With the commemoration of 50 years of Indian Independence, Chandigarh emerges as an architectonic icon, a symbol of the modern Indian State. Half a century later, the endeavor of Chandigarh, "born without an umbilical cord" continues to provoke our architectural aspirations. From a utopian dream of "a brave new world" to the nightmare of an urban failure of context, it evokes various perceptions. Inspite of all its criticism it seems to have emerged as a part of the architectural legacy of this country and like Fathepur Sikri and Delhi has perhaps been absorbed into the plurality of a 5000-year-old civilization
- Documenting Chandigarh- Volume I: The Indian
Architecture of Pierre Jeanneret, E. Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew
Concept and text by Kiran Joshi, Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad In Association with Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chandigarh. 1999.
pp286 with 317 photographs and 327 drawings.
Documenting Chandigarh, Volume I, is yet another attempt to understand the phenomenon. The difference is that it shifts the focus from complexity of Le Corbusiers oeuvre to the simplicity of common building stock that fills most of the urban fabric of the city. It documents the works of the equally important though less discussed architects, Pierre Jeannerette, Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew whose architecture constitutes the buildings of the city. Inspite of the fact that Le Corbusier's architectural involvement is limited to the Master Plan and Capitol Complex, the work of his three colleagues, continues to remains in his shadow. As Norma Evenson has said that "
as the city now exists, it owes to Le Corbusier only its skeletal outlines, while the flesh and substance have been created by others."
A cousin of Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret associates with him on the Chandigarh Capital Project and stayed there for 14 years while the man and wife team of Edwin Maxwell Fry and Jane Beverley Drew were associated for 3 to 5 years respectively.
The three associates together designed the buildings for housing, work and recreation, which fill the garden city and configures its image. "Braving the desolate plains" at the Aravalli foothills they gave shape to the buildings for the various activities of city and created "a people's architecture." The experiment of architecture attempted the transformation of customs and traditions into low rise low-density housing where vernacular typologies of open to sky spaces, verandahs and terraced construction have been developed in a modern idiom. Experiments in design, construction and materials make Chandigarh a laboratory of architectural experiments that generated a distinct vocabulary of the "Chandigarh Style."
Shifting the unending debate from the work of Corbusier and its social and cultural significance, to the general building stock, the book lists the many building typologies that collectively define the architecture of the city. As the first systematic documentation of the works of the three architects, it fills the gap of creating an inventory of the architecture that is crucial for understanding the history of post - Independence architecture in
India. Chandigarh considered a Mecca of architecture remains a pilgrimage for architects and urbanists over the world. But to Indian architecture it is more significant because it acts as a point of inflection for the development of modern architecture in the country. As Charles Correa said, "
the venture remains unique in our minds, not only for what it accomplished but also for what it concieved of doing." Documenting Chandigarh is a step towards exactly that.
The intention of recording the various built elements that creates the urban image of the city is structured by identifying a total of 90 buildings and classifying them into 8 functional typologies: Government Housing, Private Residences, Hostels, Education, Healthcare, Culture, Entertainment, Shopping and Miscellaneous Structures. The inventory of buildings covers most of the building types that people of Chandigarh would interact and associate with in the city. Apart from serving as a much-needed study of contemporary architectural history, the record aims to highlight and reinforce the cultural identity of the Chandigarh Style. The methodology of compiling the inventory claims to be both 'comprehensive' as it records every existing building within a typology and 'selective' as it excludes those buildings, which have been altered sufficiently to lose the original design type. Though the volume of buildings identified within each typology is commendable, its lacks structuring of information. Attributes that are specifically architectural, i.e., morphology, form making, technique and materials are explained through general text and visual details that could have been structured. A framework for comparisons through a matrix of explicit attributes would have given raised this archival data to a more rigorous study
The 'standardization of presentation' on 2 facing pages carries basic architectural information through plans, sections and photographs, supported by information about location, chronology, size and architect. The photographs as a medium for visual comparisons lend themselves well to the classification system. Yet the book is valuable for its intentions and sheer documentation attempt. The inventory reinforces the Chandigarh identity as well as becomes a base for research and study into post independent Indian architecture.
Though it avoids attempting to 'grade' individual structures as Listed Buildings for the historicity and cultural content, there is a separate section delineating Heritage Zones within the urban fabric of the city. Chandigarh is considered as a single cultural entity consisting of zone having common characteristics - "fine grained, low density and fairly homogenous orthogonal grid." Within this generalized matrix, architectural and historical accents are used to identify 14 zones. Shape, layout, scale and density describe the specific character and visual identity. However the exercise is unable to break away from the regimented grid of the 'sector' and the city plan. Using the existing V3 as the boundaries establishes again the pervasive visual order rather than cutting through it and reaffirms the difficulty of identifying distinct character in a city of "architectural uniformity and frame control."
The individual zones are further divided into sub zones and buildings according to location, size, and grain, content and visual character. The "aim to determine specific character" of the urban form is certainly essential for both conservation and future development of the city. The documentation also elucidates the notion of the Chandigarh Style as it emerges inspite of the individualist architectural approach of the three different architects. The uniformity of the box like architectural character and its cohesive development that determines much of the visual character of the city are the outcome of the vision of Drew and Fry who influenced the drafting of the architectural controls and bye laws of the city.
Documenting Chandigarh is of immense importance not only towards understanding and conserving the pioneering effort of modernism in
India but also the influence it has on the contemporary Indian architecture. The subsequent architectural development over the last 5 decades have seen the impact of Chandigarh both in the works of private as well as public architecture. The Chandigarh style has found its place in much of the works of the public works departments. Notwithstanding the debate surrounding the relevance of its design concepts, it remains inescapable in the world of architecture and urban planning. In the words of Nehru,
It doesn't really matter whether you like Chandigarh or whether you don't like it. The fact of the matter is simply this: it has changed your lives.
The city established a position for itself in the world debate of architecture but at home engendered a significant issue by giving a sense of integrity to the role of architects in society. It sets a model for the task and standard that an architect could set for him. Jeanneret, Fry and Drew working under difficult circumstances set standards for professional diligence that remains an important lesson in architecture.
The author, Kiran Joshi, who is currently doing her doctoral research on Chandigarh, concludes by raising the concern over the formulation of the conservation policy of the city with regards to its growth and development and seems to signal the agenda of Chandigarh as a heritage city.
First of a two volume series, it is soon to be followed with the second volume on the works of Le Corbusier. Together they will become a comprehensive compilation of urbanism and architecture of the city of Chandigarh.
Documenting Chandigarh remains true to its name and is of great value in the study of built environment.