Reebanta Paul Chowdhury

AD4014

As cities keep growing, the common man keeps losing access to the precious public open land to high rises and retail investors who are ready to pay for it. He also doesn’t get a say in the type of public spaces provided to him by the hegemony of the powerful as discussed by Henri Lefevre in The production of Space. Jan Gehl had said “First life, then spaces and then buildings – the other way around never works”, the lack which is very evident in the current context on site. The new CBD proposal also further enhances the building's first approach toward space making creating a further perceived divide between the residential and the commercial zones, on either side of the railway station. This project attempts to create a railway station as an extension of the neighborhood, by giving the land back to the community and creating a space that is lively and welcomes people from various walks of life, and creates a smooth connection between either side of the railway station, which reduces the divide and promotes opportunities for trade and commerce to flourish in the neighborhood. The railway station building also takes this idea forward by providing spaces to the neighborhood that they couldn’t otherwise enjoy like coworking spaces and exhibition halls that can in turn become the community hall when not in use to grow and prosper.