Excerpt: Dilli Haat, designed by archohm, is a conversation between the past and present while acknowledging traditions and adapting contemporization. The idea was to give them a home for playful music and give these homes a place to play with music. This was the underlying layer that bonded the overall program of formal and informal shops to sell craft sand celebrate culture; to inject a new life into this part of Delhi and be its rhythmic. Fundamentally, all Dilli Haats need to have a common ground of bringing artisans to interface with city dwellers.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by Architect] ‘Haat Beat’ was the starting point to this design competition entry in 2005. Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation had invited entries for a Dilli Haat in Janakpuri-a massive site with a large residential audience, in a part of Delhi that had very few places to go out to. DTTDC has promoted music all across Delhi with its concerts and other initiatives. The idea was to give them a home for playful music and give these homes a place to play with music. This was the underlying layer that bonded the overall program of formal and informal shops to sell craft sand celebrate culture ;to inject a new life into this part of Delhi and be its rhythmic ‘haat beats a design philosophy, with two Dilli Haats already in the city, one questioned the design elements at multiple levels.
Fundamentally, all Dilli Haats need to have a common ground of bringing artisans to interface with city dwellers. All these haats need their own identity to attract people not only from their own neighborhood, but from the city at large. One also had to look at evolving the language and imagery of these haats with time. They could not be imitated extensions of the previous haats or imitations of villages in the city. They had to be progressive, in tune with today’s times and respecting the craft and cultural centricity of the project.
The design solution therefore, is a conversation between the past and the present, acknowledgement of the traditional and it’s adaptation in contemporary times, in concept and in construction. The site was a large six-acre northwest facing contiguous piece that turns southeast towards the end. The plot is bound by the main bus terminus on one side, the Tihar jail (a national prison) greens on the other side and a large commercial road in the front. The complex is planned with two entrances; a primary face with vehicular and pedestrian zones and a secondary rear entry for pedestrians into the craft-only zone.
Conception of the program is as large a design intervention as its physical manifestation. The final functionality found an indoor, well-equipped,800-capacity auditorium for formal concerts and an informal similar capacity open-air amphitheater that works simultaneously with independent spaces and support services. A multipurpose, multi-scaled exposition hall for exhibitions and seminars is proposed. A set of four baskets houses a music museum, a music store and music workshop space along with tourism offices and cafes. A large, air-conditioned food court extends into shaded courtyards and expansive greens for the basic need of spill overs. Formal, informal and open shop spaces are created to bring in the required sensitive adaptations of malls, markets and bazaars into this haat. An independent fine dining with an extended banquet facility is created to reinforce the business plan of this complex cultural complex.
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