Bada Danda Streetscape : Puri

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Bada Danda Streetscape : Puri

Firm

StudioPOD

Type

Landscape + Planning › Public Park Urban Green Space Masterplan
Transport + Infrastructure › Parking Bicycles Bus

STATUS

Concept

SIZE

1,000,000 +

BUDGET

Undisclosed

A dynamic street, Bada Danda Road is in the heart of the city of Puri, Odhissa, that caters to the daily needs of its citizens throughout the year and transforms into a melting point of Hindu pilgrimage once a year, during the festival of ‘Rath Yatra’. The festival is the procession where the deities of the temple are taken on three huge hand pulled wooden chariots. The Yatra takes place in Bada Danda street that spans between the world famous Jagannath Temple and the Gundicha Temple for a distance of 2.5 kms. It attracts on an average 35,000 pilgrims a day and during the Rath Yatra the number of pilgrims increases to 1.5 million.

The re-envisioning of the Bada Danda Road is based on the Development Vision of the Government of Odhissa to “Transform Puri Temple precinct into a world class heritage destination providing visitors with a safe, secure, and comfortable spiritual experience”

Unlike a normal street redesign, the challenge for Bada Danda Road is to provide flexibility in such a way that any street elements that are designed have to be easily removed for the Rath Yatra to allow the three big Chariots to be drawn on the street.
This proposal works towards enhancing the visitor and pilgrim experience through the creation of a well programmed and reorganized right-of-way leading to the Temple Precinct. It allows for a much needed organized space along Bada Danda that will provide a safe and structured Rath Yatra experience for the pilgrims.

The key components of the design are
-Re-organized entrance arrival experience with well-shaded queuing and amenities space for pilgrims
-Park-lets and dedicated retail spaces along the street for commerce and pilgrim amenities
- Re-organized carriageway for 1+1 vehicles on one side for daily use and a demarcated wide and flexible public realm on the rest of the street.
-Pilgrim Visitors centre with seating area in front of the temple allowing pilgrims to oversee and worship the Shikhar and Flag changing ceremony of the temple (Architectural high point of the temple)
-Facade development of the prominent buildings in the stretch and developing a uniform design language for signage
-Dedicated green mobility corridor for safe and easy movement of pilgrims from the proposed public parking garage to the Jagannath temple.
-Increasing green cover along the Bada Danda stretch through movable planters.
-Developing movable modules that can be stacked around the temple precinct to make space for Rath Yatra.
-Collapsible shading devices to provide comfort to the pedestrians
-Integration of local art in the form of flooring patterns.

The re-envisioned Bada Danda Street will transform the pilgrim and spiritual experience for the devotees visiting the holy city of Puri, offering a truly unique and comfortable public realm.