An associate of Le Corbusier’s
in Chandigarh, architect,
academic and painter, Aditya
Prakash died on 12 August,
2008.
Born on 10 March, 1923,
in Muzaffarnagar, India, Aditya
Prakash studied architecture
at the London Polytechnic.
He joined the team of the
Chandigarh Capital Project
in 1952, working with Le
Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret,
Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew,
and helping to define the
characteristic visual identity
of Chandigarh as a modern
city. His most significant
project in Chandigarh was
the Tagore Theatre built in
1961. In all, Aditya Prakash
designed over 60 projects
spread throughout North India.
As an academic, he was an
early supporter of urban ecological
design, or “self-sustaining
settlements”. He described
Chandigarh’s planning as
“escapist” and published several
papers and three books
advocating extensive recycling,
mixed-use developments,
stimulation of the informal sector,
integration of agriculture
and animal husbandry into the
urban system, and rigorous
separation of motorised and all
forms of non-motorised traffic.
Aditya Prakash painted for
two or three hours every morning.
His paintings are held in
private collections worldwide.
