Report on Expert Lecture on the Planning of Chandigarh

Attended by:
1.Students of School of Architecture- 150
2.Faculty members of the School of Architecture:  15

School of Architecture, REVA University organized an expert lecture on the Planning of Chandigarh, by Ar. Sanjeev Koppar, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture on 7th February, 2019 at Library Seminar Hall. This talk was organized mainly for the 4th semester students, as part of their curriculum, where they have to be introduced to the need for designing New Capital Cities, Nehruvian theories and Chandigarh as an emerging capital city. This talk will help the students in creating a panel on emerging capital cities, which is a group work aimed at Collaborative learning across all three electives.
 
Ar. Sanjeev Koppar began the talk by explaining how the idea of creating a planned Capital city was conceived by our then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Few glimpses of his lecture include: how the plans for building the city began soon after Punjab was split up in 1947; how Pakistan was ceded the larger western part, including the Punjabi capital of Lahore, leaving the Indian Punjab without an administrative, commercial, or cultural capital, which gave hopes that a grand new capital would become a symbol of modernity, heal the wounded pride of Indian Punjabis, and house thousands of Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan. Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier was commissioned to lead the city planning, aided by Indian architects and town planners. Construction began in the early 1950s, and much of the city was completed in the early 1960s.

Scenically located at the foot of the Himalayas, Chandigarh boasts a modern infrastructure, open spaces, greenery, cleanliness, and a relatively low population density. Divided into 46 rectangular sectors, numbered 1-12 and 14-47, most sectors have an area of nearly 250 acres and a housing capacity of about 15,000 people. Designed to be self-contained in civic amenities, the sectors are separated from each other by broad streets for the city's fast-moving arterial traffic. In the northeast is the artificial Lake Sukhna, a major recreational spot of the city. 

He also explained how 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. 

Ar. Sanjeev concluded the talk by explaining the architectural marvel of the landmark buildings in Chandigarh, designed by Le Corbusier- through the materials, construction technology and the scale of the building. This expert lecture was indeed a great exposure for the students, and they were able to associate the need for other emerging cities around the world.