Intrusive development: The plan to construct buildings of 27 and 21 storeys on Periyar EVR Road and at the Broadway bus terminus respectively are ill-advised.
A rash of high rises is breaking out all over the city. There are giant buildings springing up where a uniformly flat skyline existed before. While these are necessary aspects of development, they ought to be in new areas, where an urban character must be built afresh. But to force-fit giant multi-storey buildings into heritage areas is only to destroy their already fragile fabric. The government’s plans to construct buildings of 27 and 21 storeys on Periyar EVR Road and at the Broadway bus terminus respectively come under this category and are ill-advised.
The Central Tower of 27 floors is to be constructed to the rear of the façade of Raja Sir Savalai Ramaswami Mudaliar Choultry on Periyar EVR Road. An artistic rendering of it shows the difference in scale between the two buildings — the tower, all concrete, steel and glass, pierces the sky, while the choultry is an indistinct red blob beside it. And considering that all other buildings on the same stretch — Central Station, the Southern Railway Headquarters, the Madras Medical College, the General Hospital, Victoria Public Hall, Ripon Buildings, and Siddique Sarai —have storeys in single digits, they will all be dwarfed by the new construction. And, moreover, apart from a couple of domes and some arched windows, this tower will be out of sync with the existing architectural skyline.
The Broadway bus terminus and the Kuralagam building are to make way for a similar 21-storey building. Once again, this is, going by the artistic rendering, all concrete, steel and glass, and with nothing in common with the Indo-Saracenic High Court and Law College buildings or the stunning art deco skyline of NSC Bose Road and Esplanade Road. To inflict such a structure on this historic stretch is a short-sighted vision at its worst.
Both buildings are being hailed as multi-modal transport hubs with parking facilities that will solve the problems of congestion in the surroundings. On the other hand, they are only going to add to the challenges. While parking facilities are most welcome, these would at most be for a few floors. The remaining are all to house government and private offices. The government is, therefore, adding real estate where none existed before. The congestion and chaos that will descend on this locality each morning and evening as people enter and exit these towers can only be imagined. It will be Tidel Park junction multiplied many times over. And neither seems planned for natural ventilation or light — again features in contrast to the edifices in the vicinity. Can you imagine the energy footprint of these buildings?
Singara Chennai is an oft-repeated mantra. Protecting architectural skylines and heritage vistas are important aspects of this. The government would do well to ponder over these before it goes ahead with the two towers. And given that we have a notified Heritage Act in place, there are bound to be some guidelines for the authorities to adhere to. The government has also assured the High Court that it will constitute a Heritage Conservation Committee by July and perhaps, these two towers will be the first challenges that that body will wrestle with. Ideally, both at Broadway and at Central, the multi-modal transport hub ought to have been underground. And for that, the planning needed to have taken place when the Metro Rail work was in progress in both areas. This would have saved an enormous cost in digging and tunnelling and also protected the skyline. But then, planning has seldom been our forte.
(V. Sriram is a writer and historian.)
Published - June 18, 2024 10:44 pm IST
