The Palace of Assembly is a building in Chandigarh, India which houses the Punjab Legislative Assembly and the

Haryana Legislative Assembly The Haryana Legislative Assembly or the Haryana Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral state legislature of Haryana state in India. The seat of the Vidhan Sabha is at Chandigarh, the capital of the state. The Vidhan Sabha comprises 90 Members of L ...

. It was designed by modernist architect

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

. It is part of the Capitol Complex, which includes the Legislative Assembly, Secretariat and High Court. The Palace of Assembly features a circular assembly chamber, a forum for conversation and transactions, and stair-free circulation. The building was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.

History

After the partition of Punjab in 1947 following the

independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

, the divided Punjab required a new capital to replace Lahore, which was now in Pakistan. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru commissioned Le Corbusier to build a new city for the capital of Punjab. This city would become Chandigarh. Nehru desired that the city's design be "unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation's faith in the future". Subsequently, Corbusier and his team designed not just a large assembly and high court building, but all major buildings in the city, down to the door handles in public offices. Construction of the Palace of Assembly began in 1951 and ended 11 years later in 1962. The building was inaugurated on 15 April 1964. After the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 separated the new state of Haryana from the state of Punjab, Chandigarh remained capital of both states and both legislative assemblies share the same campus. Today, many of the buildings in Chandigarh are considered modernist masterpieces, though most are in a state of neglect. In 2010, chairs from the assembly building were auctioned in London. A diplomatic attempt to stop the sale failed, as the items were "condemned" and deemed unfit for use.

Design

Entrance

Le Corbusier wanted to include an assembly door. He consulted with Prime Minister Nehru for symbols that could be depicted on the door to represent the new India and its modern vision. Nehru, in turn, entrusted Le Corbusier to invent them himself. The door is adorned with vibrant colours and is divided into upper and lower halves. The upper half depicts man's relationship with the cosmos and includes imagery representing solstices,

lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth ...

s and the Equinox. The lower half is populated with animals and natural forms. A desert depicts the original order of the Earth, while greenery represents the

Garden Of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

. The door also displays a river, trees, bulls and turtles, and the proverbial Tree of Knowledge in the centre of the door bears fruits of knowledge. The nearly 25 square foot door, with its enamelled panels, was airlifted from Paris. This entrance is opened on certain ceremonial occasions.

Interior layout

Le Corbusier believed that "architecture is circulation", and the Palace of Assembly is designed to encourage the movement of people and ideas. High ceilings and narrow columns make the space feel expansive, and ramps replace stairs to provide fluid transitions between levels. The General Assembly itself is circular – a literal interpretation of Le Corbusier's belief – and is off-centre within the space, challenging neoclassical architecture's focus on organization.

Gallery

File:Chandigarh assembly building 02.JPG, View of the building from the adjacent plaza File:View of the surrounding from the corridor of legislative assembly.jpg, View of the pool from an outdoor corridor File:Corridor of legislative assembly.jpg, Architectural motifs File:Hyperbole Palace of Assembly.jpg, Roofline of building with hyperbolic tower visible File:Assembly Building Chandigarh.jpg, Night view of Assembly

References