced for the first time and the facades had more glass in place of old fashioned local materials. The area set aside for commercial activities grew, with special emphasis on service indus­tries such as hotels, banks, private nursing homes and shopping centres.
And like Lutyens in New Delhi, Le Corbusier placed his signature build­ings in the centre of Chandigarh. The Capitol Complex has the Secretariat for government offices, the Parliament building and the High Court.

Le Corbusier's contribution is still celebrated in a number of important ways today. The Le Corbusier Centre tells the history of the city in photos, exhibits and models. And consider the Chandigarh Architecture Museum. Then visit New York’s Museum of Modern Art exhib­ition "Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes" (June-Sep 2013). He had proposed plans for many cities, beginning in Paris in the 1920s, that were never taken up. So Chandigarh was the crowning achievement of his professional life.

Wide, tree lined streets and free standing houses in Chandigarh

One element was not thought of until after Le Corbusier retired and was only inaugurated as a public space in 1976. The Rock Garden of Chandigarh has winding pathways, ponds, waterfalls and rather special sculptural displays made of old ceramic pieces.