Says Capitol Complex ‘nude’ building, terms it blunder

Questioning the works of Le Corbusier, UT Chief Engineer Mukesh Anand, who has been tasked with the restoration of the Capitol Complex, today called it a “nude” building, besides terming it a blunder by the Swiss-French architect.

“It is a totally concrete building. All buildings built in the Mughal or British era were covered. However, this building (Capitol Complex) is ‘nude’. This was a blunder Corbusier made. He did not know the real extreme temperature here. He has designed buildings like those in western countries. We have extreme weather; we have summer, monsoon and winter too..,” said Anand during the Urban Transformation Summit-Chandigarh held at a hotel in Sector 35.

“This is a six to seven-decade-old building and it has started developing cracks. Water has penetrated inside, resulting in disintegration. I was responsible for restoration of the building. I found a lot of problems. What is its life? 75 or 80 years? What will happen after that? Today, we have restored it and injected life into it. However, what will happen after sometime? The way our team has worked with passion, I do know anybody will be able to do it in the future,” the Chief Engineer said.

He told the gathering, “The building needs a lot of replacements. That is a blunder Corbusier made. No doubt, he is a legendry (man) for the way he has planned things.”

....