16AR406 - URBAN DESIGN & RENEWAL

Unit -2
2.2 Study & Analysis of Urban Spaces
in History in the East

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.1Indus Valley Civilization
3000–1300 B.C
INTRODUCTION

• 3000 – 2600 B.C – early Harappan phase

• 2600 onwards – Mature Harappan phase
• Region
– 200 settlement sites
– 6 cities
– 20 towns
– 100 + villages
• 2 important Urban centres
– Mohenjo-Daro
– Harappa
• 500 miles distance
• Basin of the river Indus
• Agrarian society
• Hot and dry climate

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.1Indus Valley Civilization
3000–1300 B.C
CITY PLANNING

• Surrounded by a massive brick wall

• Grid iron layout

• Streets were straight and at right angles

• 13’ – 34’ wide

• Along the cardinal direction

• Division of space into separate blocks

• Lamp posts at intervals – street lights

• Dustbins provided

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.1Indus Valley Civilization
3000–1300 B.C
HOUSES & MATERIALS
• Materials
– Oven fired clay bricks

– Uniform in size

– Timber

– No stone available locally

– Able to build upto 3 storeys

• Houses
– Terraced houses

– 2 or more rooms

– Inner courtyard

– Pillared halls, bathrooms, kithchen, well etc.

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.1Indus Valley Civilization
3000–1300 B.C
CITADEL, THE GREAT BATH & GRANARIES
Citadel
– An artificial mound
– 12m high
– Public buildings
– Reason – defense or protection from floods
The Great Bath
– A large quadrangle – 39’ x 23’ x 8’
– Brick lined pool
– Rooms on all four sides
– 8’ thick outer walls
– Accessed by flight of steps at either end
– Rain water harvesting or for religious functions
Granaries
– Largest building in Mohenjodaro ~ 45m x 15m
– Harappa – brick platforms base – 2 rows of 6 Granaries each
– Air ducts placed beneath the grains
– Bays to receive carts

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.1Indus Valley Civilization
3000–1300 B.C
WATER SUPPLY & SANITATION SYSTEM

• Water supply
– Large brick culverts with corbelled roofs
– One on the outskirts of the city – excessive water
– Supply to The Great Bath – 6’ deep
– Each house or group of houses had a well
– Extensive canal network – channel water
from the river for irrigation

• Sanitation system
– closed drainage system
– Bathroom in each house
– drainage and soak pit
– Connected to the public drainage
– Drains - Brick laid channels in every street
– Manholes at regular intervals

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.2 Temple Towns
STUDY OF SRIRANGAM - INTRODUCTION

• Famous for the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple

• Largest temple complex in India
• Town that developed around a temple
• Another example – Madurai
• In the West – religious building in an existing town
• Located at the confluence of 2 rivers
– Kaveri and Kollidam
• Time period
– 3rd Century B.C to 3rd Century A.D
– 6th to 9th Century A.d – Pallava Dynasty
– 10th to 12th Century A.D – Chola Dynasty
– 13th to 14th Century A.D – Pandya Dynasty
– 14th to 17th Century A.D – Vijayanagar Dynasty
• Not just a religious structure – an institution
• Leading consumer – flowers, milk, ghee, rice etc.
• Offered employment – priests, teachers, musicians

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.2 Temple Towns
STUDY OF SRIRANGAM – PLANNING

• Temple town

• Temple is the nucleus – life revolved around this

• Other structures around it and the city grows

• Characteristic feature -

Concentric circumambulatory paths

• Based on Manasara Shilpa Shastra

• Form close to the ‘Sarvotabhadra’

– Temple dedicated to one of the 3 deities at the centre
– Oblong or square in shape
– Streets specific for specific communities
– Internal streets – single row of houses
– External streets – houses on both sides
– Specific zones for pavillions, rest houses, halls, tanks etc .

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.2 Temple Towns
STUDY OF SRIRANGAM – PLANNING

• 7 concentric paths (prakarams)

• Each path – rampart wall
• Gopurams – gateways
• Pathways – cardinal directions
• Temple complex – 3 main structures
• Garbha Griha – 1st and 2nd enclosure
• Bhog Mandir – 3rd enclosure
• Natya Mandir – 4th enclosure
• Outer 3 enclosures – houses
• 60’ wide processional route around the temple
• 3 types of streets
– Pradakshina – around the 3rd enclosure for darshan

– Pavirathya – processional route beyond the body

Of the temple through the high gopurams

– Nabhivittu – access streets beyond the temple precinct

Along the cardinal axes

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST
 2.2.2 Temple Towns
STUDY OF SRIRANGAM – HOUSES

Houses
• single row with rampart wall at the rear
• Two rows on the exterior
• wide road in the front
• open space in the rear abutting the wall
• plan based on Vastu Shastra
• mostly single storeyed

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.2 Temple Towns
STUDY OF SRIRANGAM – POINTS OF REFLECTION

• Spiritual understanding of life

• Inward movement - Going within to connect with The Divine

• House plan based on Vastu Shastra – human body – energetically - relation between the
macrocosm and microcosm;

• In the west – the body proportions

• The center is uncluttered – temple

• Growth radiates out

• Center of the development has a spiritual focus

• Urban spaces in india – connection with our roots and value ourselves (overcoming effects of
Colonisation)

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.3 Mughal Towns–17thCent A.D
INTRODUCTION
• Classified into two
• Newly found towns – ex: Shahjahanabad,
Daulatabad
• Expansion of existing towns – ex: Agra,
Delhi
• Characteristic features
• Use of temple motifs was predominant in
early buildings
• Domes, arches and typical ornamentation –
later stage
• Artisans from Persia, Gulf and Afghan were
brought in
• Need for open space for the artisans
• Clusters of houses around an open space
• Hierarchy of open spaces existed
• Mosque – religious open space
• Bazaars - commercial open space
• Courtyards – residential open space

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.3 Mughal Towns–17thCent A.D
SHAHJAHANABAD
• The walled city of Delhi
• Built by Shahjahan
• Typical Islamic city
• Influence of religion evident
• Took shape with the capital shifting from
Agra to Delhi
• Red fort completed in 1648
• Construction of the walls around the city in
1657 with gates
• Walls on 3 sides and river Yamuna on the
other side
• Form and structure of the city is dictated by
the location of the mosque and the public
buildings
• Skyline of the city dominated by domes and
minarets
• Urban Economy
• Based on commerce and handicrafts
• All major streets occupied by bazaars

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.3 Mughal Towns–17thCent A.D
SHAHJAHANABAD – MOSQUE
• The principal mosque – Jami Masjid
• Mosque construction – 1650 – 1656
• Located at the central part of the city
• On a raised foundation of about 9mts
• Mosque dominated the walled city visually
• Spiritual symbol of Supreme God
• Buildings around the mosque restricted to 4
storeys
• Mosque faced west towards Mecca
• Large central courtyard enclosed by pillared
corridors
• Different professional groups had mosques that
represented them
Ex – Masjid Gadarion (shepherd’s mosque)
Masjid Kasai (butcher’s mosque)

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.3 Mughal Towns–17thCent A.D
SHAHJAHANABAD – STREETS
• Chandni chowk – major street
• Central axis of the city – EW direction
• From Lahori Darwaza of the fort to the city
wall
• Straight and wide road unlike the usually
narrow and crooked roads of Mughal cities
• Axial road – Red Fort as the focal point –
new concept in town planning for the
Mughal capital
• Faiz Bazaar – another main street
• Straight connecting Delhi gate of the fort to
the city wall
• NS axis
• These 2 streets developed as processional
routes
• 4 main roads from the Jami mosque
• Secondary roads linking these with the
Chandni chowk and connecting to the gates
• From these tertiary roads for access within
the wards
Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST
 2.2.3 Mughal Towns–17thCent A.D
SHAHJAHANABAD – BAZAARS
• Bazaars were an important element of the
Mughal cities
• Capital city was a commercial hub with
craftsmen from varied countries trading their
wares
• Chatta bazaar
• broad avenue from the Lahore gate
• Covered arcade
• Commissioned by Jahanara
• Housed over 1500 shops
• Chowks are typical indigenous elements
located at the intersection of two or more
streets or the end of a lane

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.3 Mughal Towns–17thCent A.D
SHAHJAHANABAD – HOUSES
Mahalla/Katra
• People’s tendency was to live by ethnic
affiliations and to live in the same
neighbourhoods
• The urban community was formed by such
wards
• 36 mahallas in the walled city
• Entry to a katra was through a gate
Houses
• Spatial organisation based on need for domestic
privacy and seclusion of women
• Separate courtyards in some houses in the rear
strictly only for women
• At times, in the upper floors, houses were
connected by a ‘chatta’ – an exclusive pathway
for women
Havellis
• Members of the imperial household lived
• Accommodated not only the owner and his
family but also their followers, servants,
craftsmen with their workshops.
Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST
 2.2.4 Renaissance Town - 18thcent.A.D
JAIPUR – Site Choice & Planning

• Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh

• Jaipur was established in 1727
• Moved the capital from Amber to this site
• Fusion of Shastric principles and Western planning
• Choice of site
– Military reasons
– Geographical reasons
– Shastric terms – declivity to the NE
• Unique
– First time city in the valley
– Grid iron pattern
• The axis was determined based on
– Trade routes
– The natural ridge
– Topography of the place
• Intersection of the axes to define the Badi Chaupar (City Square)

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.4 Renaissance Town - 18thcent.A.D
JAIPUR – CITY PLANNING

• Modelled on the Prastara type of plan

– Site to be rectangular or square
– Sites allocated for the different communities
– Size of the sites varied
– Main roads wider than in the other types

• Plan of Jaipur – 3 x 3 grid

• Gridlines – city’s main streets

• Central axis – EW – Surajpol and the Chandpol

• Crossed by 2 roads at right angles

• 9 equally sized blocks

• Further sub-divided by lanes and alleys

• The town has around it a masonry wall,

25ft. high & 9ft. thick, with eight gates.

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 2.2.4 Renaissance Town - 18thcent.A.D
JAIPUR – CITY PLANNING
• NW – mandala could not be competed

• SE – an extra square accommodated

• Plan asymmetrical as a whole

• Segregation of city into 9 wards

• Need to segregate people based on community

and different ranks

• Within the wards – plots of different sizes

• Lanes named after the occupation of inhabitants

• Based on the Shilpa Shastra – width or roads and lanes

– Main street – 111’ wide
– Secondary streets – 55’ wide
– Smaller ones – 27’ wide

• Palace to be placed centrally – position of the Brahmastana

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

2.2.4 Renaissance Town - 18thcent.A.D
JAIPUR – PUBLIC SPACES
Chaupar
• The most distinguishing feature of the
urban fabric
• It’s a square
• At the intersection of the EW road with
the 3 NS roads
• 3 such squares formed
• Thrice the width of the major roads
• Measuring about 100m x 100m
• Suitable for public gatherings and festive
occassions
• Distance between 2 chaupars is 700m –
pedestrian friendly

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

2.2.4 Renaissance Town - 18thcent.A.D
JAIPUR – PUBLIC SPACES
Bazaars
• Originally 4 bazaar were planned
• Architectural features of the bazaar
streets
• use of chajjas – horizontal lines
• Projecting vertical blocks on brackets
• Modular system of arches with latticed
screens
• Temples above shops with wide
staircases from the pavement to the
temple
• Space above shops also served as
viewing gallery for royal processions,
religious festivals and public
celebrations
• On the main streets strict control was
exercised on the street façade
• Beyond the frontage the buildings could
be of any height or any shape

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST

 Thank you

Prepared by : Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | SAID, SRMIST