NAME - PRAGATHI S

USN - 1MS16AT043
CLASS - 7T

CHANDIGARH TOWN PLANNING

INTRODUCTION

Chandigarh is one of the most significant urban planning experiments of the 20th century. It is
the only one of the numerous urban planning schemes of Le Corbusier to have actually been
executed. It is also the site of some of his greatest architectural creations. The city has had a
far-reaching impact, ushering in a modern idiom of architecture and city planning all over India.
It has become a symbol of planned urbanism. It is as famous for its landscaping as for its
architectural ambience. Most of the buildings are in pure, cubical form, geometrically
subdivided with emphasis on proportion, scale and detail.

GEOGRAPHICAL AND DEMOGRAPHICAL PROFILE

 Area 114 sq kms

 Longitude 76 47' 14E

 Latitude 30 44' 14N

 Total Population (2011 census)

 10.55 Lacs(97.25% people live in urban regions)

 Density of population/sq. km.7,900

BASIC PLANNING CONCEPTS

The city plan was conceived as post war ‘Garden City’ wherein vertical and high rise buildings
were ruled out, keeping in view the living habits of the people. 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)

 Viscera (the Industrial Area)

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.
Master Plan

The Master Plan by Le Corbusier was broadly similar to the one prepared by Albert Mayer and
Mathew Novicki, except that the shape of the city plan was modified from one with a curving
road network to rectangular shape with a grid iron pattern for the fast traffic roads, besides
reducing its area for reason of economy. The city plan was conceived as post war ‘Garden City’
wherein vertical and high rise buildings were ruled out, keeping in view the socio
economic-conditions and living habits of the people.

All the main roads were straightened out, the dimensions and organization of the superblocks
were reformatted, a complete hierarchy of circulation was established, the nomenclature was
changed, and the Capital “head” was firmly located in place.

The metaphor of a human being was being employed in the plan – the ‘head’ contained the
capital complex, the ‘heart’ the commercial centre, and the ‘arms’, which were perpendicular to
the main axis, had the academic and leisure facilities. The plan incorporated Le Corbusier’s
principles of light, space and greenery. What had been named an “Urban Village” in Mayer’s
plan, Le Corbusier renamed a “Sector”.

Sectors
Le Corbusier divided the city into different Sectors. Each Sector or the neighboured unit, is
quite similar to the traditional Indian 'mohalla', and measures 800 metres by 1200 metres,
covering 250 acres of area. The sector featured a green strip running north to south, bisected by
a commercial road running east to west. The streets were organized in a diminishing hierarchy
and labeled V1 through V8: V1: arterial roads that connect one city to another, V2: urban, city
roads, V3: vehicular road surrounding a sector, V 4: shopping street of a sector, V5: distribution
road meandering through a sector, V6 residential road, V7: pedestrian path, V8: cycle track.
Each Sector is surrounded by V2 or V3 roads, with no buildings opening on to them and meant
to be self-sufficient, with shopping and community facilities within reasonable walking
distance.

City Centre

The city centre (Sector 17) is the heart of Chandigarh's activities. It comprises the Inter-State
Bus Terminus, Parade Ground, District Courts, etc. on one hand, and vast business and
shopping center on the other. The 4-storey concrete buildings house banks and offices above
and showrooms/shops at the ground level with wide pedestrian concourses. The Neelam piazza
in the center has fountains with light and water features. Sector 34 is another newly developed
commercial sector.

The roads were designed and oriented in such a way that most of the time during the day, they
are under shadow. There are huge parking areas for the commercial zones so that the Parking
problems don’t create a havoc on the main roads.

Sector 1/Capital complex

The Capital complex, Sector 1, comprises three architectural masterpieces: the “Secretariat",
the "High Court" and the "Legislative Assembly", separated by large piazzas. In the heart of the
Capital Complex stands the giant metallic sculpture of The Open Hand, the official emblem of
Chandigarh, signifying the city's credo of "open to given, open to receive". The pools are being
constructed in front of the High Court and the Assembly; those of the Government Palace are
situated on two different levels.
HIERARCHY of GREEN AREAS
A Hierarchy of Green Spaces can be observed in both the layout ranging from Public Greens at
City Level to Semi-Private to Private Green Areas.

 City Level Public Green Space with Artificial Water Body

 Free- Flowing Green Space, connecting the entire site

 Semi-Private Green Areas for neighborhood pockets

 Private Green Areas for Residential Units

The Leisure Valley is a green sprawling space extending North-East to South-West along a
seasonal riverlet gradient and was conceived by Le Corbusier as the lungs of the city. Apart
from large Public Parks and special Botanical Gardens, it houses series of Fitness Trails,
amphitheatres and spaces for open-air exhibitions.

The Secretariat

The Secretariat (1953) is a very large building and a 254 meters long and 42 meters high houses
the ministerial chambers and all ministerial agencies. The Ministries are grouped in a central
pavilion, Block 4, one of the six ministerial blocks, each separated from the next by a vertical
expansion joint extending the full height of the building.

The exterior is of rough concrete, that is to say, the vertical brise-soleil, the parapets and the
horizontal brise-soleil, the acroterium which stands out against the sky leaving visible the
rooftop accommodations which are to be used for a club and for receptions. The two large
ramps in front of and behind the building, serve all floors and are likewise in rough concrete.
They offer a very beguiling solution of the circulation (morning and evening) for the 3.000
employees.
Vertical circulation is ensured by batteries of elevators matched by a staircase running in both
directions encased in a vertical spine rising from ground level to the summit of the roof. Rough
concrete similarly caps the two end walls bringing out the effect of the standard sheet-metal
formwork.

Legislative Assembly

The Parliament or Legislative Assembly (1955) was designed as a large box with the entrance
portico on one side, concrete piers on the other, and a repetitive pattern on the façade.
Sculptural forms on the roof, a dramatic ‘funnel’ top light over the Assembly, and a tilted
pyramid over the Senate chambers completed the composition.

The Assembly Hall has a square plan. The Assembly chamber, in the form of a hyperbolic shell,
is surrounded by ceremonial space. This circulation space is planned as a dimly lit, triple height,
columned hall for informal meetings and discussions. The side of the hall facing the high court
has a great portico and has eight thin piers. These piers frame a view of glimpses of the Shivalik
Hills.

A ceremonial pivoting door is placed in an off-centre bay of the portico. Le Corbusier was
inspired by the form of the cooling towers of a power station near Ahmedabad. The architect
designed the hyperbolic shell of the Assembly chamber with a base diameter of 39.6m. This
shell is 38m and terminates in an oblique section with a metallic framework at the top. This
framework directs the interplay of natural and artificial lighting, ventilation, and acoustics.

The High Court

The High Court (1952) has been in use since March 1956. The approaches have not as yet been
prepared : two of the three basins of water have not yet been excavated in front of the Palace;
the exterior polychromy is enlivened, for the moment, on the principal façade, only by the
brise-soleil of the Courts of Justice; the three pylons of the grand entrance portico, coated with
a cement rendering, are to be painted-one green, the other white, and the third in red-orange,
both left and right walls to be painted black.