Make Chandigarh heritage city: Ruegg

Written by Tribune News Service

Friday, 12 October 2007

Chandigarh should be a heritage city and deserves to be on the list of UNESCO’s heritage cities of the world, said Prof Arthur Ruegg from ETH, Zurich, and a Corbusier scholar of repute. At Chandigarh College of Architecture to make a presentation on “Le Corbusier: Colour in Architecture” today, Prof Arthur maintained that proper policies should be framed to get the city its worthy status. Denying that much tampering has been done with Le Corbusier’s master plan of the city, he stated that a little bit of changes are acceptable. “In fact, with time, changes have to be incorporated but at the same time, the architecture of the city has to be respected. The proposed museum of knowledge is the best solution,” he asserted. Fascinated most with the upper chamber of the Punjab Assembly’s building, Ruegg is also impressed with the orderliness of the buildings in City Beautiful. “Chandigarh has a beautiful ensemble of Le Corbusier’s buildings which is missing in Switzerland.” Denying the misconception that the city was over crowded, Arthur opined that the city could be denser but developing the underdeveloped areas is an art, which should be done in a proper way. Drawing the commonalities between Switzerland and Chandigarh, he said, “Both the cities have a strong Corbusier’s influence on them.” Suggesting that the Capitol Complex be made more tourist friendly, he said, “May be there should be one or two eateries for the convenience of the visitors.” Patrick Gmuer, another Swiss architect, also made a presentation on “Recent Polychromatic Architecture in Switzerland”. Comments (1) >> Show/Hide comments Noor Dasmesh Singh said:   It feels reassuring to read that professionals (Architects/Urbanists) from around the world regularly visit Chandigarh and make suggestions even though sometimes at a personal level to drive the future of Chandigarh. Like Ruegg points out that it is indeed rare to find an ensemble of Corbusier's buildings in one place. I would add that is also interesting to find an example of a successful urban commission which is not necessarily a typical Indian city model but has meshed in the context fabric in a very interesting way. Like I pointed out in one of my earlier post, surely a study needs to be carried out / commsioned by an Urban Authority responsible and strategic guidelines for an Urban Poilicy Framework should be put in place to drive the future of the city for the years to come. Today the Chandigarh Administration has all the resources to team with up Academia and experts to advise them in order to ensure a meaningful future growth for Chandigarh to protect interests of wider audience. I am an architect and has lived my earlier life in Chandigarh and now work for a strategic design consultancy in London and would be very keen to see an ordered growth for the city in the years to come. February 24, 2008 Write comment You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.

 

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