Chandigarh was a child of India's independence. The Punjab had been split during independence and its capital Lahore was now in Pakistan. A new center of government was needed for the state of Punjab. The present site of Chandigarh was chosen for its scenic location at the base of the Shivalik Hills, its fertile soil and its prodigious water supply. A planned city, Chandigarh emerged in 1952 from the modernist craze of creating huge, geometrically quirky human environments considered symbolic of the future "order" of humanity. The construction of Chandigarh began in 1950, according to the plan by the French architect, LeCorbusier.