The fa?ade made up of three huge tower-shaped walls of ‘High Court Building’ located in the central governmental area was just overwhelming. Each of the three towers is painted in different colors of green, yellow and orange. The contrast they create with its gray concrete wall is beyond description. Looking at the wall of three towers, we went up the modest slope inside. When we reached the top, the garden in the sky showed itself up to us. Breeze-soleil filters strong sunlight and let only dry wind of Chandigarh in the building.
Every building in India designed by Corbusier has been finished with rough concrete. The mansions, schools, Parliament Building and the Court of his designing give us the impression of authoritative dignity. Strange to say, however, while seeing these places around, I began to feel as if I was hearing such swinging tunes as the compositions for violin by Fritz Kreisler or Mozart’s Opera, ‘ Die Zauber fl?te’. Something makes me feel buoyant. Where does such a feeling come from? I suppose the architectures designed by Corbusier must have some sort of secret trick that inspires musical or physical instinct in the depth of people’s mind .
The next place we went to was, at last, the Parliament Building. Here, too, I, who is non expert of architecture, was impressed by something weird. What made me feel so were the pieces of relief such as ‘fish’, ‘palm’ drawn like scribbles here and there on the huge concrete wall with its extremely overwhelming power. Every scribble is a simple one like the one drawn by small kids. What a playful guy Corbusier must have been!
Thus, our two-day tour of Chandigarh was the very tour dedicated to Corbusier’s architectures. After everything said, there is still the fact that an architect who was not so young came all the way to India alone in the half century ago when there wasn’t any good transportation system and wasn’t internet, of course, and made a great plan to build a city in the rough ground of India. The city thus completed still stands as the Capital City of the state, upholds the lives of people and attracts architects and students of architecture from all over the world after more than 50 years of its completion. These buildings have taken their firm roots in the dusty and dry land to be in harmony with its light brown soil, intense sunlight and dry wind of here in North India. It will be unchanged in the future of 50 years from now. Don’t you think it’s marvelous?