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Lot Essay
Along the great esplanade at the Chandigarh Capitol, which is about 400 yards long and joins the Assembly building to the High Court, Le Corbusier designed various monuments: the Open Hand, the Path of the Sun (the Geometric Hill), the Martyrs' Memorial and the Tower of Shadows.
The Tower of Shadows is a square, undecorated concrete structure with its four facades oriented towards the cardinal points. This purely symbolic edifice resembles a sculpture more than a building and demonstrates Le Corbusier's theories of sun control. Inspired by Indian astronomical observatories of the 18th century, the Tower of Shadows is equipped with sun breakers on three sides, East, West and South, each spaced differently according to their particular situations allowing one to study the trajectory of the sun by means of the shadows.
cf. S. and S. Bahga, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret: Footprints on the Sands of Indian Architecture, New Delhi, 2000, p. 122 for an image of the Tower of Shadows monument.
D. Gans, The Le Corbusier Guide, New York, 2000, pp. 238-239 for images of the Tower of Shadows monument.
K.-P. Gast, Le Corbusier Paris - Chandigarh, Zurich, 2000, pp. 158-160 for information of the construction of the Tower of Shadows monument.
W. Boesinger, ed., Le Corbusier, oeuvre complète 1952-1957, Zurich, 1965, p. 102, for a photograph of Giani Rattan Singh.
The Tower of Shadows is a square, undecorated concrete structure with its four facades oriented towards the cardinal points. This purely symbolic edifice resembles a sculpture more than a building and demonstrates Le Corbusier's theories of sun control. Inspired by Indian astronomical observatories of the 18th century, the Tower of Shadows is equipped with sun breakers on three sides, East, West and South, each spaced differently according to their particular situations allowing one to study the trajectory of the sun by means of the shadows.
cf. S. and S. Bahga, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret: Footprints on the Sands of Indian Architecture, New Delhi, 2000, p. 122 for an image of the Tower of Shadows monument.
D. Gans, The Le Corbusier Guide, New York, 2000, pp. 238-239 for images of the Tower of Shadows monument.
K.-P. Gast, Le Corbusier Paris - Chandigarh, Zurich, 2000, pp. 158-160 for information of the construction of the Tower of Shadows monument.
W. Boesinger, ed., Le Corbusier, oeuvre complète 1952-1957, Zurich, 1965, p. 102, for a photograph of Giani Rattan Singh.