City as a Hydro centric Construction The Water Corridors of Kumbakonam city in the Cauvery Delta

Transcription

1 as a Hydro centric Construction The Water Corridors of Kumbakonam city in the Cauvery Delta

2 an overview The Regional setting The Concept of Hydro social city : the urban tissue The Landscape layer Water Structuring Urbanity The Ritual Topography p The Linear Urban Blocks The of Open Spaces_the green corridors

3 Regional Setting The Linear Urban Blocks introduction Historically the relationship of water to urbanization holds a privileged position in India. When water is a shrinking resource The thrust of this paper is to examine the possibility of simultaneously protect landscape and impose radically new spatial configuration in urban development _ sustainable form of urbanism The case selected the water corridors of Kumbakonam- stresses on an indigenous regenerative strategy of urban development in concurrence with the natural water structure

4 Regional Setting regional setting The Linear Urban Blocks Cauvery River Basin Kumbakonam, Kashi on Cauvery, is an ancient South Indian located in Cauvery River

5 Regional Setting regional setting Kumbakonam, in the Cauvery River Delta The Linear Urban Blocks Kumbakonam, the religious centre, is a river-edge settlement located in the delta between the Cauvery & its distributary Arasalar.

6 Regional Setting regional setting The religious centre in the Cauvery Delta Kumbakonam is unique being one of the very few multi core temple cities. one of the earliest settlements of the Cholas in the Cauvery The Linear Urban Blocks Area - Population sqkm 1.4 lakhs

7 The Hydro Social The Linear Urban Blocks the hydro social city_ the concept The structuring of the city maintain the identity of the site s historical layers and the strong connection with water. The urban tissue explains the integrated appropriations at the social, economic and environmental levels thus bridging the stratified urban conditions in cities The morphology of the settlement has been, to a large extent, shaped by the waythe water runs through h its landscape and historically how man has dealt with it.

8 the landscape layer Landscape layer The Linear Urban Blocks Ridge Valley diagram System of water channels Spatial Configuration Strewn with tanks and a number of water channels flowing from west to east It has a shallow slope down from north to south with the many ridgelines running east west. Traditionally, the tanks could be classified into 3 types `

9 Water structuring The Linear Urban Blocks Water structuring The spatial organisation or grouping of urban water distribution has been very sensitive to the specific waterscape of the city evolving an integrating social engineering and accepting water as a cycle this demanded a strict civic, social and political discipline creating an inter dependant urban water morphology. The temple city has been conceived with the underlying canonical principles in its overall structure.

10 ritual The city is defined by reciprocities & relationships between ritual & civic life & their embodiment in architectural settings l The Linear Urban Blocks The urban realm in the sacred city is a of ritual space articulated through a hierarchy of localized levels

11 ritual l Ritual Map Myth and the spatial elements The Linear Urban Blocks The sky line of Kumbakonam The Mahamakam Tank

12 linear urban blocks Ridge Valley diagram Linear Ub Urban Blocks System The Street of water Hierarchy channels map The initial interventions on the landscape Response of street network to the watercourses State highway, the main spine, runs through the ridge. The street network responds to the topographical features and the network of canals

13 linear urban blocks Linear Ub Urban Blocks The Street Hierarchy Response of street network map to the watercourses State highway, the main spine, runs through the ridge. The street network responds to the topographical features and the network of canals

14 linear urban blocks Linear Ub Urban Blocks The Street Hierarchy The linear urban blocks map The urban block is primarily defined with main temples with the tanks as the core and Streets run parallel to the water network giving access to the private plots Thus building alternative linear strips of land and water.

15 the Continuum of open spaces Linear Urban Blocks The green corridors Balanced system of built and open with the larger concern to maintain the rear set backs as a collective open space to conserve the water shed.

16 the Continuum of open spaces Linear Urban Blocks The green corridors This concept of green corridors allowed for future densification

17 the Continuum of open spaces Linear Urban Blocks The green corridors the process of over densification and a negative attitude to the water, which addresses a serious conservation concern, in the recent years

18 findings and opportunities new possibilities A well planned hydrological infrastructure with the normative mobility / transport network and land uses proposals offer possibility to protect the collective public realm of rapidly urbanising cities. The paradigm of hydro social city where the water structures the urban morphology and water is viewed as a resource rather than a waste. It offers an opportunity to re-establish the link of water to cities and the ambivalent relationship between the man made and the natural.

19 new possibilities as a symbiosis of the man and the environment transforming nature into culture and to a highly organised sustainable spatial configuration and not a mere economic engine thank you