The Modernist Laboratory of the Future: Exploring Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn’s Architecture in India
At the beginning of 2022, curator Lesley Lokko announced the title of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia: “The Laboratory of the Future.” The theme’s intention is to highlight the African continent as the protagonist of the future, a place “where all these questions of equity, race, hope, and fear converge and coalesce,” in the words of the curator. As the fastest urbanizing continent, Africa is viewed as a land of potential, but also of challenges, where matters of racial equity and climate justice are played out with a significant impact on the world at large.
Yet in the late 1950s, another laboratory of the future was taking shape, one where the novel ideas of Modernism produced grand monumental designs and complete urban structures at an unprecedented scale: India. In the search for a modern and democratic image, the newly independent country welcomed Western architectural masters such as Le Corbusier and Louis I. Kahn and entrusted them with a wide range of commissions, from the urban layout of Chandigarh and its major governmental buildings to universities, museums, and smaller scale domestic projects. The result is a mixture of cultures, influencing one another to unexpected results.
India’s status after 1947 and the search for a new image laid the premises for the construction of one of the largest Modernist assemblies and urban experiments. Named after the Hindu goddess of power, Chandigarh was chosen to become the site of the new state capital for Punjab, created to embody the modernizing agenda and secular values of the newly founded Republic. From the beginning, the Chief Engineer of Punjab, P. L. Varma, and the State Administrator of Public Works, P. N. Thapar, set out to bring Western professionals, in part due to the desire to create a modern and efficient city and because of the previously limited professional training of architects under the Raj. Abert Meyer, an American planner, was invited to lay out the new city, and Matthew Nowicki, a young architect who worked with Le Corbusier, was selected to create the architecture of the new democratic institutions. After the unexpected death of Nowicki in 1950 in a plane crash, Thapar and Varma reached out to and invited Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry, who recommended a collaboration with Le Corbusier, as explained in William J R Curtis’ book Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms.
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Hesitant at first, Le Corbusier accepted the commission and became the exclusive designer of the Capitol buildings and a consultant for the city layout, still officially led by Mayer, yet overshadowed by Le Corbusier’s strong vision. Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry were also employed, concentrating their attention on the residential areas, developed with teams of young Indian architects. The housing sector was informed by Indian vernacular prototypes and contained elements such as loggias and sleeping terraces. In 1951, Le Corbusier also invited young Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi to join his Paris studio, who brought a deeper understanding of Indian culture and climate to the team, having a significant influence on the panning of the new city, the residential areas and the creation of open spaces. Later on, in 2018, Balkrishna Doshi became India’s first architect to receive the Pritzker Prize, the highest honor in architecture.
At an urban scale, the planning for Chandigarh retained some of Le Corbusier’s principles, such as the separation of areas for living, working, and leisure, and the grand monumental axes, but it left out the skyrises, opting instead for low and mid-rise buildings, in an adaptation to the local lifestyles and customs. In his book, Curtis remarks that in the search for modern Indian grammar, Le Corbusier shifted his approach to view India as “a country that must avoid the voracious industrialism of the first-machine-age by forging a new culture on the form moral base involving equilibrium between the mechanized and the rustic, the secular and the sacred, the local and the universal.”
In the design of the four major governmental buildings, Le Corbusier’s research into the cosmology and traditions combined with adaptations to the specific conditions of the local climate to produce sculptural and symbolic architectural elements. Variants of parasols and bris-soleil are employed to provide the necessary shade, while porticos and perforated walls allow the air to circulate and ventilate the structures. Concrete was the preferred material. Despite it storing and radiating heat, the low cost and easy availability made it an easy choice. The rudimentary tools available to the workers on site resulted in powerful shapes rendered in rough surfaces, making the architecture “timeless, but of its time.”
Le Corbusier’s influence is not limited to Chandigarh. After his first visit to India in 1951, he was invited to Ahmedabad, an important trade center in northwest India. With its strong textile industry, the city was perceived as a potential model for a “New India,” as it played a significant role in the struggle for independence. The new urban elite, formed of merchants and millowners, were keen to establish their position by aligning with the modern ideals represented in the architect’s work. While not all commissions panned out, Le Corbusier built four buildings in Ahmedabad: the Museum, the Millowner’s Association Building, the dwellings of Shodhan, and a private house for Manorama Sarabhai.
The Millowners’ Building is a little palace, genuine evidence of an architecture for modern times adjusted to the climate of India. With the other Ahmedabad buildings… it will be a true message towards an Indian architecture. – Le Corbusier, 1953 (cited in Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms by William J R Curtis)
In the early 1960s, when the plans were laid out for the creation of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), a graduate school of business administration in Ahmedabad, Balkrishna Doshi was consulted. He recommended American architect Louis Kahn, whom he met through his teaching position in Philadelphia. Kahn accepted the commission for the chance to work in an area influenced by Le Corbusier on the condition that B V Doshi joins him as an associate, as Doshi explained in a video interview.
The university campus proved to be an opportunity for Kahn to design a complete environment for learning, an ideal that was only partly fulfilled through his work in the United States at Erman Hall and the Salk Institute. The subcontinent proved to be a receptive testing ground for Kahn’s architectural endeavors, as soon after works began in Ahmedabad, he received another commission for an even larger project at the new capital at Dhaka, Bangladesh. The National Assembly Building of Bangladesh was completed in 1982, becoming one of his most recognized and appreciated works.
The campus in Ahmedabad was an opportunity for Kahn to explore the properties of brick, a local material prescribed to him by the client due to economic restraints. In brick, Kahn discovered a robust building system, attractive because of its straightforward structural honesty. In conversations with his students in the United States, he often dramatized this dialogue carried out with the material, as cited in David B. Brownlee and David G. De Long’s book Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture:
You say to brick: ‘What do you want, brick?’ And the brick says to you, ‘I like an arch.’ And you say to brick, ‘Look, I want one too, but arches are expensive, and I can use a concrete lintel over you, over an opening.’ An then you say, ‘What do you think of that, brick?’ Brick says, ‘I like an arch.’ – Louis Kahn
In its search for a modern and democratic image, India became a land of possibilities where the Modernist language, ideals, and abstract principles could be tested at an unprecedented scale, but not in a vacuum. Here, two of the pioneers of Modernism found a new expressivity through the influence of a culture that was at first distant to them. The Indian culture, customs, way of life, and relationship with materials and the land influenced not only the work of Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn but also the image of Modernism and 20th-century architecture at large.
This article is part of an ArchDaily series titled India: Building for Billions, where we discuss the effects of population rise, urbanization, and economic growth on India’s built environment. Through the series, we explore local and international innovations responding to India’s urban growth . We also talk to the architect, builders, and community, seeking to underline their personal experiences. As always, at ArchDaily, we highly appreciate the input of our readers. If you think we should feature a certain project, please submit your suggestions.