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What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh

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Re: What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh

#11

Post by kranke155 »

evandrofisico wrote: post #8
kranke155 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brazilia in Brazil was the same thing with Niemeyer. But not sure how much of the actual city he did, or just the most iconic buildings. ps. see comment below, it was the work of multiple architects

Brasilia was the work of multiple architects, Lucio Costa was the main urban planner, while Oscar Niemeyer designed the most important government buildings.

Fair enough! I did not know indeed the extent of Niemeyer's power over the city plan, I only knew about the iconic buildings.

Re: What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh

#12

Post by gumby »

cassepipe wrote: post #4

He also had a plan to destroy a bunch of Paris to make it car-centered and more "modern". Be open to innovations but beware of modernists.

I agree with you, but to be fair this very practice is what gave us the Paris so many people love. It just wasn’t Le Courbusier but Haussmann.

Re: What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh

#13

Post by thematrixturtle »

thesaintlives wrote: post #2

Thanks for the great post. I had no idea Le Corbusier was involved in the design of some Indian cities. I lived in New Delhi for a while and traveled around a bit. This makes total sense now. There is some really abstract architecture and grand spaces to be seen. Now I understand the influence. Thank you!

I think Chandigarh is the only one he was involved in. "New Delhi", as in the British Imperial capital built next to old Delhi, was largely Edwin Lutyens' creation and predates modernism.

Re: What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh

#14

Post by keiferski »

gumby wrote: post #12
cassepipe wrote: post #4

He also had a plan to destroy a bunch of Paris to make it car-centered and more "modern". Be open to innovations but beware of modernists.

I agree with you, but to be fair this very practice is what gave us the Paris so many people love. It just wasn’t Le Courbusier but Haussmann.

The areas of Paris which are most popular amongst locals today are in the East and Northeast, most of which weren't affected by Hausmann's reforms.

Re: What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh

#15

Post by nerdponx »

cassepipe wrote: post #4

He also had a plan to destroy a bunch of Paris to make it car-centered and more "modern". Be open to innovations but beware of modernists.

Robert Moses famously did this to New York. The city continues to suffer under his legacy.

Re: What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh

#17

Post by rockyj »

At-least Chandigarh was "planned" with a vision or an idea. Ask anyone in India who has lived in or visited Chandigarh and they will speak of it highly. Most other big cities / state capitals in India are not that pleasant to live in and are just built or expanded as per "demand".

Re: What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh

#18

Post by lqet »

Le Corbusier is a mystery to me. I would very much like to understand the intellectual bending of his esthetic instincts that lead him going from this [0, 1, 2] to this [3, 4, 5] and his ideas of "machines for living" [6]. With good intentions, he invented the modern ghetto.

[0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Maison_b...

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/CF05.jpg

[2] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/VillaSavoye.j...

[3] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Marie_de_la_Tourette#/m...

[4] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Corbusie...

[5] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Ch...

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit%C3%A9_d%27habitation

Re: What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh

#19

Post by prionassembly »

kranke155 wrote: post #7
andybak wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chandigarh is pretty unique in this regard. Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong but I think it's the only city where a single modernist architect was allowed mostly unfettered control.

Brazilia in Brazil was the same thing with Niemeyer. But not sure how much of the actual city he did, or just the most iconic buildings. ps. see comment below, it was the work of multiple architects

I used to go to Brasilia 3-4 times a month for work. If you got on a Tuesday morning flight you could rub shoulders with congressmen, top-level cabinet ministers, supreme court justices and so on. Many would easily engage you in conversation, too; maybe because I didn't open with political subjects and mainly complained about having to go to Brasilia.

The first problem with Brasilia is that it's horribly located. We did avoid the Stockholm fate of having our historical cities razed, but moved the seat of power to the middle of nowhere. I know that overpaid lower-ranking bureaucrats have houses in the outer rings, near the lakes; but no one who has an actual choice lives in Brasilia. I don't know if it fully qualifies as a city. If the capital ever moves, it will be a ghost town in three weeks and start crumbling (bad architecture and bad construction) within the year.

Re: What Le Corbusier got wrong and right in his design of Chandigarh

#20

Post by mynameishere »

lqet wrote: post #18

Le Corbusier is a mystery to me. I would very much like to understand the intellectual bending of his esthetic instincts that lead him going from this [0, 1, 2] to this [3, 4, 5] and his ideas of "machines for living" [6]. With good intentions, he invented the modern ghetto. [0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Maison_b... [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/CF05.jpg [2] https:/…

He put an intellectual veneer on cheap trash. This can lead to lasting fame in many fields
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