The World Heritage Committee – in its 40th session, held at Istanbul, Turkey, earlier this month – has accepted the transnational serial nomination of 17 sites designed by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. A first of its kind global nomination from seven countries spread over three continents, the dossier features sites that were implemented over a period of 50 years.
The Capitol Complex in Chandigarh, India, is considered as one of the most significant pieces of the architect’s realised body of works, commissioned in the course of what Le Corbusier referred to as ‘patient research’. It demonstrates Corbu's ‘five points’ as well as the ideas of the Ville Radieuse and Athens Charter that encapsulate his practice ideology. The Capitol Complex includes three buildings – the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Palace of Assembly, and the Secretariat, as well as the Open Hand Monument, interspersed with water bodies and few other smaller structures.
Chandigarh was conceived in 1951 as the new capital of the state of Punjab, after the 1947 partition that led to the creation of Pakistan. The coveted UNESCO status should bring with it a renewed energy for the city, to conserve its exposed concrete edifices, as well as to expand and evolve the narrative of its modernist legacy, to resonate with the idea of contemporary India.
The other Corbu-designed sites of the nomination include the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; the Curutchet House in La Plata, Argentina; and Marseille's Unité d’habitation, arguably one of the most influential brutalist buildings of all time. There are also sites in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. ‘These masterpieces of creative genius also attest to the internationalisation of architectural practice across the planet,’ states UNESCO.
The complex comprises three buildings – the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Palace of Assembly, and the Secretariat, as well as three monuments.
The Assembly building, surrounded by water on one side, is a totemic work in Corbu’s oeuvre. Courtesy of FLC/ADAGP
The Secretariat ’s long and horizontal form spans eight concrete levels. Courtesy of FLC/ADAGP
The High Court is the Complex’s third member, completed in 1956. Courtesy of FLC/ADAGP
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the UNESCO website
-
Multi-functional furniture, integrated planting and a felt landscape shape this new officeZeller & Moye’s new HQ space for a German IT company has been designed to accommodate every kind of office working situation, from introverted cubicles through to flexible open-plan spaces
-
Step inside a Hollywood Hills home where European design meets Californian easeLA studio Broad Project takes us inside its cinematic renovation of a 1960s Spanish Revival home in the Hollywood Hills
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Jnane Rumi: clarity, reflection and connectionIn the quiet tranquillity of Marrakech’s Palmeraie, Jnane Rumi evokes a rich and colourful tapestry of Moroccan art, craftsmanship and design
-
A guide to modernism’s most influential architectsFrom Bauhaus and brutalism to California and midcentury, these are the architects who shaped modernist architecture in the 20th century
-
Mayumi Miyawaki’s Fukumura Cottage puts this lesser-known Japanese modernist in the spotlightDiscover the little-known modernist architect through this private home in Japan’s Tochigi prefecture countryside
-
Eileen Gray: A guide to the pioneering modernist’s life and workGray forever shaped the course of design and architecture. Here's everything to know about her inspiring career
-
Behind a carefully composed geometric brick façade, a New Delhi residence rises highAKDA’s design for this New Delhi residence explores new geometries and high densities
-
Discover Canadian modernist Daniel Evan White’s pitch-perfect homesCanadian architect Daniel Evan White (1933-2012) had a gift for using the landscape to create extraordinary homes; revisit his story in an article from the Wallpaper* archives (first published in 2011)
-
This Hyderabad live/work space is rooted in its leafy context, centred around an old neem treeIn Hyderabad, India, Soil & Soul Studio by Iki Builds is a blueprint for a conscious way of building, working and living
-
A night at Pierre Jeanneret’s house, Chandigarh’s best-kept secretPierre Jeanneret’s house in Chandigarh is a modernist monument, an important museum of architectural history, and a gem hidden in plain sight; architect, photographer and writer Nipun Prabhakar spent the night and reported back
-
This Ahmedabad house is enclosed within a curved concrete shellThis Ahmedabad house by Achyutam Designs is a homage to concrete and a celebration of the curve, a family house designed to flow into its surroundings
