Location

Fort, Mumbai

Year

2011

Project Description

The aim of the project is to re-invigorate the already existing art culture in this historically significant and financially prominent zone. Since the entire marked site is of tourist value, the idea here is to decentralize the ‘art-value’ by encouraging visitors to walk the entire stretch. This is to be achieved by the location of a Visitor Centre along with the addition of Art Kiosks along the studied stretch to guide sightseers through. The Kiosks are to be designed to house varied forms of amateur art thereby giving new impetus to scores of budding artists in the megapolis. These kiosks need not be lockable/closed but must be designed to be secure and weatherproof. Material and construction innovation is important as is the location of these kiosks along the stretch keeping in mind the analytical study of traffic and pedestrian flow. The Visitor Centre comprises of 500sqm of built-up area which is to be located anywhere across the given stretch. This structure decides the re-invigorated route for tourists through this stretch. The consequences of the location of this structure on pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow and tourist routes is very important. The students had the freedom to locate their facilities wherever they find it appropriate with proper justification.

Project Background

The project was given as part of the academic studies in my Third Year of Bachelor Architecture Studies. The project involved a great deal of study before reaching the stage of designing the mentioned facilities. A detailed analysis of the entire stretch demarcated was undertaken by the entire class and compiled into a book report and a 1:500 scaled model. Another part of the research work was the understanding of different art styles, which was accomplished as group projects.

Design Objective

The main objective behind the design of the Visitor Centre was to give the locality a much needed open-space. An open parking area was chosen as the site, as the car-park was an eye-sore in the locality. Appropriate arrangements were planned for greater capacity parking in the adjacent building. The Visitor Centre was planned underground opening a patch of greenery on the top. The design also ensure that the historical monument of Flora Fountain which was adjacent got its importance. The kiosk design included using technological innovations to create a novel experience for the users.