Story of Chandigarh

Eashan Chaufla

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A podcast about the making of the modernist city of Chandigarh - its origins, ethos, design principles, the people involved, its subsequent growth and possible futures.

EPISODE 1

1. From Partition to Utopia: The Birth of Chandigarh

In our first episode, join us as we explore the origins of the modernist city of Chandigarh, with Dr. Vikramāditya Prakāsh. How did the partition of India and Pakistan lead to its creation? Who were the idealized inhabitants of this utopian city? How was the site selected? What was the Garden City movement, how does it relate to Nehruvian modernism? TIMESTAMPS: 1:07 - Why Chandigarh? The need for a new capital city of Punjab in post partition India. 5:24 - Nehru, modernist and industrialisation; modernism architecture as a global movement 9:42 - British Colonialism and western industrialisation; transfer of wealth. 12:07 - Albert Mayer and Gandhi, Lewis Mumford and Mathew Nowicki. 15:12 - Partition and migration; utopian aspirations of the newly independent India; Chandigarh - imagined capital of Nehruvian India. 19:25 - Inventing a new, ideal citizen of the nation state; the imagined inhabitants of Chandigarh. 22:38 - AL Fletcher, the brief for Chandigarh. Ebenezer Howard and the new town movement; the “Garden City” movement 26:00 - The Mayer plan; site selection by PL Varma and PN Thapar by helicopter“ 28:26 - Land acquisition by “eminent domain”; displacement and relocation; the first buildings; architect’s office 32:32 - The search for Nowicki’s replacement; hiring Le Corbusier. Hosted & Produced by Eashan Chaufla storyofchandigarh@gmail.com

39 min
EPISODE 2

2. Building Chandigarh: Assembling the Capital Project Team

In this episode we will talk about how the Chandigarh Capital Project team was selected. When did Corbusier and Jeanneret enter the picture and how was the rest of the team assembled? Who were the people displaced by Chandigarh and where did the labourers involved in the city's construction come from? We will also discuss the team's heirarchy and how the work was divided amongst them. TIMESTAMPS: 1:07 - How and when did Le Corbusier become a part of the team? 3:23 - Was the idea of a competition ever floated to select the architects? 5:03 - How did Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry enter the project, following their African experience? 7:34 - Corbusier’s terms and conditions for joining the Chandigarh project 8:36 - The deal: Jeanneret to be in Chandigarh on behalf of Corbusier 12:24 - Corbusier’s preference to work from home 14:55 - CIAM’s role in globalising modernist architecture 17:46 - The false East-West dichotomy in Chandigarh’s discourse 19:51 - Criteria for selecting the younger architects 22:58 - Chandimandir rest house office as described by Mulk Raj Anand; how Corbusier ‘shrunk’ the Mayer plan. 27:30 - Land surveying and road laying by the engineers before shifting the office to Chandigarh 28:33 - The first building in Chandigarh - Capital Project Office in Nagla (Sector-19) 28:53 - The first houses came up in sector 22 to house the architects and engineers 30:28 - Labourers showed up in Chandigarh… from where? Were they trained on-site? 31:11 - The untold stories of the people and villages displaced to make way for Chandigarh 35:26 - The first ‘inhabitants’ of Chandigarh 36:17 - Corbusier fascinated by Indians carrying their beds on their heads! 37:00 - Jeanneret’s design for the Sector-19 Planners’ Office 38:46 - How the junior architects joined the team 39:44 - How was the work divided amongst the architects? 41:51 - The order of constructing the institutional buildings 42:57 - The conflict between white painted plaster and exposed bricks

46 min
EPISODE 3

3. The Masterplan

In this episode, we will talk about the development of the Chandigarh masterplan. We will look at the design strategy behind the streets, the philosophy of the sector and the role of 'mistakes' in the masterplan. We'll also learn how Corbusier paid homage to the Mayer-Nowicki plan as well as the anthropomorphic nature of the Chandigarh plan. Finally, we'll briefly discuss the placement of the Capitol Complex and the Sukhna Lake. TIMESTAMPS: 1:13 - What was the thinking behind the zig-zag arrangement of the sectors? Where is sector 13? 4:59 - The reason behind the curve in the Madhya Marg and other east-west marks 6:46 - ‘Mistakes’ in the masterplan; embracing the perfectly imperfect roughness of the concrete 8:57 - Reasons behind the hierarchy embedded in the plan and housing types 10:33 - Where is the ‘heart’ of the city? What makes sector-22 special? 13:08 - Corbusier’s proposal of mass housing blocks for Chandigarh; the extendability of the Secretariat 16:00 - The modularity of the masterplan set up for southward expansion 18:22 - Anthropomorphism in Chandigarh’s plan; the logic of the green belts as continuous playing fields 21:28 - The layout of the sector and homage to Mayer & Nowicki in the Corbusier plan in certain sectors 25:24 - Special sectors for museums (sector 10) and schools (sector 26) 27:54 - Was the golf course and Chandigarh club part of the original brief for the city? 30:56 - Corbusier complaining to Nehru and not being paid enough 33:35 - The internal facing sector houses, sheltered from traffic across the city 35:35 - The ‘displacement’ of villages to accommodate the masterplan; except for temples 37:22 - Chandigarh’s unique tree planting strategy and MS Randhawa’s role 41:21 - The siting of the Capitol Complex compared to the Mayer-Nowicki plan 44:24 - PL Verma, dams and a brief history of the lake

48 min
EPISODE 4

4. The Capitol Complex

In the fourth episode, we discuss the implications of the UNESCO Heritage designation for the Capitol Complex on Chandigarh. We discuss Corbusier's process of siting the Capitol and its connection to cubism and the cosmos. We also talk about the intentionally open-ended quality of the Capitol Complex and how it relates to the future of citizenry and a faith in the nation's future. TIMESTAMPS: 1:08 - The UNESCO Heritage Tag for the Capitol Complex and its consequences. Which parts of the city were included and why wasn’t the whole city included? 5:31 - Barbed wire, controlled access to the Capitol and guided tours 6:01 - Eurocentric exclusion of Jeanneret and other architects from UNESCO recognition 10:44 - The Capitol as Corbusier’s tour de force 14:39 - The siting of the buildings in the Capitol 17:00 - Corbusier and cubist architecture 21:37 - Corbusier’s fascination with India’s rural landscape and integration of the city and the village. 25:06 - Monumentality, temples and the cosmos in relation to the Capitol 30:48 - Buildings as celestial objects; the Capitol and its invocation of the sky 34:30 - The ‘East-West’ dichotomy and the change in perception of Chandigarh after the 70s and postmodernism 40:31 - Corruption, the Emergency and the attack on Nehruvian modernism 44:05 - The Open Hand, Nehru’s Non-Aligned Movement and the Third World. 46:52 - The open-ended, leaky Capitol Complex 49:28 - Citizenry, anticipatory democracy and nation building in the context of Chandigarh and India 52:49 - Aesthetic masterpieces of Le Corbusier OR crowning achievements of the aspirations of the Indian nation state and its faith in the future?

55 min
EPISODE 5

5. The High Court

In the fifth episode, we’ll talk about the High Court, the first building to be constructed within the Capitol Complex. We discuss its likeness to an umbrella, its weightlessness and the experience of the uncanny. We also discuss the interiors and specifically the tapestries of the high court as well as Corbusier’s flexible approach to executing his vision. TIMESTAMPS: 1:19 - Why was the High Court the first building to come up? 1:50 - The ‘umbrella’ analogy: visual, literary, mythological 5:35 - Making it look structural: The visual trickery of the roof and arches of the high court 9:02 - Cooling the air by compressing and releasing the prevailing winds 10:27 - A building in which Corbusier engages all the elements 14:28 - Weightlessness of the high court building ; plan-elevation interplay 19:36 - ‘Doubling’ of the facade in the reflecting pools; horizontal symmetry 25:04 - The experience of the ‘uncanny’ & the Barcelona Pavilion 32:38 - Multiplicity of readings in works of art 33:39 - The pylons marking a ‘ramp in the sky’ 35:24 - The hidden extension to the high court 38:52 - The tapestries and the symbols of law, balance and harmony 42:21 - Rough texture of ‘hand-poured’ concrete 44:37 - Corbusier’s flexible approach to execution and foreseeing future changes 48:59 - The ramp as architectural promenade

52 min
EPISODE 6

6. The Secretariat

In the sixth episode, we explore the Secretariat building. We discuss Corbusier’s transformation of the building, its Excel spreadsheet architecture, its oceanliner-like quality, and its potential for infinite expansion. We also highlight the uniqueness of its ramps and roof garden. TIMESTAMPS: 1:48 - The original ‘UN style’ vertical design and the current ‘Unité-esque’ form and orientation of the Secretariat building. 5:02 - The Capitol Complex as Corbusier’s playground. 7:28 - Analogy of the Writers’ Building in Calcutta - Secretariat as a bureaucratic machine. 11:55 - Utility and beauty - the Secretariat and the Oceanliner. 14:25 - Pilotis and uninterrupted nature - Rajendra Park and Leisure valley 17:48 - Modular facade elements and rough Indian craftsmanship 18:56 - Excel Spreadsheet Architecture™ 20:19 - The Ramp as a sensual, schizophrenic, heterotypic space 24:55 - The extruded Secretariat - infinite expansion 27:51 - The roof garden with the parasol viewing platform 35:48 - The echo of a dam in the Secretariat’s form

40 min
EPISODE 7

7. The Assembly

In this episode, we explore the Assembly building in Chandigarh. We discuss the evolution of its design, examining how it became the focal point of the Capitol Complex. We also critique the sculptural form of the building and the symbolic significance of the painted enamel door. TIMESTAMPS: 1:07 - Why does the Assembly building seem to be in the centre of the Capitol? Was this always the case? 3:51 - How did the scrapping of the Governor’s Palace change the design and significance of the Assembly? 5:58 - Hyperbolic paraboloid connection to cooling towers of thermal power stations in Ahmedabad 9:44 - Assembly as self-conscious structure - the ‘bull’ metaphor 11:25 - Relationship to the cosmos in the Assembly building 13:47 - Developing a modernist ethics of living 18:10 - The sense of the sacred and divine in the Assembly chamber 24:32 - The roof of the Assembly with the amphitheater and bridge 26:19 - The painted enamel door and its visual concepts 28:43 - Corbusier’s fascination with the right angle 32:32 - The ‘potato’ cutouts as portholes or eyes 34:13 - The presence of the hand and its connection to arts and crafts 36:29 - Chandigarh, democracy and the embodiment of the Nehruvian state as a counterpoint to Lutyens’ Delhi.

37 min

7 Episodes

A podcast about the making of the modernist city of Chandigarh - its origins, ethos, design principles, the people involved, its subsequent growth and possible futures.

Creator

Eashan Chaufla
Episodes

7
Seasons

1
Rating

Clean
Show Website

Story of Chandigarh

Story of Chandigarh

Season 1

1. From Partition to Utopia: The Birth of Chandigarh

2. Building Chandigarh: Assembling the Capital Project Team

3. The Masterplan

4. The Capitol Complex

5. The High Court

6. The Secretariat

7. The Assembly

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