Description

This book has its origin in the life that was provided for me by my parents Savitri and Aditya Prakash, and that was put into context by my sisters Vandana Kumar and Chetna Pumami. To them I owe gratitude for simply making my world. But there can be no doubt that it was the countless hours I spent with Sandeep Virmani up on the Capitol Esplanade that set the real questions of this book in motion. To him my dedication remains perennial. The earliest draft of the manuscript was written in the form of a master's thesis at Comell University, and for those days I am most grateful to Mark Jarzombek for his friendship and endless encouragement. From that period I also remain indebted to Derek Spitz, who, amongst a million other things, taught me how to write, and to Professor Dominick LaCapra, who set the example for critical thinking. Comell also sent me to Franz Ziegler, who opened the door to Le Corbusier's aesthetic world for me.

The work on the Open Hand was done in partnership with John Biln and Ijlal Muzaffer at Arizona State University. At the University of Washington, John Benavente and Paul Davis were my trusty student assistants, and Jan Haag my eternally supportive and merciless first editor. Claus Seligmann and Alex Anderson were the first readers of the manuscript. Anne Vernez-Moudon presented me with the Le Corbusier Swiss franc, and Sergio Palleroni encouraged me to write the personalized prologues to each chapter. To them all belong my sincerest thanks.

To Michael Duckworth, the indefatigable acquisitions editor of the University of Washington Press, I owe my deep respect and gratitude for steadfastly believing in this manuscript. I am also grateful to Sibel Bozdoğan and Reşat Kasaba, the general editors of the series in which this book is published, for their insightful commentary that significantly improved the manuscript. It was Alexander Schlutz's excellent copyediting and Bipin Shah's resourceful publishing house in Ahmedabad that made this book real. I humbly thank them for doing their work so extremely well.

I also owe my respects and gratitude to Balkrishna V. Doshi, Gayatri C. Spivak, and Anthony D. King for their many spontaneous conversations and insights. In Chandigarh, I would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement of my friends Jaspreet Takher and Kultar Nat, as well as that of Professors I. J. S. Bakshi and Rajneesh Wattas of the Chandigarh College of Architecture. V. N. Singh and the staff of the Chandigarh Museum Archives went out of their way to help me find material in the archives, as did S. K. Midha, chief architect of the Chandigarh Administration.

I would also like to thank the staff of the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris for their prompt and helpful responses to all my queries and requests.

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