Introduction

The construction of Chandigarh is historically linked to the events that led to the birth of two new nations from the former British colony.

After independence on 15 August 1947, there was a bloody partition which saw the sub-continent divided into two states. The province of Punjab was split and its capital, Lahore, was attached to Pakistan. It was necessary for India to designate or build a new metropolis.

It was to be called Chandigarh, from the name of “Chandi”, the Indian goddess of power, to whom a temple existed on the chosen site, and “garh”, meaning fortress.
Initially, Prime Minister Nehru had called on the American architects Albert Mayer and Matthew Nowicki to create an entirely new garden-city 240 km north of Delhi, inspired by the work carried out at the end of the nineteenth century by an English specialist, Ebenezer Howard.

Unfortunately, on 31 August 1950, Nowicki died in an aircraft accident, leaving his partner totally distraught. Mayer did not feel capable of continuing alone and preferred to abandon the project. The project was then entrusted to Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris who, in the eyes of the Indian leader, had the advantage of his long-standing interest in a concept of overall development that could be adapted to the modernist project desired by the leaders of the National Congress.

The construction of this municipality from the ground up was to symbolise the determination of India to set foot in the contemporary world. Le Corbusier materialised his utopian dream of building an avant-garde city in the respect of his urban doctrine.

Living on site, Pierre Jeanneret was to be intimately associated with this ambitious programme and supervised the work, which lasted for almost fifteen years.

In close collaboration with his illustrious cousin, he supervised the manufacture of numerous articles of furniture for public and private buildings, astutely using the trees provided by the deforestation induced by the various construction projects.

With an area of 114 km2, Chandigarh was originally designed to shelter 150,000 inhabitants. The plans were modified along the way to receive 500,000. Today, the city is home to approximately 1,500,000 chandigarhis. Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, at the head of their French and Indian teams, worked jointly on the project from 1951 to 1965.
Le Corbusier designed most of the infrastructure, highlighting large volumes through a bold use of raw concrete, an innovative material that has the additional advantage of being relatively cheap.

Adapting his architectural designs to the climatic conditions of the region, Le Corbusier was careful to ensure effective protection against the sun and monsoon rains, while facilitating the circulation of the air by the installation of protective roofs, vented shutters and large terraces.

Abandoning the choice of a “vertical city” with tall buildings, the design of Chandigarh would be “horizontal” and organised in independent sectors with medical centres, educational institutions, temples, shops and sport grounds, going as far as to create an artificial lake in the north.

It was to be divided into a grid of 60 numbered rectangles interconnected by broad avenues. These neighbourhoods would be crossed by green spaces where construction would be prohibited.

The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture has decided to register the monuments of the Franco-Swiss architect on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The inclusion of the plans of Chandigarh helped to overcome any reluctance to the project as it shelters the greatest concentration of the works of Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier anywhere on the planet.

After an unavoidable period of purgatory, the ever more assertive presence and record prices achieved during design sales have contributed to raise awareness among a broad public of the works specially produced by these creators.
Today, the Indian leaders have become aware of the wealth of this great cultural heritage and since January 2011, no furniture can exit the country without the permission of the authorities and the Ministry of Culture.

Although a few excellent publications have been written about the city of Chandigarh and many others have been devoted to Le Corbusier, the creation of a specialised book contributing to establish an encyclopaedia of furniture with reference prices sheds new light on the appreciation of a work that is generating growing interest on the part of professionals and amateurs from around the world.