Abstract:
Abstract“India”. The word delights me, and I feel a sense of pride and honour. I am grateful to be a part of such a diverse and colourful nation. Currently I am away from my homeland while studying architecture and urban design in New Zealand, which allows me to look back at India and ask questions such as what makes the spaces and life in India so vibrant? This vibrancy is what I miss most here in Auckland. If public spaces are a manifestation of a country’s culture and society, how can I read ‘India’ through its public spaces, and how are these evolving? My research aims to analyse different Indian public space precedents architecturally, socially, culturally and functionally, through an Indian polytheism architectural approach that includes factors such as being celebratory, inclusive, socially active and community driven. The idea is to uncover how and why places like these function as stage sets in Indian public life across a range of scales, from the grand civic axis of the India Gate in New Delhi, to community gathering spaces in Bhopal, my home town, old bazaar street markets and Haat market concepts. What makes up this “Indian-ness”?Building on this knowledge, my thesis aims to develop a shared public space within Auckland City to uplift the New Zealand Indian community and to celebrate perceived ‘Indianness’ in Auckland’s urban fabric through the various design and urban planning elements I have developed through my research. My chosen design site is opposite St. Luke’s Shopping Mall and links through to Mount Albert Grammar School. The area’s cultural diversity is not evident in the surrounding bulk barn retail outlets, which have residential apartments wedged between them. I am hoping that through my study of India’s intensity of mixed uses surrounding public spaces, I can bring a specific and distinct cultural alternative to an urban design of shared public spaces in this overlooked part of the city.