COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE

PLANNING ANG EVOLUTIONOF DELHI

SUBMITTED BY
SUBMITTED TO TANYA SRIVASTAVA
AR. DEVINA AGARWAL 14ARCH022
 Reasons for the shifting of the capital:
Controversial partitioning of Bengal-In 1905 right to vote between
Bengali Hindus n Muslims.
Delhis geographical position at the centre of northern India which is
roughly equidistant from Bombay and Calcutta.
It was also a junction of six railway lines that connected the northwest
with the rest of India.
It seemed obvious for a plan of previously unknown proportions was
only feasible in the vast environs available around Delhi to construct a
living tribute to British imperialism and its unified rule over a foreign
race.
Delhis historic importance-Important seat of the Mughal empire and is
equally important for Hindus since maharbharata-era as delhi was
formerly known as city of Indraprastha.
Perceived political need to rearticulate british power

Zones of delhi before colonial era Former plan of delhi by Lutyen Early political history of delhi Map showing partiton of bengal

EARLY POLITICAL HISTORY OF DELHI(1060-1947)

Modern Delhi, referred to as 'Dilli' locally, derived from its historical name Dhili, is an amalgam all of the above. Officially, however, only seven of the above-mentioned settlements are recognised as historical cites with
distinct identities and indigenous heritage: Qila Rai Pithora, Mehrauli, Siri, Tughlaqabad, Ferozabad, Dinpanah and Shahjahanabad.The rest are not officially identified as Cities of Delhi.

DELHI.
Calcutta was declared the capital of British India but in 1911 at the Delhi Durbar of 1911, held at the Coronation Park, King George V announced the shifting of the capital back to Delhi. Parts of the old city were New
Delhi, a monumental new quarter of the city designed by the British architect Edwin Lutyens to house the government buildings was inaugurated in 1931 after its construction was delayed due to World War I.
The city built by the British on the south-west was declared Capital on 12 December 1911. On 12 December 2011 New Delhi celebrated 100 years of serving as India's National Capital.

SITE SELECTION
Because of health problem an due to undulating land in Delhi .The space provided by the site and for its relationship with many historic sites the Raisina hill is considered as the prime loction for the purpose.

PLANNING OBJECTIVE
On December 15, 1911, King George V and Queen Mary laid the foundation stone for New Delhi, at a Darbar under a purposely built Shah Jahani dome. The message was clear: the British were the legitimate
successors of the Mughals and their new capital was intended to express the power of the Raj, just as Shah Jahans capital had expressed the authority of the Mughals.
The number of great historical buildings were around the important British buildings .British were determined that their capital must quietly dominate them all.
Establishing British cultural supremacy through use of formal neo-classical architecture principles that were prevalent in west.

PLANNING
Imperial Delhis town planning elements like palaces, ministries, avenues, historic buildings and residences all fit together to form a
network of sightlines, traffic axes, geometrical plazas, and parkland according to the principles of City Beautiful and Beaux-Arts
town plans of America.Axiality, symmetry and size primary characteristics through which British empire established its claim
depicting military superiority and sense of justice.

INSPIRATIONS
1. Baron Von Haussmans Paris
The strong axiality of Pariss plan became a source of inspiration for the newly formed team of imperialists working on Delhi.
The principal axis of the Champs Elysees bears a striking similarity to the Rajpath, which forms the primary axis of the New Delhi
master plan.
The palace of Indian rajas lined up between government house.
View from the government house to the Indias largest mosque is the key theme.
Viceroy objected to frequent right angle intersections similar to normal layout of grid pattern for cantonment and civil stations in
India.
Interestingly, while adopting the axis from Paris, Lutyens also understood the limitations of the transplant. The boulevards, avenues,
shops, theatres and dance halls that flanked the Champs Elysees were appropriately programmed as per the spending power of one
of Europe's richest cities. In comparison, the context of Delhi offered no such luxury in density and spending power from the Indian
locals or the British gentry. Hence, the lavish programmed edge of Paris was replaced by large native Jamun trees and manicured
green lawns that ran the length along both sides of Rajpath.
2.Christopher Wren and John Evelyn's plan for London (1666)
Lutyens recognized Wrens plans from his visit to Rome. Wren's overarching network of radial arterial roads were reminiscent of the Roman pattern of axial roads at the piazza del
Popolo, only supplemented by a rectangular system of secondary residential grid. Lutyens was able to distil from Wren and Evelyn's plans the combination of a contradictory grid
and radial system that formed a supremely ordered yet a complex pattern.
''Major monuments were isolated in great plazas from which radiated multiple avenues connected by circumferentials, creating a spider web polygon that Lutyens was to employ in
his New Delhi layout at both the railway station and the commemorative column The hexagonal form of Evelyn's spider web, monumental cross axes and diagonal terminating
vistas were other sources of inspiration for the architect. Although the London plans were never realized one can recognize parts of it in the imperial plan for Delhi even today.

Plan of Washington D.C

Christopher wrens plan for City of London(1666)

Pierre Charles L'Enfant's plan for Washington D. C.

The Washington plan when viewed from the North its correlations with the Indian capital are even more obvious.
"Diagonal avenues, round-points, axial arrangement of buildings & open spaces, and terminal vistas were all integral parts of LEnfant's design vocabulary when he drew a capital city for
the fledging American republic that envisioned itself heir to Rome's greatness."21 Herbert Baker had estimated LEnfant's scheme as 'at once original, practical and beautiful.' Lutyens
justified his hexagonal geometry for Delhi as a 'sorry nuisance' to those persons whose minds could not 'embrace the intelligence of LEnfant's Washington.
In the book, Indian Summer, Irving also traces town-planning preoccupations of the City Beautiful movement in America and Lutyens' inspiration for the Hampstead Garden suburb
(completed before he came to Delhi) that was on the lines of the Garden city theorists in England.
The system of grand diagonal avenues delineating giant hexagons, interlocked with a grid pattern, a commanding capitoline acropolis from which radiates a patte-d'oie, including a broad
two-mile parkway terminating at a monument on the river's edge forms a compelling likeness to its imperial Indian counterpart. The Capitol building sited on the hill and the Mall bear
notional resemblances to Viceragal Lodge on Raisena and the King's way respectively although primary considerations for the main axis were from the Champs Elysees in Paris. The central
section of the ground plan and the elevation of the Capitol Building is also said to have strong similarities with the spatial disposition found in the Viceregal Lodge in Delhi. There may have
been supplementary, less publicized sources of inspiration from the city of Bath in England, Canberra in Australia, Hampstead garden suburb, Mughal city planning themes or others as
the design for the new capital evolved.
Bird view of Washington D.C.
Design did not fulfil Lord Hardinges standard of taste and convenience because of too
Curved streets similar to regent street in london to unfold variety many curving roads.he felft that the suggested six secretraits might give undue
Enlarged area at the end of main avennue
publicity to activities in ffront of the viceregal residence

Criss cross axial

plaza with 2
secretrait block
in order to avoid
Gridiron
a too long main
pattern for
avennnue
indian
residential
and
commercil
zone

Preservation of large areas with historical landmarks as an Curved streets for the Indian Residentials and commercial zone Three avennues radiatig out from govrnment house
archaelogical area
Lanchestes initial layout Lanchestes revised layout Lanchester second revised layout
Implied plan
 Hardinges most beautiful site of all is Raisina hill (8 December 1912) Hardinge suggestion to avoid expensive exploration of houseowners of Pahanganj

Malcha the previous site spotted for government houuse was
discarded due to Raisina hill
Suggestion was to build Government house to the back of raisina hill
and to turn t to face east.
Turning the main axis of the plan by 45 degrees southeast towards the
ancient fortress of Indrapat which was the earlier preference of lord
Hardinge anyway
Lutyens led a group of architects in laying out the central administrative area of the city, with the charge of retaining one-third of the area as green
space.[citation needed] At the heart of the city was the impressive Rashtrapati Bhawan, formerly known as Viceroy's House, located on the top of Raisina
Hill. The Rajpath, also known as King's Way, connects India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhawan, while Janpath, which crosses it at a right angle, connects
South End Road (renamed as Rajesh Pilot Marg) with Connaught Place. Currently, Pranab Mukherjee is the President of India, and stays in the official
house of Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Formation of plan of delhi

Extensive and consistent use of equilateral triangles, hexagrams and hexagons. These geometric shapes
applied at each scale; town-planning, individual buildings and to a certain degree even to the furniture,
fountains and structuring of the facade. Geometric plans emerged through a rational process unrelated
to ideal-city concepts. While we might view hexagonal planning as one of those fanciful approaches to
city design which should not be dismissed entirely. The conceptual plans are distinguished for the visual
reference that they make to aspects of historic Delhi. One avenue, now Parliament Street, is linked to
Jama Masjid, while the Central Vista unified, visually speaking, the Viceregal House with Purana Qila.
such integration remained confined to mere visual references