One of the most ambitious undertakings of legendary architect Le Corbusier was the complete design of Chandigarh, the capital of the Indian state of Punjab. In the 1950s, Ernst Scheidegger traveled to India to witness the construction of the city and now the photographs that he took on his visits are collected here.
Fifty years in the making, Chandigarh 1956 is a testament to Scheidegger’s innovative efforts to promote architecture and urban planning through photography. His striking images show Chandigarh in its raw, evolving state, as he not only documented the rising government buildings and the unfurling streets of a modern designed city, but also captured images of the local people and their living conditions. The volume also features a facsimile of Scheidegger’s original book mock-up with sketches by Le Corbusier, and an essay by Stanislaus von Moo, which analyzes the images as well as the importance of Chandigarh and the work of Le Corbusier’s own office to promote the project through different media.
A captivating account of architectural history, Chandigarh 1956 forges crucial connections between the pioneers of modern architecture and photography and the future of architecture and urban planning today.
Ernst Scheidegger was a founding member of the Magnum agency and is a photographer, teacher, filmmaker, newspaper editor, gallery owner, and publisher. Stanislaus von Moos teaches at the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio, Switzerland and was the Jean Labatut Visiting Professor at Princeton University in 1997. He has published widely on the history of art and architecture, and is an expert on Le Corbusier’s life and work.
