The project for designing Chandigarh was first granted to Mathew and
Albert Mayer of America but due to the sudden death of Mathew Nowincki,
Albert Mayer also left the project of developing the Master plan of
Chandigarh.
In 1950, India’s then Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru invited Le Corbusier to India to take over this project. The Master Plan prepared by Le Corbusier was very much similar to the one developed by the team led by Albert Mayer and Mathew but his plan was a bit different in the following ways:
Shape of the city plan was modified from curving road network to rectangular shape
Grid iron pattern was adopted for busy and fast traffic road
Keeping in the view of the socio-economic conditions and living habits of people, plan for vertical and high rise buildings was excluded.
The basis of the city design is the unit named as “sector”. Sector is self sufficient unit that comprises of shops, schools, health center and places for recreation and worship. Every sector permits only 4 vehicular entries into its interior. In each sector, the shopping street is linked to the shopping street of the sector adjoining it.
The design of Chandigarh made by Le Corbusier was symbolic to human body. Capitol Complex in sector 1 symbolized the Head, sector 17 symbolized Heart, roads and streets as Arteries, Lungs as greenery of the city and Industrial area as Arms.
After the death Le Corbusier the development of Chandigarh was carried on as per his plan. Presently, Chandigarh is known as one of the best planned cities in the world.
Fact File ofLe Corbusier
Born: October 6 1887 Died: August 27 1965 Nationality: Born as a Swiss but adopted French Nationality(1961)
Charles-Edouard Jeanneret was popularly known as Le Corbusier.
Besides being a world renowned architect, he was also proficient at
writing, creating unique designs and was also an Urbanist. He dedicated
his life for improving living conditions for the people who reside in
crowed cities. He was a legendary architect and trendsetter in the field
of Modern Architecture. He was popularly known for the uniqueness of
his designs.