'Architects should have learnt from Corbusier and moved on'

Architect Snehal Shah, who was in the city for Le Corbusier's 125th anniversary week celebrations, said planners should have gone beyond what Le Corbusier did in the construction of Chandigarh.

Talking to Hindustan Times on the sidelines of his lecture, 'Historical Journey of Swiss Architecture,' Shah said, 'Growth of Panchkula and SAS Nagar happened disorderly. I think planners should have learned from Corbusier and tried to go further with the designing of these cities. However, we did the opposite.”

Snehal spent large parts of his life in Swtizerland, Germany, France and various other countries working on their architecture. “The problem with urban planning is not restricted to this place only (Chandigarh). Most cities in India are unplanned, which is very sad,” he said, attributing the factor to poverty and lack of political will.

“We made a good start with Chandigarh but after that we didn't try it elsewhere as vigorously,” he added.

When asked if Gujrat had better infrastructure compared to other cities, he said, “The upcoming cities are well planned. If you talk about Ahmadabad, there is bus rapid transfer (BRT) system, now. Some centres are planned. There is a lot of stress on urban planning.”

Answering another question on, if vaastu was more important than architectural aspects, he said, “It is nothing. You just have to keep the climate in mind. In US and other places, nobody follows Vaastu. Climate is the key in architecture. If you take care of it, you cannot fail.”