Competition Results, Urban Design Challenge 2018: Design Ideas for City Core Redevelopment Models - Sarojini Nagar GPRA Colony
Entry 791675: Vikram Kohli, Sonal Tiwari and Richa Raje
From the Jury Statement: for the bold manner in which it attempts to resolve the issues of traffic and cars, by creating a dominantly pedestrian environment and gives primacy to people on vibrant streets.
Launch Project
Entry 885352: Manasa Garikaparthy, Aditi Prakash, Himanshu Gupta and Chaitanya Varma
From the Jury Statement: the jury lauded its strong diagram that creates a clear civic spine and enjoins all the public spaces around it. This project recognizes strongly the public transport infrastructure and allows the development to hinge around it.
Launch ProjectSubmitted Entries
Entry 157339: Rohit Raj Mehndiratta, Vandini Mehta, Kanika Agarwal, Anurag Pal, and Chaitanya Patel (PDF 58MB)
Entry 571238: Soumyajit Kar, Ronit Biswas, Sneha Paul, and Saheli Ghosh (PDF 2.4MB)
Entry 634899: Himani Kanojia and Ritam Chakravarty (PDF 1.7MB)
Entry 719177: Meenakshi Dubey, Chitrangada Singh, Siddharth Verma, Fizaa Lamba, Dhriti Kapur, Saksham Pandit, Aparna Acharya, Ritika Jhunjhunwal, and Aditya Bhandari (PDF 80MB)
Entry 766492: Preetha Sajin with 4th Yr. B Arch Students, Sushant School of Art and Architecture (PDF 79MB)
Entry 794756: Abhishek Aggarwal, Anjali, Nidhi Singhal, Simran Kaur, and Vinika (PDF 2.0MB)
Entry 831545: Aarushi Gupta (PDF 2.4MB)
Entry 931766: Nimisha Gupta (PDF 50MB)
Entry 953646: Akhila Pentrala, Nandini Mohan, Rhea Sethi, and Nidhi Wupadrasta (PDF 26MB)
The Jury’s Statement
Developments such as these on public lands must hinge on the premise that they serve the larger public good and become meaningful contributions to the fabric of the city. The jury believed strongly that schemes that upheld and explored this premise must be celebrated and encouraged.
The site under question poses the complex cauldron that comprises our urbanity. Issues of transportation in the way developments connect with the city, the ability to reduce our dependence on cars and the ways to encourage pedestrian environments are in the forefront of all discussions. Equally important are issues of bio diversity and landscapes of such lands, this in particular has a historic inventory of thousands of trees and linked to this the faunal life that exists. And finally the placeless-ness that has become the signature of much that is present day development needs the comfort of a sense of identity to anchor with.
These issues were uppermost in the minds of the jurors in their long and detailed discussions.
Ideas of transformation in cities need to be discussed, since much of Indian urbanity is in grips with continual change; questions then of how does one intervene in such lands are moot.
The jury deliberated on all the 11 entries that were received and felt that the entries, while they did not show great imagination that is possible in such endeavors, were conscientious, concerned and sensitive.
Of all the entries the jury would like to recognize the Entry 791675, for the bold manner in which it attempts to resolve the issues of traffic and cars, by creating a dominantly pedestrian environment and furthermore gives primacy to people on vibrant streets. The project achieves this by a strategic location of car parking in ways in which it will, over time impact how people move in a city. This project also introduces a multitude of linear and flexible blocks, which as a typology are agile and can be used in a range of manners that will be suitable to different conditions presented on the site. It further gets recognition in the manner in which it re-imagines the grid, and brings in the idea of nature in a strong and convincing manner. The entry also shows early concerns of introducing green infrastructure and demonstrates ways in which tree preservation will be possible. The contribution of a large wetland park is a positive addition to the grain of the city.
The other entry that the jury found merit in was 885352. In this entry the jury lauded its strong diagram that creates a clear civic spine and enjoins all the public spaces around it. This project recognizes strongly the public transport infrastructure and allows the development to hinge around it. The other valuable manner in which this project is pertinent is the way in which it imagines the individual block and its variations that allow the trees to be preserved. But the jury was particularly happy to note the gestures made towards ideas of sustainability or means of construction technology suggested.
There were other aspects that were worthy of acknowledgement in some of the other entries. One entry examines a useful strategy in which variation and the evolution of block types is imagined. This strategy shows intelligent flexibility and is a good strategy when confronted with a site that will throw up different challenges because of the distribution of trees.
Yet another other entry was recognized for its broad urban design clarity and structure, but the jury wished it had taken further the idea of density, grain resolution and public transport.
The jury would also like to commend the IUDI DNCR Center for organizing such an effort and fulfilling a significant lacuna in the professional arena; that of fostering meaningful discussions on matters of urbanity, and allowing the space to imagine our cities better.
Jury Members: Aniket Bhagwat, Geetam Tiwari, Rajender Singh, Rajesh Rishi, Vinod Gupta
New Delhi, 28th Septemer 2018
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