3040 INDIA (Chandigarh) - Chandigarh Capitol Complex - part of The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement (UNESCO WHS)

3040 Chandigarh - Palace of Assembly

Le Corbusier's largest and most ambitious project was the design of Chandigarh, the capital city of the Haryana & Punjab State of India, created after India received independence in 1947. Le Corbusier was contacted in 1950 by Prime Minister Nehru of India, and invited to propose a project. An American architect, Albert Mayer, had made a plan in 1947 for a city of 150,000 inhabitants, but the Indian government wanted a grander and more monumental city.

Corbusier worked on the plan with two British specialists in urban design and tropical climate architecture, Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, and with his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, who moved to India and supervised the construction until his death. Le Corbusier's plan called for residential, commercial and industrial areas, along with parks and a transportation infrastructure. Le Corbusier's design called for the use of raw concrete, whose surface not smoothed or polished and which showed the marks of the forms in which it dried.

In the middle was the capitol, a complex of four major government buildings: the Palace of the National Assembly, the High Court of Justice; the Palace of Secretariat of Ministers, and the Palace of the Governor. For financial and political reasons, the Palace of the Governor was dropped well into the construction of the city, throwing the final project somewhat off-balance. His design made use of many of his favorite ideas: an architectural promenade, incorporating the local landscape and the sunlight and shadows into the design, the use of the Modulor to give a correct human scale to each element; and his favorite symbol, the open hand.

The most important building of the capitol complex was the Palace of Assembly (1952-1961), which faced the High Court at the other end of a 500m esplanade, and faces a large reflecting pool. This building features a central courtyard, over which is the main meeting hall for the Assembly. On the roof on the rear of the building is a signature feature of Le Corbusier, a large tower, similar in form to the smokestack of a ship or the ventilation tower of a heating plant. Le Corbusier added touches of color and texture with an immense tapestry in the meeting hall and large gateway decorated with enamel.

Chandigarh Capitol Complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement, about which I wrote here.

About the stamps
The first stamp is part of the series Builders of Modern India, about which I wrote here.

The second stamp is part of the series Headgears of India, issued on February 10, 2017. All the stamps have the same face values (10 INR).
• Haryanvi Turban
• Hornbill Warrior Cap
• Gujarati Turban - It's on the postcard 3040
• Bison Horn Maria Tribe Cap
• Rajasthani Turban
• Himachali Cap
• Angami Tribe Cap
• Japi Cap - It's on the postcard 3068
• Puneri Turban
• Naga Hat
• Mysore Peta
• Sikh Turban
• Kashmiri Cap
• Mithila Turban
• Tepi
• Gonda

References
Chandigarh (1951-1956) - Wikipedia 

Sender: K Raghavendra Bhat (direct swap)
Sent from Bangalore (Karnataka / India), on 25.04.2017
Photo: Duncid