'Celebrating the Capitol', a new exhibition of photographic work by Noor Dasmesh Singh, is about to open in Chandigarh – the architect, urbanist and Wallpaper* contributor’s home town. Organised in time for the famous 20th-century city's anniversary (it was founded on 7 October 1953), the event, planned alongside a panel discussion on the making of Chandigarh, aims at honouring the legacy of modernist architecture, Le Corbusier and his team in the country, and beyond.
Exploring Chandigarh and ‘Celebrating the Capitol’
While the exhibition opens on Monday 7 October, the panel event kicks off the celebration in style on Saturday 5th, leading smoothly onto the art show's inauguration. The exhibition is set in the Capitol itself – at the brutalist Tower of Shadow – a 'dream venue', according to Singh.
A feted architectural pilgrimage destination for experts and enthusiasts the world around, Chandigarh's Capitol complex was designed by Le Corbusier and his team in the mid-20th century. It is now a Unesco World Heritage monument.
Its three main buildings – the Palace of Assembly, the Secretariat Building and the High Court – are monumental and sculptural. Meanwhile, the complex also comprises four distinct standalone monuments, the Geometric Hill, the Tower of Shadows, the Martyrs Monument, and the Open Hand Monument, which has since come to symbolise the city.
Le Corbusier also famously designed, apart from the buildings, the complex's furniture, fittings and artworks, making this a truly holistic opus spanning scales and disciplines.
Many of the furniture pieces were gradually lost or damaged. British-Indian collector Rajan Bijlani has long been tracking down and restoring pieces of unseen Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret Chandigarh furniture, making up a valuable collection and celebrating its legacy.
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
‘Nothing just because it’s beautiful’: Performance artist Marina Abramović on turning her hand to furniture designMarina Abramović has no qualms about describing her segue into design as a ‘domestication’. But, argues the ‘grandmother of performance art’ as she unveils a collection of chairs, something doesn’t have to be provocative to be meaningful
-
Explore the Perry Estate, a lesser-known Arthur Erickson project in CanadaThe Perry estate – a residence and studio built for sculptor Frank Perry and often visited by his friend Bill Reid – is now on the market in North Vancouver
-
Take a deep dive into The Palm Springs School ahead of the region’s Modernism WeekNew book ‘The Palm Springs School: Desert Modernism 1934-1975’ is the ultimate guide to exploring the midcentury gems of California, during Palm Springs Modernism Week 2025 and beyond
-
Meet Minnette de Silva, the trailblazing Sri Lankan modernist architectSri Lankan architect Minnette de Silva is celebrated in a new book by author Anooradha Iyer Siddiq, who looks into the modernist's work at the intersection of ecology, heritage and craftsmanship
-
Palm Springs Modernism Week 2025: let the desert architecture party beginPalm Springs Modernism Week 2025 launches on 13 February, marking the popular annual desert event’s 20th anniversary, celebrated this year through more midcentury marvels than ever
-
Inside Bell Labs, the modernist vision behind Severance's minimalist settingWe explore the history of Bell Labs - now known as Bell Works - the modernist Eero Saarinen-designed facility in New Jersey, which inspired the dystopian minimalist setting of 'Severance'
-
We zoom in on Ontario Place, Toronto’s lake-defying 1971 modernist showpieceWe look back at Ontario Place, Toronto’s striking 1971 showpiece and modernist marvel with an uncertain future
-
Tour 21 lesser-known modernist houses in EuropeTake a tour of some of Europe's lesser-known modernist houses; architectural writer and curator Adam Štěch leads the way, discussing the 20th-century movement's diversity under a single vision
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House, a Usonian modernist Michigan gem, could be yoursFrank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House in Michigan is on the market – a chance to peek inside the heritage modernist home in the countryside
