Chandigarh, the new capital of East Punjab

Le Corbusier; Doxiadis Associates; Derek Lovejoy and Partners

In November 1950, Mr. P.N. Thapar, statesman and Mr. P.L. Verma, engineer, representing the new government of Punjab came to the atelier at 35 Rue de Sèvres with the mission of finding the best way of creating the new capital of East Punjab (West Punjab with the former capital of Lahore having been ceded to Pakistan). A telegram from the government of Punjab arrived unexpectedly authorizing these two delegates to commission Le Corbusier with job of Government Architectural Advisor for the construction of the capital.

In addition, Mr. Maxwell Fry and Mrs. Jane Drew of London had been engaged to go to the site of the future capital. Le Corbusier joined them in February 1951, accompanied by Pierre Jeannerret, his former associate, from whom he had been seperated since 1939.

In March 1951, Le Corbusier established the master plan for Chandigarh upon an entirely new modern basis: a city composed of "sectors" each measuring 2,600 x 4,000 ft. He had created the principle of 7V, the fruit of meditation upon modern transportation, permitting the resolution of all the problems of road circulation which could arise. ...

Of course doubt and dispute arose. The city is bounded by two large rivers which are dry for ten months of the year. The monsoon of July and August, a cosmically timed event, causes tremendous quantities of water to rush down from the towering Himalayas. Then the torrent ceases, the waters penetrate the soil, and in the course of ten months' time the red earth is covered throughout, in successive stages, by verdure, by the gold of the harvest, and finally by burnt vegetation. Suitable water for drinking purposes is located 80 meters below the earth's surface. Knowing this, the engineers finally declared, however only in the second or third year of the enterprise (1953-54), a rumor which had been growing: "There will be no water in Chandigarh !" That is why the contractors and city planners christened as "Boulevard des Eaux" the traffic artery which rings the city and upon which the Capitol is located; they had projected basins for rowing and sailing...

It must be said here that Chandigarh's program of construction was established by high officials, who, having made their studies at Oxford, have known and often appreciated the English civilization. Chandigarh is a horizontal city. The Oxfordian program comprises thirteen categories of individual dwellings, from that of the peon to that of a government minister. Up to now the peon has led an extremely primitive existence, without a dwelling house. But now he has a dwelling planned and built with the same love and care lavished on the homes of the ministers, or on the dwellings of the twelve other classes.1

Le Corbusier : Complete Works (Oeuvre Complete) volume 7: 1957-65 PP 70

1. Le Corbusier : Complete Works (Oeuvre Complete) volume 7: 1957-65 PP 68 and Urbanisme, Chandigarh, India, 1950 - 1965 [FLC]

CHAND. LC. 4318 - Master plan of Chandigarh, April 1951: Master plan of Chandigarh. The general arrangement as remained, but the principle of the Sectors has been altered by the builders.