Wednesday, July 8, 2015

'Vocal local followers of Le Corbusier' by K.J.S.Chatrath

With the allegations about Le Corbusier’s Nazi sympathies being talked about in the foreign press, some of the ‘experts’ of Chandigarh who built their careers eulogizing everything that Le Corbusier touched have started feeling uncomfortable. No wonder one notices a number of pro-Le Corbusier articles in the press recently.



I surely agree with these local vocal followers of Le Corbusier that one must keep the political sympathies of Le Corbusier and his work as an architect separate.



Of course my take is that he made a mess of the architecture & planning of Chandigarh. I recently wanted to go to a chemist shop in Sector 35. I could not find one and was told that this sector’s market was earmarked for eateries by Le Corbusier and for going to a chemist’s shop one must travel to a sector where there is a Medical hospital/institution. Similarly I wanted to buy some school stationery in another sector and could not locate any stationery shop as it was a sector ordained for shops of some other speciality. I do hope that I got it all wrong.