Located just a few hours north of New Delhi, Chandigarh is a planned city born from an unusual collaboration with an ambitious spirit following India's independence. After the partition of India in 1947, the Punjab province of British India was split between India and Pakistan. Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, embarked on a joint effort with Le Corbusier to build a utopian city that would act as a shared capital of Punjab and Haryana. It's a modern, Brutalist paradise that was completed in the 1960s and was meant to set the stage for a radical new beginning for India and was one of Le Corbusier's seminal works in architecture.
The Open Hand, or La Main Ouverte, was a recurring motif throughout Le Corbusier's work and became the defining symbol of Chandigarh.
"It turns with the wind, not aimlessly, but to express what life really is: constant change. The hand is open to give and receive. It's a sign of optimism in this world of catastrophe."
— Le Corbusier
