Building & Centre of Chandigarh

Shopping Centre

Super Market or shopping centre is at sector 17 surrounding Nilam Cinema and consists of several sky-high mansions which attracts the tourists.

Sector 17 is the biggest Shopping Centre of the city, where one can find well-stocked shops and variety of goods. Most of the shops are air conditioned where shopping is a pleasure.

Other major shopping districts include sector 22 and sector 15. Last but not the least for Chandigarh residents is the famous Tribune building acting, as the local newspaper's hot spot with its little news board.

The Secretariat Building

The Secretariat is the largest of these edifices in the Capitol Complex and is the headquarters of both Punjab and Haryana governments. The cafeteria rests atop the terrace and one can have a spectacular view of the city.

The Secretariat is a building rather similar in character to the Marseille block, though much more assured in its finish comprising 8 storeys. It is one of the Capitol buildings and houses all the ministries. The whole edifice is constructed in 'beton brut' (rough-cast concrete) and its characteristic feature is its system of sun-breaks ('brise-soleils') facade. The 800 foot long facades of the Secretariat are broken in half in a dozen places with projections, recesses, stair towers, changes in pattern and the like.

In this way the Secretariat building avoids overshadowing the Capitol as a whole - with its bulk while playing a unifying role in the complex, which is symbolic of its administrative function. The Secretariat roof garden and its promenade set against the surrounding landscape constantly changes and evolves as the observer's angle of vision changes.

The Secretariat is a simpler and more conventional organism where variations of structure and internal distribution do not interrupt its compact volume, but are reproduced two-dimensionally in the very elaborate design of the sun-break.