Renovated Le Corbusier Centre opens today

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 16

Sprinkled with interesting installations made by students and artists, the renovated block of the Le Corbusier Centre in Sector 19 here would be opened for the public on Tuesday. Also, the Open Hand Art Studios created by Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi at the centre would be launched on the occasion.

The event will mark the 122nd birth anniversary celebrations of Pierre Jeanneret, who was the first chief architect and urban designer of Chandigarh under his cousin Le Corbusier who designed the City Beautiful.

UT Administrator-cum-Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore will inaugurate the project. He will also release a series of souvenirs based on Jeanneret’s works.

“It is a proud moment for us as another milestone of modern heritage in Chandigarh regains its former glory,” said Deepika Gandhi, the centre director. She informed that the Open Hand Art Studios underlined the synergy between art and architecture.

Last year, the Jeanneret Museum was opened for the public and it has been instrumental in disseminating information about his works and life.

To commemorate his birth anniversary and to further his legacy as part of the outreach and education programme of museums, a series of events have been planned at Jeanneret Museum and Le Corbusier Centre.

Gandhi disclosed that soon a research centre for architects and scholars would also be launched here. Besides, courses for students of architecture would be held under the initiative, “Museums are the new classrooms”.

Sharing details of the Open Hand Art Studios, she said art and architecture had a symbiotic relationship, which somehow got broken in the years of industrialisation. “The akademi has taken up our proposal for housing their art studios for day residency of selected artists from the tricity in part of the restored building. The chosen name truly captures Corbusier’s philosophy of the Open Hand – open to give and receive,” the centre director revealed.

To redress the common complaint of visitors that there were no items related to Jeanneret in the souvenir shops, a new range of post cards, stationery items and miniature furniture of the architect have been specially designed and developed by Gandhi. “The launch of these items at the souvenir shops of the UT Tourism Department will be a befitting and lasting tribute to Jeanneret’s legacy,” she said.

To create interest in the works of Jeanneret and to attract visitors to the centre, an installation workshop, in collaboration with the akademi, was proposed in the lawns of the centre. The theme, “Aesthetic: reflections on beauty of line, shape and form”, was taken from an article by Jeanneret on this subject. “Artists will be shortlisted by Akademi as per their official process and the complete installations will be open for public viewing from April 17 onwards,” Gandhi added.