Le Corbusier, the Swiss-French architect and urban planner is making news in the 50th year of his death. He designed Chandigarh's master plan and buildings in Ahmedabad, but is being recollected for connections with right wing groups, anti-Semitism, even fascism. The trigger was publication by Seuil in France of historian, teacher Francois Chaslin's work, the 500-page Un Corbusier, that reveals new information on Le Corbusier's complex private life. Edited excerpts of a phone interview with Pragya Singh on the scandal, and whether Chandigarh residents need to now make peace with their beloved architect's past.
The world is scandalised since Un Corbusier, while you have been critical of the response to your book. What has gone wrong?
I tried to write a portrait, a character of a man, a historical character of Le Corbusier. Of course it had good facets and bad, and there are subtleties involved. It so happens that there are two more books, one particularly focused on the Fascism aspect of Corbusier's life. I have 100 pages or so, on this subject, in a 500-plus page book. But yesterday I saw that there were 300 articles about it [Corbusier the fascist] in 33 different countries. A kind of foolish movement of opinion is taking place. I attribute some of this to the unique quality of the Internet, which can take information on a free-wheeling course. The same is with the papers, which have now made some kind of connection with the Internet to create a discussion. I read somewhere a comparison or mention of Le Corbusier next to Pol Pot—it's very hard to understand.