Hacker News Reader

Comment by thesaintlives | Hacker News Reader

Thanks for the great post. I had no idea Le Corbusier was involved in the design of some Indian cities. I lived in New Delhi for a while and traveled around a bit. This makes total sense now. There is some really abstract architecture and grand spaces to be seen. Now I understand the influence. Thank you!

View on HN

Chandigarh is pretty unique in this regard. Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong but I think it's the only city where a single modernist architect was allowed mostly unfettered control.

A good example of why we shouldn't give anyone unfettered control (with something that impact the lives of millions)

Brazilia in Brazil was the same thing with Niemeyer. But not sure how much of the actual city he did, or just the most iconic buildings.

ps. see comment below, it was the work of multiple architects

Brasilia was the work of multiple architects, Lucio Costa was the main urban planner, while Oscar Niemeyer designed the most important government buildings.

Fair enough! I did not know indeed the extent of Niemeyer's power over the city plan, I only knew about the iconic buildings.

I used to go to Brasilia 3-4 times a month for work. If you got on a Tuesday morning flight you could rub shoulders with congressmen, top-level cabinet ministers, supreme court justices and so on. Many would easily engage you in conversation, too; maybe because I didn't open with political subjects and mainly complained about having to go to Brasilia.

The first problem with Brasilia is that it's horribly located. We did avoid the Stockholm fate of having our historical cities razed, but moved the seat of power to the middle of nowhere. I know that overpaid lower-ranking bureaucrats have houses in the outer rings, near the lakes; but no one who has an actual choice lives in Brasilia. I don't know if it fully qualifies as a city. If the capital ever moves, it will be a ghost town in three weeks and start crumbling (bad architecture and bad construction) within the year.

If you ever find yourself in or near Albany, New York it’s worth looking at the state government complex and university to compare and contrast.

The capitol complex really settles the arguments. You have the NYS Capitol, which is an amazing expression of the excess of 19th century monumental building. Across one street is a circa 1910 replica of a Greek temple turned office building, with a gross 1950s addition in the rear. Across the park is an Art Deco mid rise, and then you have the Empire State Plaza, which is an interpretation of Brasilia in the US.

It’s designed as an over proportioned Roman forum built on a parking garage and mall-like concourse, but the buildings themselves are bizarre. Full of little warrens, and dependent on chaulk and constant maintenance to endure.

The architects sold the place based on the modernist form, but the building interiors are really not designed for their intended use. Function always follows form in these sorts of buildings.

I took my bar admission oath in Albany. The NYS Capitol is so beautiful. Then I came across Empire State Plaza and thought I had entered some Star War set.

I think Chandigarh is the only one he was involved in. "New Delhi", as in the British Imperial capital built next to old Delhi, was largely Edwin Lutyens' creation and predates modernism.

There are a lot of planned cities in India, and Pakistan.

Few know, but Islamabad is also began its existence as a 100% planned city. Pakistan invited C. A. Doxiadis to do the planning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinos_Apostolou_Doxiadi... . He was considered to be of Corbusier's calibre if not more, at the time.

Faisalabad was planned back in British time. And the now infamous Model Town, as the name suggests, too.

Dhaka, and Karachi were also supposed to get plans at around late sixties, but we all know how it went...

Diodiaxis left Karachi plan half finished when 1971 happened, and Dhaka had an initial burst of orderly development for a few years, but it was cut short after Mujib was murdered, and 20 years of instability followed.

Karachi, and Dhaka now are prime examples of "urban hells" in the world.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com