Tanuj Gupta

LA4008

'Kaaya Kalp' - The Transformation

The study area is in Raipur, Chhattisgarh's capital city. The chosen corridor (2 km) is market street, which is the city's oldest street and market corridor, as well as a transition between the old and new urban centers due to its central location. The importance of the street lies in its heritage value and its function as that of the city's main economic and trade center which encountered shift from the Mughal to the British eras to the twenty-first century economy. The street has been looked up to revive the disused fringes and transform it to accommodate spill over functions while blending the traditional market with a hub of socio-cultural and ecological activities, while also enhancing and strengthening the corridor's historic structures.As a result, the corridor serves as a thoroughfare connected by ecological inserts weaving the street's fragments and a destination for the city to explore beyond the conventional market, with 'The Transformation' envisioning the street as a spectacle of art and culture radiating from it, thus 'Revitalizing the Malviya road'.

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In the last two decades Raipur has experienced exponential growth which expanded radially from its core. Boost of urban Street network stitched the city together to an interconnecting latticework, which caters to the diversity of multi-layered street activity & its fabric

Site Analysis | Reading the corridors physical layers & density analysis, highlighting underutilized open spaces and inadequate pedestrian infrastructure which leads to congestion | Street networks along with the sections highlights in-orderly functions and spill over activities on the busy transit corridor.

Reading the corridor at humane level & overlapping user groups with street activities (Encroached and spill over) on edge conditions & plinth where the interaction of street & built structure can be observed through snippets. The dominant activity of the street being shopping, informal vendors, seasonal markets, eating & transit. Sections and graphs demonstrates vehicular density which summed up to 5000 vehicles/hour.

Vision for the corridor | Street acts as an anchor for the city core and can transform into a recreational hub enhancing art & cultural value, while retaining its economic status as a center of trade.

Inference and Strategies | The above study's findings aided in the development of strategies , diversity , catalyst & connect , to address issues such as traffic congestion, encroachment, and unorganised activities. Decluttering Primary Street and activating secondary and by lanes for pedestrian and cyclist movement, which further connects more open spaces with ecological inserts. The strategic layers are classified into programmes and organised activities that are then layered on the master plan.

Iterated programs from the master plan is overlapped on the existing 500m stretch of the corridor | The proposed plan shows the transformation of an encroached right of way with informal activities into a transient plaza with intermediate respite pockets, as well as the activation of secondary street corridors and by-lanes that link underutilized spaces catering temporal activities.

The existing 500m stretch shows the primary entrance/gateway to the market. The entrance node looks at the diversity of activities and acts as a catalyst in connecting the multi-layered street fabric within the corridor and to the city. The design intervention resulted in three interconnected plaza/pocket spaces: a transit plaza that serves as a pause point and congregation space, a farmers market in the morning that transforms into Food Avenue at night, and a cultural plaza with green inserts that fuse with the corridor like a web, tying everything together as a whole.

The street is enhanced by interventions of contemporary materials & local art along with native planting palette. The experience envisioned for the users is to reflect the local art and culture in the market street, which is in transition. The material palette was selected to create a natural setting by using earthy colours which can blend with the diversity of activities residing on the entrance node, plazas and Market Street. Broad and linear canopy native trees are used to shade the scorching streets, block pollution, and adorn the shop fronts, while feature/sculptural trees are used for the cultural plaza space.

The transient plaza is shaded by evergreen trees that bloom seasonally, adding contrast and making movement easier. The cultural plaza evolves from a busy transit corridor to a celebratory space over time, with an emphasis on ornamental and sculptural space.

The project will enhance street viability via landscape intervention by addressing storm water management, runoff, and urban heat, as well as the lack of vegetation along the corridor. Water percolation is aided by incorporating green inserts such as tree pits and rain gardens, while bioswale on the vehicular street edge and median improve street percolation and treat pollutants.