May 13, 2013
High Court, Chandigarh, 1955.
Le Corbusier’s foray into urban planning for the city of Chandigarh, India, was perhaps the most realized example of modern city planning in the 20th century. The architect was given a tabula rasa to execute an anthropomorphic plan, hierarchical city grid, and geometric structures of raw, unfinished concrete.
The outcomes of Chandigarh are still widely debated by architectural experts. However, now you have a chance to get a closer look at Corbu’s iconic Indian projects yourself! On display at agnès b. Galerie Boutique in Manhattan from May 10 to June 30, “Lucien Hervé: Le Corbusier in India” provides a more intimate look at the godfather of modernism and his works in India, featuring rare signed vintage and modern prints by Lucien Hervé, Corbusier’s “official” photographer for most of his career. More after the jump!
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May 25, 2012
“Chandigarh” by Doshi Levien; All images: Doshi Levien for Moroso via
Atavism can be quite the repellent thing, especially in design. The return to or the appropriation of past forms inevitably requires a dilution of the cultural histories and sources that originally gave rise to them. We’re still living with modernism in one form or another, from industrial design to architecture, though one that’s long been stripped of its founding social and utopian content. But on occasion “retro” design can be a delightful indulgence. See London-based Doshi Levien‘s “Chandigarh” collection of new armchair and sofa designs that purport to tap into the strains of Indian modernism established by Le Corbusier and the mid-century capital he built.
Produced for Italian furniture maker Moroso and displayed at the Salone del Mobile last month, “Chandigarh” consists of upholstery pieces set within a bent tubular steel frame. The foam-molded seats are covered in either leather or patterned fabric, custom designed to evoke the redeeming rectilinearity Corbu’s modernity represented. A pair of circular terrazzo and glass coffee tables offset the rigid geometries while adding to the sets rich palette of materials.
The forms possess the same graphic-like profiles that are ubiquitous in Corbu’s Chandigarh, from the flatness (and symbolically flat) of the “Open Hand” and the architect’s hieroglyphic murals and sgraffito emblazoned on the government buildings to the city’s now much-prized engraved sewer tops. These symbols are rooted in Chandigarh’s collective urban identity that marks, in the words of the designers, “the coming together of modernity, sensuality, graphics and eccentric qualities”.
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July 22, 2011
Stéphane Couturier is a photographer who digitally manipulates images of architecture. With his publication of Chandigarh Replay in 2007, Couturier fused Le Corbusier’s colorful murals and tapestries he designed for the city’s civic buildings with the facades of the buildings themselves. In doing so, he played with scale and challenged Le Corbusier’s oft-recited ploy that his architecture was derived from his artwork.
For his Usine Toyota series taken at a Toyota assembly plant, Couturier mapped the course of a car assemblage and stitched moments of the process together along four feet long prints. The result is a flurry of flying paint and the blur of revolving machinery and moving workers. Click for more images!
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April 4, 2011
Aaron Betsky slams the powers that be in Taiwan today, criticizing the decision of the government to abandon what he calls a “visionary” Antoine Predock design for the National Palace Museum, for a categorically “bad” Artech scheme. [via Beyond Buildings]
“The Limits of Cyber-Revolutions” examines the pitfalls of the “digital uprising” through the lens of urbanism and mobile technologies. [via NY Mag]
The New York Times takes a look at China’s new National Museum – and what’s left out of the official histories on display. [via The NYT]
The federal funding for high speed rail that Florida is “rejecting” on principle? It will probably get funneled to fund the rail projects in California. [via Infrastructurist, Fresno Bee]
An interesting comment from the A/N Blog on whether the auction houses selling objects from Chandigarh are morally obligated not to profit from the “plundering.” [via A/N Blog]
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March 21, 2011
Le Corbusier’s High Court at Chandigarh.
Last week, Domus promoted an online petition calling for the preservation of Le Corbusier’s self-described “crowning work:” the Indian city of Chandigarh. It’s been making the rounds on the ‘nets since, but we want to pass on the link, in case you missed it. Click through.
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