CULTURAL THEME PARK, Kolkata

Ms. ALISHA SINHA

BARC / 1013 / 09

A SYNOPSIS SUBMITTED AS A PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
MESRA, RANCHI

………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………..
(Prof. Sanmarga Mitra) (Prof. Smriti Mishra)
UG Thesis Coordinator ’13 Thesis Guide
Department of Architecture Department of Architecture
Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra
CONTENTS

1. Project Introduction 1

2. Project Need 1

3. Project Aim 1

4. Project Scope 2

5. Site Justification 3

6. Case Studies 3

7. Literature Studies 4

8. Site Detail 5

9. Initial Concepts & Design Development 6

10. Functional Concepts 8

11. Form Concept 8

12. Area Programming 9

13. Site Plan 11

1. PROJECT INTRODUCTION

PROJECT NAME: CULTURAL THEME PARK

PROJECT LOCATION: KOLKATA
SITE AREA: 62 acres

BRIEF:
A theme park is a destination, which combines entertainment, food and beverage and
shops, and an environment that is different from that found outside its gates. A theme
is used to provide a focus for the design, development and operation of such a park.

Thereby, a “Cultural Theme Park” is an amusement park which is themed on a

particular culture, and all its rides, attractions as well as other elements of interest are
based on ideas from that specific culture. In this case, the culture refers to the “Culture
of India”, and all the recreational elements used are meant to be associated which this
pluralistic culture.

This thesis project would propose a Theme Park, which would depict the Indian
Culture, its richness and versatility on a large scale. Its arenas would be distributed
geographically, so that the people who belong to India but are eager to get acquainted
with its culture as well as the people who visit the country, both get a clear idea of
what the country has to offer and correlate it well with their own understanding.

The park would have a chargeable entry, which would include the visiting charges but
not the access to certain recreational elements, which are not compulsory or common to
all.

The site also holds the Residential Areas for the staff working there, Administrative
Areas as well as a Guest House for visitors who wish to stay longer.

2. PROJECT NEED
Due to lack of proper promotion and global advertisement, many parts of India, which
are culturally rich and worth giving a visit, and that depict the variety in the Indian
culture to its fullest, do not fall in the notice of tourists and visitors.
Keeping this in mind, the basic idea here is to create a cultural theme park, depicting
the culture of our country at its best, highlighting the low-promotion zones and give an
appreciable definition to “India”.

3. PROJECT AIM
The prime objective behind the creation of this park would be to highlight the low-
promotion zones of India. In this design, it is aimed to generate ambiences portraying the
varied cultures, consisting of recreational elements for visitors having varied interests
that would incline them to visit those parts of India.
# To promote Indian Culture and its dimensions across the world
# To design as an escape for people from their day-to-day lives towards
leisure, relaxation and fun

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4. PROJECT SCOPE
The aim here is to create a cultural theme park, which would consist of six major built
structures, denoting the six major geographical zones of India – North, South, East, West,
North-East and Central. Each pavilion would have its own outdoor arena, and both these
areas would consist of elements of interest and entertainment, which would depict a
component of Indian culture of that area.
The basic components of this theme park design:
 Ticketing complex
 Tourist information centres
 Centre for assistance to physically challenged and aged visitors
 Six Pavilions
 Toy train station
 Boating station
 Shopping streets
 Dining facilities
 Plazas
 Parking
 Medical clinic
 Restrooms
 Staff residence
 Extensive landscaping

Northern Zone: Central Zone: Eastern Zone:

 Cactus Garden  Wildlife Museum  Terracotta Museum
 Tractor Zone  Haats  Sand-art Zone
 Skiing Zone  Cockfight area  Tram Rides
 Apple Zone  Artificial Waterfalls  Ferry Game Zone
 Flower Garden  Drum Rides  Toy Train
 Skating Rink  Buddhist Remains Park  Amphitheatre
 Row-in-theatres  River Sports  Yak Rides
 Dhabas  Central Lake for boating  Momo Stalls
 Agriculture Museum  Ropeways
 Horse Rides North-eastern Zone:
 Camel Rides
 Char bagh  Tea Garden
 Puppet Show
 Urdu Bazaar  Wildlife Museum
 Field for tug-of-war
 Riverbank Plaza  Bamboo Climbing
Western Zone: Sports
Southern Zone:
 Water sports  Trekking
 South Cinema Museum
 Festival Plazas  Drum-shaped
 Fort Theatre
 Kite Zones amphitheatre
 Water Sports
 Ancient Remains Plaza  Mushroom Restaurant
 Artificial Buffalo Rides
 Row-in Restaurants  Restaurants
 Coconut Rides  Caves
 Coconut Market  Snake Rides
 Tea Garden  Palki Sit-on Theatre
 Elephant Rides

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5. SITE JUSTIFICATION
The site of this theme park has been taken in Kolkata because of the following reasons:

i) Central India already has a few such examples like the Kingdom of Dreams,
Gurgaon, Dilli Haat, Chokhi dhani, etc.

ii) Kolkata is a culturally rich metropolitan.

6. CASE STUDIES

Name Relevance
Kingdom of Dreams, Gurgaon Similar Project in Northern India, but on a
smaller scale; covers only 13 states
Dilli Haat, New Delhi Universal Design and Open space planning

KINGDOM OF DREAMS - INFERENCES:

 The circulation pattern is such that visitors would automatically be able to see
maximum elements the area has to offer.
 Food court has been kept in one common area so that people get to choose easily
from the available options.
 The detailing of every part is exquisite in itself and even service areas like
washrooms have been tried to integrate into the theme.
 The materials used are innovative and light fibre and plastics, which are easy to
maintain and reduce dead load.
 The placement of pavilions has no proper order and hence, it does not help much
in understanding cultural distribution of India.
 The place lacks recreational activities other than performances and dining.

DILLI HAAT – INFERENCES:

The main motive behind doing a case study of Dilli Haat was to know about two
things: how the entire area has been converted into a universal design ,and in such a
hot climate, how do people move around and what provisionsare made to provide
shade to them. Both the aspects were properly studied, and the observations have
been noted above.

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7. LITERATURE STUDIES

Name Relevance
Global Village, Dubai Similar Theme but on a global scale
Shilparamam, Hyderabad Same kind of recreational park with a different
theme (not geographical but periodic)

GLOBAL VILLAGE – INFERENCES:

 The food joints have been kept together and can be reached after travelling a
certain distance. This inclines people visit the whole arena.
 Apart from pedestrian circulation, circulation through boats has been arranged for
the people to enjoy more while they move.
 Ample space has been provided for parking- six lots of 500 capacity.
 All the visitable spaces have been kept at one level.
 There are multiple entries and exits. Hence, no particular pattern of circulation
could be maintained.
 The recreational and observational spaces are separate. They could have been
integrated to increase interest of visitors.
 Market areas of all pavilions are separate. This makes choice difficult.
 The boating facility has been provided only for one wing of the complex.
 There are no arrangements to fight the hot climate, hence is advised to be visited in
the late hours of the day.

SHILPARAMAM – INFERENCES:
 Because of the concept of ethnic architecture, the building looks prominent in the
surroundings.
 Good segregation between recreational areas, shopping areas, office areas, family
entertainment areas etc
 Separation of pedestrian and vehicular moment.
 A proper service road.
 Wide pathways which can be used for multi-function like for exhibits, food stalls
during melas, etc
 Use of natural lakes for boating.
 Good use of contours to the design
 Rock gallery which has many exhibits in natural rock formation.
 Dormitories are not enough for the craftsmen.
 Poor Maintenence of thatch roofs.
 Parking is not enough during melas.
 Open Air Theatre (O.A.T.) is not oriented according to the wind direction.

The most innovative feature of Shilparamam can be taken as the thematic

distribution of pavilions of the Night Bazaar- on the basis of significant historic eras
in India, which was found different from the distribution in all the other studies.

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8. SITE DETAIL

The site is located in Newtown, Rajarhat

and comes under Action Area II-E.

Area = 25 hectares (62 acres)

Surroundings: The site is adjacent to the

recently developed Eco-Tourism Park, and
is a corner plot located south-west of
Akankha More and south-east of New
Town By-pass Crossing.

The site is barren and consists of a

few trees. It is not being used for
any fruitful activity at the moment,
except providing a parking space
for people visiting the buildings on
the opposite side of the road.
There is a lot of grass and mud all
along the site presently, with the
south-western side slightly
Sloping downwards, which was
evident by the debris collecting
there from the surrounding trees
and bushes.

Climatic Inferences

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9. INITIAL CONCEPTS & DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

SITE ZONING

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ZONING RELATED TO CIRCULATION & LANDSCAPING

Philosophical Concept:
The respective heights of the
buildings have been based on
their respective heights from the
sea level.

Also, the Central Food Court

symbolizes a focus, an elements
connecting all the zones, hence
showing “Unity in Diversity”

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 10. FUNCTIONAL CONCEPTS (DERIVATION OF FORM & SITE ZONING)

11. FORM CONCEPTS

For the façade, roofing styles of different regions were studied, and a suitable
composition was created after several permutations and combinations.

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12. AREA PROGRAMMING

Total Area for this chart = 20694 sqm.

Northern Zone Area = 4109 sqm.

Central Zone Area = 2961 sqm.
Eastern Zone Area = 1330 sqm.

Total Area for this chart = 8400 sqm.

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12. AREA PROGRAMMING (contd.)

Southern Zone Area = 2653 sqm.

North-eastern Zone Area = 1666 sqm.
Western Zone Area = 1344 sqm.

Total for this chart = 5663 sqm.

Total built-up area hence calculated = 34757 sqm.

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THANKYOU

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