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When India emerged from colonial rule in 1947, the division of Punjab left its historic captial, Lahore, in newly created Pakistan. India`s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru insisted that Pubjab`s new capital, Chandigarh be a city unfettered by the traditions of the past a symbol of the nation`s faith in the future. Its design and construction galvanised national attention and Le Corbusier, the icon of European architectural modernism, was invited to help remake India`s national idea. He arrived in the early 50s, in the twilight of his career, and set to work appropriating primitive symbols, alternately wooing and clashing with Nehru and with the India planners and builders. He ultimately prevailed in the design of just a few administrative buildings, the ceremonial core of the city as well as in the construction of his enduring symbol of peace and non-alignment, the Open Hand. Vikramaditya Prakash tells the fascinating story of the planning and architecture of Chandigrarh bringing to light little-known behind the scene details. At the centre of the book is the highly charged realtionship between the evolving city and Le Corbusier, who with arrogant exuberance, set to work in Chandigarh to upgrade India to modern times, avoiding the errors of the West and reviving the essential joys of pastoral life. Chandigarh`s Le Corbusier is the story of the making of an Indian modern architecture as both an aspect and an engine of postcolonial culture. Vikramaditya Prakash is an assistant professor at the University of Washington Department of Architecture, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. ISBN: 81-85822-99-9
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