Brasilia – Chandigarh
In 1960, Brasília was celebrated as the realization of an urban planning vision based on designs by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. At the same time, the sectoral city of Chandigarh was materializing according to plans by Le Corbusier. The “test tube city” emerged out of modern Western planning euphoria, marked by utopian ambition, and was exported across the globe. In both cities, foreign architecture commingled with indigenous culture, forming new and independent identities.
This publication explores how modernism has been appropriated in both cities, and how their inhabitants deal with its legacy in their everyday lives. Commonalities and differences are identified through images by the photographer Iwan Baan, taking stock of contemporary life in both cities.
Now available in a new compact format due to the continuing interest in this book more than ten years after its initial release.
In 1960, Brasília was celebrated as the realization of an urban planning vision based on designs by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. At the same time, the sectoral city of Chandigarh was materializing according to plans by Le Corbusier. The “test tube city” emerged out of modern Western planning euphoria, marked by utopian ambition, and was exported across the globe. In both cities, foreign architecture commingled with indigenous culture, forming new and independent identities.
This publication explores how modernism has been appropriated in both cities, and how their inhabitants deal with its legacy in their everyday lives. Commonalities and differences are identified through images by the photographer Iwan Baan, taking stock of contemporary life in both cities.
Now available in a new compact format due to the continuing interest in this book more than ten years after its initial release.
"It is this ability to see beyond the standard architecture photographic trope of glorifying built structures as paeans to man’s genius, that makes Baan’s photographs so interesting" – Metropolis
"The volume manages to be both a sly comment on the messy intersection between utopian design and humdrum normality, and a gentle tribute to those extraordinary places and their ordinary inhabitants" – Apollo
"The writings by Cees Nooteboom and an illustrated epilogue by architectural critic Martino Stierli discuss the historical and polemic position of the two cities. The book is a wonderful record of the failures and triumphs of utopian blueprints." – Think Matter
"Baan captures fascinating and brilliant moments of beauty that Niemeyer and Le Corbusier never could have planned for" – Arch Daily
