Planning of

CHANDIGARH
INTRODUCTION TO CITY
 Since Punjab was divided into two parts, the capital
was left in Pakistan there fore Punjab in India required
new capital

 le Corbusier was approached by Punjab government

and the prime minister of India

 Chandigarh is a bold experiment in modern civic

design

 Chandigarh has provoked fresh thinking and in fact

shown new way of life

 Maxwell fry, Jane drew and Pierre Jeanerette were

also involved in the team of architects

 When le Corbusier assumed control of the Chandigarh

project in 1951, however the design of the city had
already been devised by the New York firm of Mayer,
Whittlesey, and glass who received a contract for the
master plan of Chandigarh in 1950
ALBERT MAYER’S MASTER PLAN
 Mayer was the first one to get the
Chandigarh project

 Matthew Nowicki was invited to join the

staff assembled to plan Chandigarh. His
duties were to take the form of
architectural control.

 Mayer stated that he was trying to

create something that really applies to
what we have talked about much but
which has been at best done in a limited
way in Radbubn, the greenbelt towns
and Baldwin hills.

 The basic aim, stated Mayer, was a

beautiful city.

 The master plan which Albert Mayer

produced for Chandigarh assumes a fan-
shaped outline, spreading gently to fill
the file the site between the two river
beds. Fan-shaped Master Plan proposed by
Albert Mayer
•the flatness of the site allowed
almost complete freedom in creating
street layout and it is of interest to
note hat the overall pattern
deliberately avoids a geometric grid in
favour of a loosely curving system.

Drawings showing Mayer’s master plan

and neighbourhood unit on top and Le
Corbusier´s plan and Sector below.

•the provincial govt. buildings are

located the upper edge of the city
within a fork in one of the rivers, while
the central business district occupies an
area near the center.
•a curving network of main roads
surrounds the residential
superblocks,each of which contains a
central area of parkland
 In 1951 it was given to le Corbusier
MASTER PLANNER
 In Chandigarh le Corbusier plans system of
self supporting

 Neighborhood unit known as a sector has

worked very well

 Sector which is introverted in character

communicates only at 4 junctions with the
adjoining neighborhood units

 All the houses open up inside

 Grid planning is done

 Chandigarh planning was done in an

manner that everything was easily clear
about the routes and sectors

 7 v’s road system is used

 The roads are classified as v1 ,v2 ,v3………v7 Grid-Iron Master Plan proposed by
Le Corbusier
 v1 connects Chandigarh to other cities
 BASIC PLANNING CONCEPTS

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
Intellect - the cultural and educational institutions
Circulatory system - the network of roads
Viscera - the Industrial Area.

•CORBUSIER’S CONCEPTUAL SKETCH SHOWING THE V-ROAD
SYSTEM
 An integrated system of seven road
types.
 Pathways for cyclists
 Roads intersected at right angles
forming a grid.
 Hierarchy of movement.
 Residential areas segregated from the
traffic.
An integrated system of seven road types
V-1--Fast roads connecting Chandigarh
to other towns
V-2--arterial roads
V-3 --Fast vehicular roads
V-4 --Meandering shopping streets
V-5 --Sector circulation roads
V-6 --Access roads to houses
V-7 --footpaths and cycle tracks
Buses will ply only on V-1, V-2, V-3 and
V-4 roads.
 Basic framework of the master plan
and its components - the Capitol ,
City Centre, university, industrial
area, and a linear parkland - as
conceived by Mayer and Nowicki
were retained by Le Corbusier.
 The restructured master plan almost
covered the same site and the
neighbourhood unit was retained as
the main module of the plan.
 The Super block was replaced by
now what is called the Sector
covering an area of 91 hectares,
approximately that of the three-
block neighbourhood unit planned
by Mayer.
 The City Centre, the railway station
and the industrial areas by and large
retained their original locations.
 However, the Capitol , though still
sited at the prime location of the
north-eastern tip of the plan, was
shifted slightly to the northwest.
 THREE DISCIPLINES
The discipline of money

 Le Corbusier once remarked that India has the treasures of a proud culture, but her coffers are
empty.” And throughout the project the desire for grandness was hampered by the need for strict
economy.
 In working up his designs, le Corbusier consulted the program for each building as given in the
budget and then prepared the initial project.

The discipline of technology

 Available in quantity, however, was good clay stone and sand, and, above all human labour.
 The materials of which Chandigarh has been constructed are rough concrete in the capitol complex
and the central business district and for most of the city, especially in housing, locally produced
brick.

The discipline of climate

 Besides the administrative and financial regulations there was a law of the sun in India.
 The architectural problem consists; first to make shade, second to make a current of air[to
ventilate],third to control hydraulics.
1.INSPECTING THE SITE,1951. 5.TOWN HALL & STATE LIBRARY, SEC-17,1961.
2.BUILDING ROADS, 1951. 6.POLYTECHNIQUE FOR MEN, SEC-26,1961.

3.MINISTERS BUNGALOW, SEC-2,1956. 7.GANDHI BHAVAN, SEC-14,1966.

4.NURSERY SCHOOL, SECTOR -16,1956. 8.ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, SEC-14.1966.

Drawings showing the realisation of the first phase of Chandigarh from 1951-66.
THE SECTOR
The basic planning of the city is a sector: SECTOR 22

 to accommodate 3,000 to 25,000 persons.

 30 sectors in Chandigarh
 24 are residential.
 The sectors surrounded by high speed roads
 bus stops every 400m.
 The primary module of city’s design is a Sector, a
neighbourhood unit of size 800 m x 1200 m
 The main principle of the sector is that never a door
will open on the surrounding of fast vehicular road.
 The size of the sector is based on the concept of no
pedestrian need to walk for more than 10min .

View of typical Roads and Round-a-bouts in the city

THE CITY LANDSCAPE PLAN OF THE FIRST PHASES, SHOWING THE LEISURE VALLEY & THE SWATHS OF
GREEN SPACES THAT ALSO ACT AS FLOOD CONTROL

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
THE CAPITOL COMPLEX
PLAN OF CAPITOL BUILDING,SECTOR-1
1.Parliament
2.Secretariat
3.Governor’s Palace
4.High Court
5.Truncated Pyramid
6.Monument for the victims
7.Open Hand
  Post war ‘Garden city’
 Le Corbusier modular system
 Analogous to human body
 Head–capitol (place of power)
 Heart –the city centre
 Stomach–the commercial area
 Arms–university and Industrial zone
 Lungs–leisure valley ,open spaces
 Arteries–network of roads

LE CORBUSIER’S UNSHAKEABLE BELIEF IN THE

ANTHROPOMETRIC PROPORTIONAL CONNECTIONS & LINKS
CREATED BY GOLDEN SECTION
The Secretariat The High Court

The Assembly Hall Huge Open Plaza