On the path of Le Corbusier. Chandigarh - India

It’s funny to be here….I’ve read and heard so many things about Chandigarh, the city that Le Corbusier designed from scratch in the 50’s, the perfect city, the summit of modern architecture…and now I’m here, it’s soo hot and wet…it’s night, we got to the train station from Delhi and have to take a rickshaw and find our hotel.  On the way to the hotel we just see green, big avenues…you actually can breathe in this city after crowded Delhi. 

On the rickshaw

Despite of the modern block buildings being in a bad condition, you can tell that there has been urban planning here, first there’s the buildings that have been planned all with the same height, with a commercial zone down, rows of parking lots for cars and bikes, avenues, parks, lakes…everything very organized (for Indian standards of course), which is common in Europe but not in other Indian cities.

Delhi streets

Chandigarh streets

Amsterdam bicycles everywhere! 

shopping arcades 

nice house from the 50's

The bad thing is that all blocks look pretty similar, they seemed to copy the same balcony type all over the place, so that at a point it’s boring. 

But I still love it! Here you can see that the theories of Le Corbusier were brilliant and work, despite of the plan being a little too quadratic. "A city needs enough air, sun and space".

Notars and lawyers work outside

I love these bikes!!!

It's easy to walk in Chandigarh...wide sidewalks with huge trees

Next day we go to the capitol complex, also designed by LC. We can just enter the high court and see the assembly building from the outside. 

Bicycle rickshaw to the capitol for 20 Rupees = 0,20EUR

The high court

 View from the high court to the assembly

 The ramp connecting the floors is amazing! 

Sadly we were not allowed to go to the upper floors. 

Openings in the entrance pillars

Shading elements on the facade

This is where they copied the famous balcony from!

The assembly...which we were not allowed into 

because of renovation works. I really wanted to know

 how the silo looks from inside, maybe next time!

The huge pivot door! about 9m high.

 such a shame it's closed. 

Monument of the open hand and emblem of chandigarh, 

meaning: "an open hand to give and to receive"