Chandigarh: Living with Le Corbusier

In the early 1950s, many in the architectural profession turned their gaze towards India, where an ideal modern city seemed to be becoming a reality. When star architect Le Corbusier and his team started work in February 1951 in Chandigarh, American planner Albert Mayer and his young principal architect Matthew Nowicki had already completed a land development plan for the site. The challenge Le Corbusier then faced was to demonstrate how a city designed from the drawing board could feel humane, functional and viable once built. Once the home of public officials, Chandigarh has become a vibrant garden city and a magnet for the booming Indian software industry. Attracted to the idea of a possible dialogue and contradiction between European architecture and Indian lifestyle, German ethnographer Bärbel Högner began photographing the city. Living with Le Corbusier surveys Le Courbusier's contribution to India's first planned city, while simultaneously revealing Högner's passionate interest and impeccable eye for architectural detail.