Tagore Theater: Essence Is In Its Interior Design and Layout

Tagore Theater of Chandigarh in India, designed by Ar. Aditya Prakash, is one of the master prices of modern architecture and symbolic of Chandigarh’s architecture style.

Dr Vikramaditya Prakash of University of Washington shares the very interesting story of how the Tagore Theater of Chandigarh was designed,  built, and named. The key players here were Ar. Aditya Prakash, Le Corbusier, and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret along with famous film personalities Prithviraj Kapoor and Zul Vellani.

Tagore Theater: Story of its Design

Conversation: Ar. Aditya Prakash, Le Corbusier, and Pierre Jeanneret

Tagore Theater has been redesigned. However, should it or rather can it still be called ‘Tagore Theater’? What defines building’s identity?

Name to design or design to name- is a discussion which is ignored in most restoration and remodel projects. If the essence of the design has been changed so should the name also? Prof. Prakash argues:

Name to Design or Design to Name

If the new project was undertaken with the objective of restoring the original design, the entire essence and its manifestation along with the name should have been preserved. However, this does not appear to be the case and this is definitely not a restoration project. The site is the same, and the intended function is the same. But the building design is new.

The visual memories, the authenticity of the original design of Tagore Theater need to be preserved at least before it is lost forever. We cannot fuse new with the old under the same name just the way we do not fuse architectural styles while designing buildings. Remixing architecture is not design.

If we attempt to dilute the original design with new, we run the risk of loosing the elegance of its essence and profoundness of its design to tackiness.

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Ar. Aditya Prakash, Chandigarh

On August 12, 2008 city of Chandigarh (India) lost an eminent architect, designer, painter, a theater enthusiast, academician, Le Corbusier’s associate. He was Ar. Aditya Prakash.

News Release- Aditya Prakash, Indian Modernist

He was on his way to Mumbai for staging the play Life Never Retires, created by G.S. Channi, in which he played the central character. He died on the way, at Ratlam station.

Aditya Prakash is well known in the world of modern architecture as Le Corbusier’s associate in the planning, design and building of the Chandigarh Capital Project which was initiated by the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Known internationally for its architecture and urban planning, Chandigarh is home to numerous architectural projects of Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Edwin Maxwell Fry, Jane Drew, Matthew Nowicki, and Albert Mayer. Nehru famously proclaimed Chandigarh to be “unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation’s faith in the future.”

Le Corbusier with Pandit Nehru

Designed in a grid pattern, Chandigarh stands out from the rest of India with its clean lines, broad avenues and imposing government buildings built on a vast scale in concrete with columns, ramps, sculpted roof lines and screens to protect against the punishing sun.

Prakash joined the Chandigarh Capital Project in November of 1952 as one of the nine architects on the team. He had just finished studying architecture at the London Polytechnic, and became an A.R.I.B.A. in 1951.

Interestingly Corbusier had not visited India before he was awarded the Chandigarh project and Prakash’s being an Indian,  his European training, and unique understanding of architectural styles and design was a great aid to Corbusier. “He showed us drawings of villages and bullock carts, of the beautiful women laborers,” remembered Prakash. He also worked on the Type VI houses and General Hospital, Sector 16, with Jane Drew.

”When we started designing houses here we thought of Western houses,” said Aditya Prakash, “we began using those sunbreakers in a very big way,” he continued, speaking of the sunscreens that are part of the design of many houses in the city, ”it was very a la mode. But I did a study of the sun in Chandigarh subsequently and found that sunbreakers,” a screen or lattice of bricks, ”cut out sun but retained heat and dust. We found it was better to create deep verandas. These keep out rain and sun, but allow life to move in and out as it always has done in an Indian home.”

He worked closely with Le Corbusier on the design of the School of Art, Chandigarh in the mid-1950s. In 1961-62 he adapted the same design for the Chandigarh College of Architecture and later on became the Principal of Chandigarh College of Architecture (1968-1982) or CCA as it is popularly known!

He published several papers and three books advocating extensive recycling, mixed use developments, development of the informal sector, integration of agriculture and animal husbandry into the urban system, and rigorous separation of motorized and all forms of non-motorized traffic.

The Indian Institute of Architects awarded Aditya Prakash its Gold Medal in 1996.

Chandigarh Markets: Design and Frame Control by Ar. Aditya Prakash

Long after Corbusier was gone, Aditya Prakash continued to work on defining the characteristic visual identity of Chandigarh as a modern city by creating the frame controls of the several of the markets and housing types. He also designed the petrol pumps and the some of the major cinema theaters of the city (Jagat, Neelam and KC.)

Some of his other projects in Chandigarh are the District Courts, Central Scientific Instruments Organization Hostels, the Treasury Building, the Central Bus Stand, Military Rest House, Central Crafts Institute, the Jang Garh, Indo-Swiss Training Center and the Cable Factory, and residences.

Agriculture University Hostel, Ludhiana

From 1963-1968, Aditya Prakash was the Architect of the Panjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. At this time he also designed the campuses of the Agricultural Universities in Hissar and Palampur.

His most significant project in Chandigarh was the Tagore Theater which was constructed to celebrate Rabindranath Tagore birth Centenary in 1961.

Tagore Theatre, Chandigarh.

As an academic, Aditya Prakash was an early advocate of urban ecological design, or “self-sustaining settlements.”

Painting by Aditya Prakash

Prakash was a painter too. He studied art at the Glasgow School of Art and was deeply influenced by Le Corbusier in the 1950s. An early interest in intersecting the Modulor with free-flowing curves, evolved into a style exploring Indian birds, animals and figures within a modernist idiom.

Aditya Prakash served two terms as President of the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Academy. He exhibited in several major cities in India. His paintings are in private collections throughout the world.

The architecture community of Chandigarh and worldwide is going to feel this loss. Aditya Prakash lived his life in the cause of modern architecture. It is our responsibility now to preserve his architectural legacy, his beliefs, his thoughts, and his works.

The way he led his life reminds me of what Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Architect, Painter Aditya Prakash has sure left an extraordinary trail. His works, his designs, his creativity and energy is going to inspire many.

He lived what he believed.

Sir, You will be remembered for long.

All Images: Courtesy Dr. Vikramaditya Prakash, Professor of Architecture, University of Washington, email vprakash@u.washington.edu http://faculty.washington.edu/vprakash/

News Release- Aditya Prakash, Indian Modernist