THE MISSING LINK

The site, Rustom Cama Road, at city scale, is a crucial traffic node. By joining Ashram Road to the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque via Nehru Bridge, it acts as a Gateway to the old city.  There are many civic facilities (gardens, AMTS depot, bus stands, taxi stand, car parking, toilet, Palica Bazaar etc.) spread across either side of this road. Although each is functional in isolation, they do not act as a unified civic experience despite their adjacency. This is due to the public infrastructure (wide roads, bus depots, parking) fragmenting the site into detached, pedestrian-unfriendly, disconnected parts.

The speed and volume of the incoming traffic towards the old city bisects the site. After passing Nehru Bridge, towards the old city, one speeds on Rustom Cama road, to be slowed down at the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque traffic junction.  One can appreciate the Old City at this slowed-down pace. Until one reaches there, my site goes unnoticed, becoming underutilised. It is essential that one is slowed down at a distance, prior to encountering these places.  It is also important for the pedestrians to connect the fragmented site caused by infrastructure.

Acting as a threshold at both the local and city level, the intent is to re-imagine a parking island, opposite Sardar Bagh, as a point of exchange between the old and the new. A singular place that houses a bus stand, a toilet, and a tourist facilitation centre, designed as compartments between a landscaped ground. Moreover, it intends to connect this landscaped terrain to the gardens across the road, activating the street edge till the Palika Bazar underpass. The bridge enables pedestrian diffusion between the existing elements, making them a part of a complete pedestrian network. The bridge also acts as a visual landmark, welcoming those who enter the old city, before directing them towards the old heritage deeper down the road.  By virtue of being the first introduction to the old and new, it cross-references many existing architectural elements, like the arches, courtyards, brick fort walls, etc., in a hetero-architectural derivation of this threshold language.