A canal divides the axis linking the city and capitol, pools separate the capitol from the palace, and within the building itself an elevated water trough to catch the monsoon rains detaches the rectilinear base from the hovering curve of the viewing platform ( barsati). The theme of the city as body, the capitol as head, and the palace as crown is further articulated in the actual plan by three pairs of axes, with water mediating between each set (fig. Reiterating the theme, the Governor's Palace is appropriately presented next to its turbaned Indian model maker. In his attempt to bring modern architecture to India, Le Corbusier synthesized certain native mythical themes with machine age myths of the early twentieth century, fulfilling in Chandigarh his statement that 'new cities are also in part ancient cities.' Proposing the metaphor of the city as a biological organism in the image of man, as in The Radiant City of 1935, Le Corbusier appears in a photograph holding a plan of Chandigarh beside the Modulor figure. brise-soleil colonnade behind brise-soleil glass curtain wall level two, the ceremonial rooms and side walls level three, guest apartments level four, the governor's apartment, channels for water damage level five, the roof garden and the viewing platform (barsati).

A symmetrical axis clearly organizes each level, capped at the top by the inverted curve of the viewing platform. 1 (frontispiece) The Governor's Palace, Chandigarh. Yet despite its importance, it was the single government building of the capital complex of Legislative Assembly, High Court, and Secretariat that was not built. Its position at the edge of Chandigarh was intended, like the Egyptian pyramids, to define the boundary between civilization and nature. By presenting the palace as the 'crown of the capital,' Le Corbusier emphasized its function as the city's symbolic focus.

1-16), at the apex of the capital city of Chandigarh. The pyramidal mass of the Governor's Palace was to be placed directly against the silhouette of the Himalayas (figs. Governor's Palace of Chandigarh - Oppositions An Analysis of the Governor's Palace of Chandigarh

Symbolism in the pedestrian