CULTURAL THEME PARK, Kolkata

Ms. ALISHA SINHABARC / 1013 / 09

A SYNOPSIS SUBMITTED AS A PART OF THE REQUIREMENTSFOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTUREBIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,

MESRA, RANCHI

…………………………………………………..(Prof. Sanmarga Mitra)UG Thesis Coordinator ’13Department of ArchitectureBirla Institute of Technology, Mesra

…………………………………………………..(Prof. Smriti Mishra)

Thesis GuideDepartment of Architecture

Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra

CONTENTS

1. Project Introduction 1

2. Project Need 1

3. Project Aim 1

4. Project Scope 2

5. Site Justification 3

6. Case Studies 3

7. Literature Studies 4

8. Site Detail 5

9. Initial Concepts & Design Development 6

10. Functional Concepts 8

11. Form Concept 8

12. Area Programming 9

13. Site Plan 11

1. PROJECT INTRODUCTION

PROJECT NAME: CULTURAL THEME PARKPROJECT LOCATION: KOLKATASITE AREA: 62 acres

BRIEF:A theme park is a destination, which combines entertainment, food and beverage andshops, and an environment that is different from that found outside its gates. A themeis used to provide a focus for the design, development and operation of such a park.

Thereby, a “Cultural Theme Park” is an amusement park which is themed on aparticular culture, and all its rides, attractions as well as other elements of interest arebased on ideas from that specific culture. In this case, the culture refers to the “Cultureof India”, and all the recreational elements used are meant to be associated which thispluralistic culture.

This thesis project would propose a Theme Park, which would depict the IndianCulture, its richness and versatility on a large scale. Its arenas would be distributedgeographically, so that the people who belong to India but are eager to get acquaintedwith its culture as well as the people who visit the country, both get a clear idea ofwhat the country has to offer and correlate it well with their own understanding.

The park would have a chargeable entry, which would include the visiting charges butnot the access to certain recreational elements, which are not compulsory or common toall.

The site also holds the Residential Areas for the staff working there, AdministrativeAreas as well as a Guest House for visitors who wish to stay longer.

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Due to lack of proper promotion and global advertisement, many parts of India, whichare culturally rich and worth giving a visit, and that depict the variety in the Indianculture to its fullest, do not fall in the notice of tourists and visitors.Keeping this in mind, the basic idea here is to create a cultural theme park, depictingthe culture of our country at its best, highlighting the low-promotion zones and give anappreciable definition to “India”.

2. PROJECT NEED

The prime objective behind the creation of this park would be to highlight the low-promotion zones of India. In this design, it is aimed to generate ambiences portraying thevaried cultures, consisting of recreational elements for visitors having varied intereststhat would incline them to visit those parts of India.# To promote Indian Culture and its dimensions across the world# To design as an escape for people from their day-to-day lives towards

leisure, relaxation and fun

3. PROJECT AIM

4. PROJECT SCOPE

The aim here is to create a cultural theme park, which would consist of six major builtstructures, denoting the six major geographical zones of India – North, South, East, West,North-East and Central. Each pavilion would have its own outdoor arena, and both theseareas would consist of elements of interest and entertainment, which would depict acomponent of Indian culture of that area.The basic components of this theme park design: Ticketing complex Tourist information centres Centre for assistance to physically challenged and aged visitors Six Pavilions Toy train station Boating station Shopping streets Dining facilities Plazas Parking Medical clinic Restrooms Staff residence Extensive landscaping

Northern Zone: Cactus Garden Tractor Zone Skiing Zone Apple Zone Flower Garden Skating Rink Row-in-theatres Dhabas Agriculture Museum Camel Rides Puppet Show Field for tug-of-war

Southern Zone: South Cinema Museum Fort Theatre Water Sports Artificial Buffalo Rides Row-in Restaurants Coconut Rides Coconut Market Tea Garden Elephant Rides

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Central Zone: Wildlife Museum Haats Cockfight area Artificial Waterfalls Drum Rides Buddhist Remains Park River Sports Central Lake for boating Ropeways Horse Rides Char bagh Urdu Bazaar Riverbank Plaza

Eastern Zone: Terracotta Museum Sand-art Zone Tram Rides Ferry Game Zone Toy Train Amphitheatre Yak Rides Momo Stalls

Western Zone: Water sports Festival Plazas Kite Zones Ancient Remains Plaza Restaurants Caves Snake Rides Palki Sit-on Theatre

North-eastern Zone: Tea Garden Wildlife Museum Bamboo Climbing

Sports Trekking Drum-shaped

amphitheatre Mushroom Restaurant

5. SITE JUSTIFICATION

The site of this theme park has been taken in Kolkata because of the following reasons:

i) Central India already has a few such examples like the Kingdom of Dreams,Gurgaon, Dilli Haat, Chokhi dhani, etc.

ii) Kolkata is a culturally rich metropolitan.

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6. CASE STUDIES

Name Relevance

Kingdom of Dreams, Gurgaon Similar Project in Northern India, but on a smaller scale; covers only 13 states

Dilli Haat, New Delhi Universal Design and Open space planning

KINGDOM OF DREAMS - INFERENCES: The circulation pattern is such that visitors would automatically be able to see

maximum elements the area has to offer. Food court has been kept in one common area so that people get to choose easily

from the available options. The detailing of every part is exquisite in itself and even service areas like

washrooms have been tried to integrate into the theme. The materials used are innovative and light fibre and plastics, which are easy to

maintain and reduce dead load. The placement of pavilions has no proper order and hence, it does not help much

in understanding cultural distribution of India. The place lacks recreational activities other than performances and dining.

DILLI HAAT – INFERENCES:The main motive behind doing a case study of Dilli Haat was to know about twothings: how the entire area has been converted into a universal design ,and in such ahot climate, how do people move around and what provisionsare made to provideshade to them. Both the aspects were properly studied, and the observations havebeen noted above.

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GLOBAL VILLAGE – INFERENCES: The food joints have been kept together and can be reached after travelling a

certain distance. This inclines people visit the whole arena. Apart from pedestrian circulation, circulation through boats has been arranged for

the people to enjoy more while they move. Ample space has been provided for parking- six lots of 500 capacity. All the visitable spaces have been kept at one level. There are multiple entries and exits. Hence, no particular pattern of circulation

could be maintained. The recreational and observational spaces are separate. They could have been

integrated to increase interest of visitors. Market areas of all pavilions are separate. This makes choice difficult. The boating facility has been provided only for one wing of the complex. There are no arrangements to fight the hot climate, hence is advised to be visited in

the late hours of the day.

SHILPARAMAM – INFERENCES: Because of the concept of ethnic architecture, the building looks prominent in the

surroundings. Good segregation between recreational areas, shopping areas, office areas, family

entertainment areas etc Separation of pedestrian and vehicular moment. A proper service road. Wide pathways which can be used for multi-function like for exhibits, food stalls

during melas, etc Use of natural lakes for boating. Good use of contours to the design Rock gallery which has many exhibits in natural rock formation. Dormitories are not enough for the craftsmen. Poor Maintenence of thatch roofs. Parking is not enough during melas. Open Air Theatre (O.A.T.) is not oriented according to the wind direction.

The most innovative feature of Shilparamam can be taken as the thematicdistribution of pavilions of the Night Bazaar- on the basis of significant historic erasin India, which was found different from the distribution in all the other studies.

7. LITERATURE STUDIES

Name Relevance

Global Village, Dubai Similar Theme but on a global scale

Shilparamam, Hyderabad Same kind of recreational park with a different theme (not geographical but periodic)

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Climatic Inferences

The site is barren and consists of a few trees. It is not being used for any fruitful activity at the moment, except providing a parking space for people visiting the buildings on the opposite side of the road.There is a lot of grass and mud all along the site presently, with the south-western side slightlySloping downwards, which was evident by the debris collecting there from the surrounding trees and bushes.

8. SITE DETAIL

The site is located in Newtown, Rajarhatand comes under Action Area II-E.

Area = 25 hectares (62 acres)

Surroundings: The site is adjacent to the recently developed Eco-Tourism Park, and is a corner plot located south-west of Akankha More and south-east of New Town By-pass Crossing.

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SITE ZONING

9. INITIAL CONCEPTS & DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

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ZONING RELATED TO CIRCULATION & LANDSCAPING

Philosophical Concept:The respective heights of thebuildings have been based ontheir respective heights from thesea level.

Also, the Central Food Courtsymbolizes a focus, an elementsconnecting all the zones, henceshowing “Unity in Diversity”

10. FUNCTIONAL CONCEPTS (DERIVATION OF FORM & SITE ZONING)

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For the façade, roofing styles of different regions were studied, and a suitablecomposition was created after several permutations and combinations.

11. FORM CONCEPTS

12. AREA PROGRAMMING

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Total Area for this chart = 20694 sqm.

Northern Zone Area = 4109 sqm.Central Zone Area = 2961 sqm.Eastern Zone Area = 1330 sqm.

Total Area for this chart = 8400 sqm.

12. AREA PROGRAMMING (contd.)

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Southern Zone Area = 2653 sqm.North-eastern Zone Area = 1666 sqm.

Western Zone Area = 1344 sqm.

Total for this chart = 5663 sqm.

Total built-up area hence calculated = 34757 sqm.

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THANKYOU

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