Tag Archive "le-corbusier"

Artists’ Projects in France

During a week spent visiting buildings of Le Corbusier in France, one of the happiest surprises was the number of artists who have been invited to produce work in French monuments and sites. We began at the Villa Savoye in Poissy,  just outside Paris.  As we circumnavigated the building to reach the entrance (designed for visitors who arrive by car, the ‘front’ door is 180 degrees from the façade that’s visible on entering the grounds), we saw a large, open structure on the grounds, made of rough logs and thatch, that looked to me like an extravagant version of chickees, ... More » »

Chandighar, City of Tomorrow, part 2

Part 1 of this post can be found here Chandigarh was a project taken on by Le Corbusier in 1951, after the original architects Matthew Nowicki and Albert Mayer (of Mayer, Whittlesey & Glass of New York) ended the project following Nowicki’s death in a plane crash. The city was planned as the new capital of Punjab, following Partition in 1947 (when India was divided by the British into India and Pakistan – Hindu and Muslim). It was a city for the generations to come – a very optimistic 1950s industry-fueled venture as stated by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharal ... More » »

Chandigarh, India’s City of Tomorrow

We arrived in Chandigarh two days ago. This means we’ve been traveling officially for 11 days in India- my and my boyfriend’s first time, our friend‘s second time, and we have another 4 weeks ahead of us. I’d been looking forward to seeing Chandigarh, an masterpiece in architectural and urban planning by Le Corbusier, for awhile now, but I can’t really explain how extraordinary it is without first explaining our experience so far in other cities in India.