LE CORBUSIER, CAPITOL OF CHANDIGARH, 1949-1964
"" (…) quella dichiarazione di simpatia per il passato, di amicizia per l'intero arco della storia nel suo significato di segnale della presenza umana, che ci puň legittimamente porre il maestro svizzero accanto a quell'altro grande amico della storia, e, per questo, altrettanto radicale innovatore, che č Picasso."" M. Tafuri, 1988
""Exact adaptation of form and organism to the sun, to the rain, to the air"." Le Corbusier, 1960
""II campidoglio di Chandigarh si situa ai confini di spazio e tempo"." M. Tafuri, 1984
"Time less but of its Time". P. Serenyi, 1984
""L'architettura di Le Corbusier si situa in una fascia concettuale che ha come propri limiti superiore ed inferiore la pittura e l'urbanistica."" M. Tafuri, 1984
"The site chosen is free from existing encumbrances of old towns and old tradition. Let it be the first large expression of our creative genius flowering on our earned freedom." R. Kalia ,1987
""Ghandhi crept into his musing through the back door as he revelled in village folklore and the apparent harmony of people, things, animal and nature. Thus the sophistical foreign primitivism intuited links between his own contrived pantheism and deeply rooted cosmic myths of India ancient religions: the fraternity between cosmos and living beings. (…) now involving equilibrium between religious and the secular, the rustic and the mechanical (…) reflecting on the best ways of dealing with monsoon and the extreme heat."
" W.J.R. Curtis, 1992
""The sun symbolizes the basic theme of Chandigarh's architecture: the distribution of light and darkness, heat and coolness."" S. Von Moos, 1968
""We may regards this plastic interplay over large distance as demonstration of Le Coubusier's ineffable space: his space indicible"." K. Frampton, 2001
""Il principio insediativo č il vuoto, il tutto aperto. (...) la scoperta dello spazio dell'Asia e la consapevolezza di insediare un luogo nel mondo danno le ragioni di una spazialitŕ che prende l'orizzonte come linea di riferimento e cosě vuole assumere una dimensione universale. Astratta, ché si riferisce alle idee di tutti gli uomini, cosmogonica, chč si riferisce alla vita di tutti gli uomini"." N. Ventura, 2018
""A Chandigarh si decreta il superamento della nozione di confine verso il modern spatial continuum che non ammette limite tra il costruito e il natural landscape; il passaggio oltre le limitazioni dalla prospettiva umanistica verso il "volo d'uccello", cui ci ha abituato l'aeroplano e che consente di achieve a new legibility that he (Le Corbusier, ndr) associated with the cosmic (C. Costant, 1988)."" N. Ventura, 1996
Segrétariat, 1958; .Palais de l'Assemblée, 1961;.Tower of Shadows; Martyr's Memorial;Geometric Hill; Fosse de la Consideration & Main Ouvert; Palace de Justice, 1956
""Through its evolution the plan of Capitol bore comparison with the rectangles and flanges in tension of an early Mondrian or else with the sliding objects and subtle axial shifts of a Mogul palace or garden."" W.J.R. Curtis, 1986
""Within the temenos of Capitol where it takes over twuenty minutes to walk from Secretariat to High Court the presence of man is more metaphisical than real (once again recalling De Chirico)"." K. Frampton, 1980
"Was Le Corbusier perhaps more concerned with the visual expression of climate control than its actual effectiveness? His enthusiasm seemed to lie in making the theatrical gesture." C. Correa, 1987
""The crescent shaped parasol, up turned against water and sun but also inverting it in an authoritarian gesture, became a sort of shared leitmotif at Chandigarh."" W.J.R. Curtis, 1982
"The Conference Celebrating Chandigarh - 50 years of the Idea (1999) examined and evaluated Le Corbusier's ideas and concepts". J. Takhar, 2002
"The Capitol' area was free for citizens and visitors. From some years it has been surrounded by barriers and barbed wire and accessible only through armed checkpoints. Only a short guided tour is available for visitors. " N. Ventura, 2022
"The Secretariat offered a horizontal version of Admirality
Building of Algers." P. Serenyi, 1984
""The Forum of the Assembly is not merely a cool and shaded interior but also a cathedral of shade"" S. Von Moos, 1968
""Le Corbusier rejects Neo-Classical symmetry in favourof a turbolent contrast between symmetry and asymmetrie, rectangular and curved, funnel and pyramid, boxand grid" " W.J.R. Curtis, 1992
"Standing at the place where the entrance of Trench would be located, (...) one is presented with a cubistic composition. To the right is the Tower of Shadows, a cubic comological symbol of the earth.(...) Against the slope of the Geometric Hill one would see the diurnal solar symbol. The courtyard of Martys's Memorial isolated the sky from its surroundings. The legs of the ramp that follow the courtyard walls reveal primary buildings and symbolic objects of the Capitol at each turn and ascent. Cast in the face of stright ramp of Martyr's Memorial is the chakra, the sign of wellcome and a symbolof time and eternity. But the twenty-four-spoke wheel is more specific. It is the spinnning wheel that became the Gandhi-ispired movement toward self-sufficiency, freedom from colonial rule, and indipendence". S.W.Hurtt, 1999
""Open Hand is symbol of peace and reconciliation (…) Open to receive the wealth that the world has created, to distribute to the peoples of the world. (…) will affirm the era of harmony (...) A gesture which appeals to fraternital collaboration and solidarity between all men and all nation in the world."" Le Corbusier, 1960
"The vast pedestrian esplanade linking th Assembley with High Court is inspired in spirit and detaile by air airport runways" C. Costant,1988