Activating modernist public space - Deconstructing the urban plaza
Abstract
The city of Chandigarh is planned to human scale. It puts us in touch with the infinite cosmos and nature. It provides us with places and buildings for all human activities by which the citizens can live a full and harmonious life. Here the radiance of nature and heart are within our reach.1 "The Edict of Chandigarh" from The Establishment Statute of the Land,1959 Chandigarh was first an emblem and then an urban center, meant to be filled with the values and meanings of a new democratic India. A city envisioned to have a modern character to compliment its tantalizing history.2 More than fifty years since its construction, the city of Chandigarh designed by Le Corbusier remains a celebrated icon of early modern architecture and urbanism in Asia. But today the city that was planned to accommodate about 500,000 is already a home for more than double this population. This influx of population along with the lack of new housing to accommodate them has made the city stand neither complete in its envisioned form nor replete with the founding meanings. As described in the Edict of Chandigarh, the city was envisioned by the government as the product of cosmos of nature, based on a rectangular grid made up of sectors. The modern democratic city was conceived as a body with, a civic core in the Heart (Sector 17), an administrative core (The capitol complex) at the Head, the green zones (the soul) and the support core or the circulation road network (the arteries). Envisioned as the civic/commercial heart of the city, Sector 17 was laid out around three plazas, intended to define the activities of a broad spectrum of society. But in the grand visions of an ideal modernist city, the core cultural values of the local Indian society were neglected. Even after over 60 years of growth, the sprawling city still lacks an perceptible cultural center that defines the identity of the denizen. This thesis examines the role of culture as a resource and means for the redevelopment of the city in response to current conditions. Identifying the many voices in the city, I will investigate, what will be the most appropriate intervention in the context of this city with a very strong cultural heritage, but lacks the architecture to define it. The project focuses on the revitalization of Sector 17 as the cultural heart of the city by examining the three plazas visually, programmatically and contextually to create a coherent space as a pedestrian, cultural and commercial center. This effort resulted in the design of a cultural center that in its site and form integrate with the landscape and reactivate the plaza. The intent is to bring together the functions of theater, amphitheater and learning/support spaces in a built volume but also have these activities spill out into open, easily accessible spaces. And creating a pedestrian path into the city centre lined with a series of activities and landscaped features. Creating a dialogue between people and place, Sector 17 can be defined by more than just masses of consumerism, becoming a place where the civic heart and soul (green spaces) of the city are united. 1 "The Edict of Chandigarh" from The Establishment Statute of the Land,1959 2 Kalia, Ravi. Oxford University Press, 1999
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