chandigarh-landscape of capitol complex

Flickriver: Most interesting photos from Sector 1, Chandigarh, CHD, India

06/08/12 4:36 PM

High Court, Chandigarh Architect : Le Corbusier

Chandigarh High Court - Le Cobusier by Scott Norsworthy

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High Court, Capitol Complex, Chandigarh Rachana Sansad’s academy of architecture

Third year (unaided) landscape workshop

Workshop A- Understanding the experiential quality of landscape elements

Ashwin Coelho 05 Nikita Sheth 42

The most significant of these is the ‘Capitol Park’ — the ‘head’ of the entire enterprise. A parallel undertaking – one of almost equal significance as the Capitol, was Le Corbusier’s design of the city’s ‘heart’, the City Centre.

Chandigarh -‐ Planning A protected green belt, the ‘Periphery’, which was given a legal backing through a legislative act, was introduced to set limits to the built-mass of the city and as a measure against unsolicited sprawl outside the plan area.

The existing fields that have been maintained and included into the city extents

The city center placed right in the middle of the city as the epi-centre

Google image showing the capitol complex with respect to the city of Chandigarh

URBAN STRUCTURE, CHANDIGARH -MAY 1951

Connecting the various accents of the city – such as the Capitol (the ‘head’), the City Centre (‘the heart’), the University and the Industrial Area (the two ‘limbs’),

Le Corbusier’s sketches showing his initial ideas of the city and capitol complex being placed with respect to the Himalayas and existent surroundings.

A section through the capitol complex showing the Assembly and the Secretariat in the backdrop





The Capitol Park is located at the ‘head’ of the city against the backdrop of the Shiwalik Hills.

of the Sun, grouped closely, underscore Le Corbusier’s pre-occupation with the sun’s influence on man’s daily life and the architectural challenges presented by the complex climate of Chandigarh. The ‘24 Solar Hours’ was to be inscribed on the 45m wide inclined face of the ‘Geometric Hill’. The ‘Tower of Shadows’ occupies a square of 15.5m. Its facades give varying sun-control solutions for the four cardinal directions. The ‘Course of the Sun’, the preliminary design sketches for which indicate two tall parabolic arches of steel standing in a pool of water, was to depict the deviation between the summer and winter solstice.

Capitol Complex -‐ Planning Course of the Sun Tower of Shadows Assembly

Geometric Hill & 24 Solar Hours

Open Hand Martyrs’ Memorial

Governor’s Palace

The Modulor

High Court

Tentative List Submission -- “Urban & Architectural Work of Le Corbusier in Chandigarh” -17-

Le Corbusier’s Capitol for Chandigarh comprises four ‘Edifices’ – the High Court, the Legislative Assembly, the Secretariat and the Museum of Knowledge

The Capitol Complex and it’s structures EDIFICES 1. Secretariat 2. Assembly 3. High Court 4. High Court Extension 5. Museum of Knowledge Le corbusier’s sketch of the capitol as against the Himalayan ranges

MONUMENTS a. Open Hand b. The Modulor c. 24 Solar Hours d. Martyrs’ Memorial e. Tower of Shadows f. Course of the Sun

The capitol area was designed as the great pedistrian plaza with motor traffic separated into sunken trenches leading to parking areas

A representational plan of the main edifices of the complex





Propor3ons and Distances The capitol area was designed as the great pedistrian plaza with motor traffic separated into sunken trenches leading to parking areas The northern and western edges of the larger 800m-side square define the boundaries of the Capitol, while the two smaller, 400m-side squares determine relative placing of the four ‘Edifices' and proportions of the spaces in between The layout is based around an invisible geometry of three interlocking squares, their corners and intersection-points marked by ‘Obelisks’. Symbolizing celebration of democracy in a newly-independent nation- state, the Capitol group of buildings was built to a monumental scale.

The 240m long, 24m deep and 50 m high Secretariat, was seen as a solution to ‘problems of modern offices' such as adequate lighting, ventilation, economy and efficiency

The building is significant as the first demonstration and a major vehicle for acceptance of exposed reinforced concrete surfaces and modern aesthetics even for buildings of power and prestige

The most significant aspect of the layout is the facilitation of uninterrupted pedestrian linkages throughout the complex Harmonious relationship between various structures is further established though the consistent use of exposed reinforced concrete.

The design of its top-lit Forum, the sickleshaped Portico, and the thin hyperboloid shell of the immense, column-free, circular Assembly Hall, is a landmark achievement that displays the immense plastic and structural potential of concrete





Lake promenade and Open Hand “The founders of Chandigarh have offered this lake and this dam to the population of the new city to give them the contact with beauty of nature, to enjoy the silence and walk in peace from the humdrum of city life.”

Le Corbusier’s Schematic Sketch

Lake Promenade under construction. The High Court and the Secretariat are seen in the background. The Sukhna Lake was designed to be “sufficiently large to create the spectacle of the mountains and the sky reflected in the water”. Le Corbusier envisaged the precinct as a completely noise- free, pedestrian environment that would provide relief from the daily stresses of the urban environment. Adhering to his dictum of no additional constructions in the Capitol, “in order not to impede the view of the open landscape and the foothills of the Himalayas”, Le Corbusier designed the ‘Boat Club’ to lie 3m below the road level.

View from approach road

The Lake Promenade

The Open Hand stands as the material symbol of the city’s ideology — ...open to receive the created riches ...open to distribute them to its people...” The 12.50m wide and 8.86m Hand, is sculpted out of beaten iron sheets. A metal structure, designed to turn gently with wind, holds it 27.80m above the “Trench of Consideration” at its base

Le Corbusier’s sketch of The Open Hand





A vast concrete esplanade between the High Court and the Assembly thus became the central design feature, along which were arrayed the six ‘Monuments' and various pools of water.

Spa3al Rela3ons

A view of the assembly and expected museum from the entrance.

Schematic plan of Assembly and High Court In the composition of the capitol complex, the high court alone must balance one side of the grouping, opposing the great mass of the secretariat combined with the sculptural variety of the assembly.

Section of Assembly and High Court

A view of the assembly and expected museum from the entrance.

The Assembly and the High Court cannot be seen within one frame of vision if one is standing at the point where the path widens up and the complete Capitol Complex supposedly comes into view. The 2 main reasons : •  The distance between the 2 structures is too much as compared to the distance of the point from the central axis. •  Emphasis is given to the Governor’s palace that would be seen along with each of the structures (if it existed).

Sketch up - Elevation on Assembly and High Court





Walkway -‐ Capitol

Entrance to the Capitol complex

Assembly along with the Secretariat

View towards Secretariat Building

Water body next to High Court Returning back from the court. Assembly building from entrance node

High court from entrance node

Approach towards the high court

View of centre between two structure

Entrance view of the structure




View of the complex from the high court entrance


An effort to shade the en3re structure has resulted in the use of a double roof, the upper roof can3levered out over the office block in the manner of a parasol shading the lower roof and also providing a trough from which monsoon rain water spills through heavy spouts at either end, falling sixty feet to channels connected with the reflec3ng pools.

High Court -‐ Structure

Le Corbusier's initial sketch of the high court with the Himalayas as the back drop

The space between the two roofs is leK open to enable currents of air to move between the flat roof of the office block and the underside of the parasol roof which slopes toward the center in the form of a row of arches.

The horizontal ground line, repeated in the two roof levels, is countered buy the powerful upward thrust of the entrance piers and the pillars between the courtrooms, whose ver3cal line is echoed in the roof supports.

In plan the building took the form of an abbreviated L-‐shape with the long facade facing the capitol plaza to contain the courtrooms and the small rear extension to accommodate offices.





Distances and Reflec3ons

From a distance, one sees only a part of the High Court in reflection

While viewing the High Court with it’s reflection from points beyond the water body.

While viewing the High Court with it’s reflection from points within the 50mts of the water body.

The High Court appears different in the reflection when viewing from different points on the approach path: •  While viewing the structure from a distance of about 75 mts, one gets a glimpse of 10% of the structure in it’s reflection. As one moves further close, more and more of the structure becomes visible in the reflection. •  At a point 53 mts from the structure, one sees the complete structure in the reflection. •  When one steps into the boundary of the water body, one begins to see the complete reflection as well as a portion of the sky. At a distance of 30 mts, one sees the reflection of the structure in 60% of the water body, the rest is the sky.

A point 3 mts from the water body showing just the reflection of the structure

At a point from within the 50 mts, where one also sees the sky





SilhoueNe The High court with and without reflection: A silhouette of the High Court as it is seen with it’s reflection in the water body against if it were to be seen without the reflection. The High Court immediately doubles up it’s height due to the reflection and appears taller as against the Himalayas. Whereas if anticipated without the reflection, the structure does not stand up as much to dominate it’s surroundings. As one moves closer, the reflection varies framing different proportions of the structure and the sky content. Upon approaching the structure (without water body) one tends to view only the High Court.





Maxwell Fry once said, "It was the miracle of Marseilles to find how the building, standing there among its trees, sung like a humming top, monumental but vibrating. And so again will be his high court at Chandigarh a monument of the plain, vibrating in the Indian sunlight, organic because it is a living organ of though and emotion, but fixed there crystalline, crystal clear, in an idea of life established until ruin finally overtakes it as ruin will overtake the very hills against which it now stands silhouetted."

Emo3ve Quality

The built ‘Edifices’ — the High Court, the L e g i s l a t i v e A s s e m b l y, a n d t h e Secretariat — represent the three major functions of democracy.

As Le Corbusier developed the design for the high court, it evolved toward an expression increasingly massive, plastic, and abstract. It is the concrete screen which gives the façade it’s overall unity, so that it is perceived not as an assemblage of floor levels and courtroom chambers, but as a single entity of plastically interwoven elements.





chandigarh-landscape of capitol complex

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