Nehru's Search for Suitable Architecture
-
Upload
varsha-mallya -
Category
Education
-
view
2.345 -
download
3
description
Transcript of Nehru's Search for Suitable Architecture
Nehru's Search for Suitable Architecture
Damini Bhardwaj , Varsha MallyaStudio III- B
S.S.A.A
Partition Of India
After India’s Independence, partition of India took place dividing the country into two parts. The political and the religious conflict between India and Pakistan led to a highly volatile atmosphere.
Figure 1: Pre-Partition Map Of IndiaRef: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/images/partition_map.gif
Figure 2: Post-Partition Map Of IndiaRef: http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/india/india-map-prepartition.jpg
Political Scenario (1947-1980)
This period was dominated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and can be regarded as Nehru Years.
Figure 5: Jawaharlal NehruRef: http://www.wallpaperswala.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Nehru-Ji.jpg
Figure 4: Dr. Rajendra PrasadDeath of the 1st President of IndiaRef: http://www.iloveindia.com/indian-heroes/pics/dr-rajendra-prasad.jpg
Figure 3: Mahatma GandhiRef: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/MKGandhi.jpg
Nehru years was the time of political and social reforms.
• First Nuclear explosion at Pokhran (1974)
• Firing of first rocket (1972)
• Launching of satellite ‘ Aryabhatta’ (1975)
• Bonded servitude was made illegal
Figure 6: Satellite ‘ Aryabhatta’Ref: http://pib.nic.in/archive/50yrs/50phto/50l/space7.jpg
Clients
• Political leaders • Religious organizations.• New industrialists, Entrepreneurs,
Individual house owners.
Figure 5: Post-Partition Map Of IndiaRef: http://www.wallpaperswala.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Nehru-Ji.jpg
RevivalismIt was an immediate architectural response to the Independence of India.
• The abstraction of past forms.
• Replication of traditional forms .
Walter Granville's High Court of 1872, on Esplanade Row, Kolkata, is a vast building, standing on land once occupied by the Supreme Court and three other residences. It has red brick facing with stucco dressings.
Revivalism took many forms: British colonial buildings were faced with stucco and not stone.
Figure 7: Walter Granville's High Court Ref: http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/granville/2.html
- Colors chosen were different from the colonial palette. (creams & whites). The new buildings were painted pink to look like sandstone.
Figure 8: Ashok Hotel, New DelhiRef: http://www.theashok.com/
Figure 9: Swami Malai Mandir, New DelhiRef: http://incredibleindiaphotogallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/07_Malai-Mandir.jpg
Bhubaneswar
• Koenigsberger’s design laid the city out in a linear pattern with a central artery forming a main spine to which neighborhood units were attached. It was designed for the population 40,000.
• Neighborhood units had all the major amenities. Each unit was to house a population for 5,000-6,000.
City plan from the book
Figure 10: City Plan of BhubaneswarRef: Architecture and Independence
• By 1961, the population reached 40,000. The plan was revised by Julius Vaz to accommodate eleven neighborhood units instead of four units.
• It had a clear social agenda in accordance to Nehru’s Policies: neither cast nor socio-economic were to exist and gender equality and education were to be stressed.
• Nehru did not want Bhubaneswar to become a “city of big buildings” . It would accord with the idea of reducing differences between rich and poor.
Jawaharlal Nehru, decided to build a new city – Chandigarh as a capital for the state Punjab after Lahore was lost to Pakistan.He had envisioned this city to mark India’s entry into the modern world , would represent India’s clean break from the colonial rule of the British.
Chandigarh
Ref: http://www.tripadvisor.in/Tourism-g297596-Chandigarh-Vacations.html
The project was handed over to Le Corbusier in the year 1951 by Jawaharlal Nehru. Le Corbusier led a team that consisted of a French architect Pierre Jeanerette, Englishmen Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew and about twenty Indian architects and developed a new project.
When India became independent, it was found that there were native no trained professionals on city planning. Political leaders hired American architects- Matthew Nowicki, and Albert Mayer to plan the city.
Figure 12: Chandigarh Nowicki planRef: Architecture and Independence
Figure 13: Le Corbusier planRef: Architecture and Independence
Describing Chandigarh city plans .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) and Viscera (the Industrial Area)
Figure 14: PlanRef: landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf
•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.
View of typical Roads and Round-abouts in the city
Figure 16 Ref:landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf
Figure 17Ref:landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf
Figure 15: Neighbourhood planRef: landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf
HIERARCHY of GREEN AREAS
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
Figure 18: Plan demarcating green areasRef: landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf
The Basic Building Typology is observed as extremely Rectilinear with similar proportions.
In both the developments the smaller individual Residential Units are arranged around central common Green Spaces, although the shapes are different.
Figure 19: TypologyRef: landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf
Figure 20: TypologyRef: landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf
The Superior Court of Justice
Figure 21: Front ViewRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier
It consists of an L-shaped block framed by a concrete that in the shape of arches, and that somehow establishes an reference to the covers of the havelis in Mughal architecture.
Ref:http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier
Parasol roof extending to form arches
Coloured PillarsFull Height Entrance
This space between the double cover offers a smooth ventilation in the summer and protection during the rainy season.
The building contains 8 high courts and a supreme court .Le Corbusier devised a set of outdoor terraces, which now are used as warehouses.
Figure 23: Ashok Hotel, New DelhiRef:http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J0XsQeUu1tE/R5XstFDFjFI/AAAAAAAAEvA/5UwM0Zyha9w/s400/DSCN6862.JPG
Figure 25: Terrace Ref:http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_J0XsQeUu1tE/R5Xv6lDFjTI/AAAAAAAAEww/mwsl25HEOOY/s400/DSCN7164.JPG
Figure 24: Painted Concrete columns dividing the High court from the Supreme court.Ref:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J0XsQeUu1tE/R5Xv6VDFjSI/AAAAAAAAEwo/lybwZv89d-E/s400/DSCN7154.JPG
The Secretariat, 1958
Figure 25: Secretariat Ref: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier
Figure 26: free FacadeRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier
Figure 28: Front FaçadeRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier
Figure 27: RampRef: Ref:http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier
Projected porticos
Ramp enclosure
Square windows
Rough concrete finish
Roof Garden
Figure 29: Assembly HallRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusie
The Assembly Hall
Figure 30: View from the roadRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier
Figure 31: View of the rampRef: http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier
Rough concrete finish ramp
Concrete double roof
Modernist ArchitectureAchyut Kanvinde: sought to create buildings that represented modern technology and the machine age.
• Open plan, with clearly separated ‘functional areas’.
• Continuous bands of glass are flush with the wall on the north façade.
• Southern façade has sun shades running across in a continuous line.
• The administration-cum-laboratory block is a perfect rectangular form .
Figure 32: The Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association buildingRef:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Ahmedabad_Textile_Industry%27s_Research_Association_building_%2815_05_2006%29.jpg
References 1) Jon T. Lang , Madhavi Desai , Miki Desai. Architecture and Independence: The
Search for Identity - India, 1880-19802) http://www.slideshare.net/ctlachu/planning-of-chandigarh-by-le-corbusier3) http://landlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chandigarh-qt8.pdf4) http://architecturalmoleskine.blogspot.in/2012/12/chandigarh-and-le-
corbusier-ii.html