Nehru's Search for Suitable Architecture

Damini Bhardwaj , Varsha MallyaStudio III- B

S.S.A.A

Partition Of India

After India’s Independence, partition of India took place dividing the country into two parts. The political and the religious conflict between India and Pakistan led to a highly volatile atmosphere.

Figure 1: Pre-Partition Map Of IndiaRef: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/images/partition_map.gif

Figure 2: Post-Partition Map Of IndiaRef: http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/india/india-map-prepartition.jpg

Political Scenario (1947-1980)

This period was dominated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and can be regarded as Nehru Years.

Figure 5: Jawaharlal NehruRef: http://www.wallpaperswala.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Nehru-Ji.jpg

Figure 4: Dr. Rajendra PrasadDeath of the 1st President of IndiaRef: http://www.iloveindia.com/indian-heroes/pics/dr-rajendra-prasad.jpg

Figure 3: Mahatma GandhiRef: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/MKGandhi.jpg

Nehru years was the time of political and social reforms.

• First Nuclear explosion at Pokhran (1974)

• Firing of first rocket (1972)

• Launching of satellite ‘ Aryabhatta’ (1975)

• Bonded servitude was made illegal

Figure 6: Satellite ‘ Aryabhatta’Ref: http://pib.nic.in/archive/50yrs/50phto/50l/space7.jpg

Clients

• Political leaders • Religious organizations.• New industrialists, Entrepreneurs,

Individual house owners.

Figure 5: Post-Partition Map Of IndiaRef: http://www.wallpaperswala.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Nehru-Ji.jpg

RevivalismIt was an immediate architectural response to the Independence of India.

• The abstraction of past forms.

• Replication of traditional forms .

Walter Granville's High Court of 1872, on Esplanade Row, Kolkata, is a vast building, standing on land once occupied by the Supreme Court and three other residences. It has red brick facing with stucco dressings.

Revivalism took many forms: British colonial buildings were faced with stucco and not stone.

Figure 7: Walter Granville's High Court Ref: http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/granville/2.html

- Colors chosen were different from the colonial palette. (creams & whites). The new buildings were painted pink to look like sandstone.

Figure 8: Ashok Hotel, New DelhiRef: http://www.theashok.com/

Figure 9: Swami Malai Mandir, New DelhiRef: http://incredibleindiaphotogallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/07_Malai-Mandir.jpg

Bhubaneswar

• Koenigsberger’s design laid the city out in a linear pattern with a central artery forming a main spine to which neighborhood units were attached. It was designed for the population 40,000.

• Neighborhood units had all the major amenities. Each unit was to house a population for 5,000-6,000.

City plan from the book

Figure 10: City Plan of BhubaneswarRef: Architecture and Independence

• By 1961, the population reached 40,000. The plan was revised by Julius Vaz to accommodate eleven neighborhood units instead of four units.

• It had a clear social agenda in accordance to Nehru’s Policies: neither cast nor socio-economic were to exist and gender equality and education were to be stressed.

• Nehru did not want Bhubaneswar to become a “city of big buildings” . It would accord with the idea of reducing differences between rich and poor.

Jawaharlal Nehru, decided to build a new city – Chandigarh as a capital for the state Punjab after Lahore was lost to Pakistan.He had envisioned this city to mark India’s entry into the modern world , would represent India’s clean break from the colonial rule of the British.

Chandigarh

Ref: http://www.tripadvisor.in/Tourism-g297596-Chandigarh-Vacations.html

The project was handed over to Le Corbusier in the year 1951 by Jawaharlal Nehru. Le Corbusier led a team that consisted of a French architect Pierre Jeanerette, Englishmen Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew and about twenty Indian architects and developed a new project.

When India became independent, it was found that there were native no trained professionals on city planning. Political leaders hired American architects- Matthew Nowicki, and Albert Mayer to plan the city.

Figure 12: Chandigarh Nowicki planRef: Architecture and Independence

Figure 13: Le Corbusier planRef: Architecture and Independence

Describing Chandigarh city plans .Le Corbusier conceived the master plan of Chandigarh as analogous to human body, with a clearly defined Head (the Capitol Complex, Sector 1), Heart (the City Centre Sector-17), Lungs (the leisure valley, innumerable open spaces and sector greens), Intellect (the cultural and educational institutions), Circulatory system (the network of roads, the 7Vs) and Viscera (the Industrial Area)

Figure 14: PlanRef: landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf

•The primary module of city’s design is a Sector, a neighborhood unit of size 800 meters x 1200 meters. •Each SECTOR is a self-sufficient unit having shops, school, health centers and places of recreations and worship. •The population of a sector varies between 3000 and 20000 depending upon the sizes of plots and the topography of the area.

View of typical Roads and Round-abouts in the city

Figure 16 Ref:landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf

Figure 17Ref:landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf

Figure 15: Neighbourhood planRef: landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf

HIERARCHY of GREEN AREAS

1.City Level Public Green Space with Artificial Water Body 2.Free- Flowing Green Space, connecting the entire site 3.Semi-Private Green Areas for neighbourhood pockets 4.Private Green Areas for Residential Units

Figure 18: Plan demarcating green areasRef: landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf

The Basic Building Typology is observed as extremely Rectilinear with similar proportions.

In both the developments the smaller individual Residential Units are arranged around central common Green Spaces, although the shapes are different.

Figure 19: TypologyRef: landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf

Figure 20: TypologyRef: landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf

The Superior Court of Justice

Figure 21: Front ViewRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier

It consists of an L-shaped block framed by a concrete that in the shape of arches, and that somehow establishes an reference to the covers of the havelis in Mughal architecture.

Ref:http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier

Parasol roof extending to form arches

Coloured PillarsFull Height Entrance

This space between the double cover offers a smooth ventilation in the summer and protection during the rainy season.

The building contains 8 high courts and a supreme court .Le Corbusier devised a set of outdoor terraces, which now are used as warehouses.

Figure 23: Ashok Hotel, New DelhiRef:http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J0XsQeUu1tE/R5XstFDFjFI/AAAAAAAAEvA/5UwM0Zyha9w/s400/DSCN6862.JPG

Figure 25: Terrace Ref:http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J0XsQeUu1tE/R5Xv6lDFjTI/AAAAAAAAEww/mwsl25HEOOY/s400/DSCN7164.JPG

Figure 24: Painted Concrete columns dividing the High court from the Supreme court.Ref:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J0XsQeUu1tE/R5Xv6VDFjSI/AAAAAAAAEwo/lybwZv89d-E/s400/DSCN7154.JPG

The Secretariat, 1958

Figure 25: Secretariat Ref: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier

Figure 26: free FacadeRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier

Figure 28: Front FaçadeRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier

Figure 27: RampRef: Ref:http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier

Projected porticos

Ramp enclosure

Square windows

Rough concrete finish

Roof Garden

Figure 29: Assembly HallRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusie

The Assembly Hall

Figure 30: View from the roadRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier

Figure 31: View of the rampRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier

Rough concrete finish ramp

Concrete double roof

Modernist ArchitectureAchyut Kanvinde: sought to create buildings that represented modern technology and the machine age.

• Open plan, with clearly separated ‘functional areas’.

• Continuous bands of glass are flush with the wall on the north façade.

• Southern façade has sun shades running across in a continuous line.

• The administration-cum-laboratory block is a perfect rectangular form .

Figure 32: The Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association buildingRef:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Ahmedabad_Textile_Industry%27s_Research_Association_building_%2815_05_2006%29.jpg

References 1) Jon T. Lang , Madhavi Desai , Miki Desai. Architecture and Independence: The

Search for Identity - India, 1880-19802) http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier3) http://landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf4) http://architecturalmoleskine.blogspot.in/2012/12/chandigarh-and-le-

corbusier-ii.html