MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies • The Open Hand Chandigarh as a Place to Live in Madhu Sarin Published on: Apr 23, 2021 License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0) MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies • The Open Hand Chandigarh as a Place to Live in The following is a personal introduction to Chandigarh in Le Corbusier’s own words: 2 MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies • The Open Hand Chandigarh as a Place to Live in City of Chandigarh I. Definition of use of Chandigarh (i) Chandigarh is a city offering all amenities to the poorest of the poor of its citizens to lead a dignified life. (ii) Chandigarh is a Government city with a precise function and, consequently, a precise quality of inhabitants. On this presumption, the city is not to be a big city (metropolis)—it must not lose its definition. Some people say that life must come in the city from other sources of activity, especially industry—but an industrial city is not the same as an administrative city. One must not mix the two. It seems that the complement of the original definition should be the invitation of forces which can reinforce the functions of the city and not open a conflict or rivalry. We must take care that any temptations do not kill the goal which was foreseen at the time the city was founded. Therefore, naturally, old doors must be opened to unknown initiatives. It appears that the future of Chandigarh will be open to all cultural factors in different manifestations: Teaching (schools, university, new science of teaching, audiovisual training, etc.—in one word all kinds of knowledge) Means to express and disperse thought (editions: books, magazines, and, eventually, their printing, etc.) Modes of expression and dispersion of the arts (in time and space—history and geography) All kinds of reproduction of art-witnesses (editions: visual means—photographs, diagrams, etc. to different scales) Diverse kinds of exhibitions, shows, theatre, festivals, creations of the highest modernity, etc. For the culture of the body, an organism can be created having at its disposition possibilities of meeting for competitions and tournaments. All this will afford the creation of a “Chandigarh label” which will be the guarantee of quality and will be worth emulation. 3 MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies • The Open Hand Chandigarh as a Place to Live in II. The Four Functions The CIAM “Charter of Athens.” The force of this charter lies in giving the first place to the dwelling: the environment of living—the family under the rule of “24 Solar Hours.” The second place is given to “Working” which is the daily act of human obligation. The third is the culture of body and spirit on the one hand and an intellectual leisure on the other. When all these goals have received their definite containers, it is possible to give to each of them its respective rightful place and at this moment can occur the problem of realizing the contacts: that is circulation. III With this line of conduct, the urbanism of Chandigarh emerged.1 Ever since the day Le Corbusier’s name was associated with the Chandigarh project, Chandigarh has received a tremendous amount of publicity, propaganda, and documentation. Certainly in the fields of planning and architecture, Chandigarh was seen by many as a landmark in the present epoch, and, inevitably, it has been watched with keen interest through all its life of twenty-three years. Writing about Chandigarh has been largely confined to three broad categories: first, a pure description of the planning doctrine with details about the “sector,” the 7V’s (les sept voies), the Capitol complex, and so on; second, a flowery applause of the marvels of Chandigarh and its modern architecture; or third, an outright criticism of the project on the basis of its “non-Indian” character, an importation of Western ideas into an alien milieu, usually followed by statements announcing the failure of Chandigarh on these grounds. Cities, however, are complex phenomena. Much as architects and planners may like to think about the importance of their concepts, visions, aesthetics, or planning, these remain only partial aspects of a much greater totality. And, once a city starts growing, whether due to social, economic, political, or geographic reasons, it becomes increasingly difficult to control its growth or to be selective about the quality of inhabitants it attracts. If the rate of growth of a city, particularly a new city, is any measure of its success, then Chandigarh is indeed a phenomenal success. In the last decade, from 1961 to 1971, Chandigarh registered a growth of 144 percent, having 4 MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies • The Open Hand Chandigarh as a Place to Live in increased its population from 89,000 to 219,000. Although the planning process is essentially concerned with both anticipating future growth and regulating its development, the Chandigarh label of planning has resulted in a somewhat bizarre situation. For, today, there are virtually two separate faces of Chandigarh: the planned and the nonplanned. What Chandigarh is like as a place to live in depends largely on which of the two one belongs to. The planned Chandigarh is the city of Le Corbusier’s vision, first consolidated in the document of the Chandigarh master plan over the period of less than a month in March 1951. Most of the fundamental aspects of the physical plan have been implemented with almost religious devotion. The concept of the sector, the circulation network on the basis of the 7V’s, the linear V4 bazaar streets, the leisure valley, and the green belts running from the northeast to the southwest in continuous bands, the industrial area located on one side, the university on the other, the Capitol complex towering in its magnificent aloofness outside the rest of the city, against the background of the mountains, and the city center, with all its frame control and béton brut located in Sector 17. Vast areas of future commercial belts have been retained as reservations for big business yet to come. All the roads have been meticulously planted with various exotic trees and bushes that burst into bloom at different times of the year, producing startling effects with splendid color. A large chunk of the leisure valley has been developed into a vast rose garden, with literally hundreds of different varieties. The green belts, at least in the wealthier and more developed sectors, are now grassed, although almost invariably surrounded by barbed wire fences. The roads are well maintained and the V2’s now even have separate side lanes. Chandigarh can rightly boast of the most elaborate urban road network in India (Fig. 103). 5 MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies • The Open Hand Chandigarh as a Place to Live in Figure 103 An aerial view of the V2 Capitol with rush hour traffic at 5 P.M. To the left is a segment of the Leisure Valley, to the right a commercial belt reserved for big offices, hotels, and so on, and in the background is Le Corbusier’s Capitol complex against the backdrop of the hills. (Photograph by Madhu Sarin.) All the buildings have been built strictly according to the building bylaws specially framed by Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry with Le Corbusier’s approval. Their masses, volumes, building lines, and architectural features rigidly follow the zoning plans prepared individually for each sector. Chandigarh zoning plans are among the most carefully detailed documents anywhere in the world. Not only do they contain stringent limitations on how and where to build, but they also give instructions about the permissible shapes and sizes of windows, the heights and materials of boundary walls, and the two or three different designs of compound gates that must be used (Fig. 104). 6 MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies • The Open Hand Chandigarh as a Place to Live in Figure 104 An illustration of private housing conforming to “frame control” in Sector 22. In front is an unauthorized market, and under the tree a collection of cycle-rickshaw pullers awaiting customers. (Photograph by Madhu Sarin.) Each sector is fully serviced with water-borne sewerage, electricity, and piped water supply. When Chandigarh was first planned, not a single city in the Punjab had water- borne sewerage; in this aspect, Chandigarh is a substantial landmark in the development of Indian cities, with its commitment to better environmental and service standards. Physical planning, however, cannot be an end in itself. Eventually, it serves little more than the purpose of defining shapes and locations of containers of various activities. Where many assumptions are made regarding the way life is to function within these containers, it is essential to keep a vigilant check on how they actually perform and whether the original assumptions have proved correct. Unfortunately, Chandigarh is showing signs of becoming a monument to one man’s preconceived vision of a tidied up society, dwarfing the need for cross-checking, experimentation, or the evolution of more relevant solutions. 7 MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies • The Open Hand Chandigarh as a Place to Live in The Sector As explained by Le Corbusier: “The plan is based on the main features of the ‘7V Rule’ determining an essential function: the creation of ‘sectors.’ The ‘sector’ is the container of family life (the 24 Solar Hours cycle which must be fulfilled in perfect harmony).”2 Its dimensions are based on the Spanish cuadra of 110 to 100 meters square. A useful reclassification of them [cuadras] led me to adopt a ratio of harmonious dimensions and productive combinations: seven to eight cuadras on one side, ten to twelve cuadras on the other side, that is to say 800m × 1200m.