Virsa - A neighbourhood Insert

Location: Hauz Khas, New Delhi
Hauz Khas is a neighborhood where many dualities such as the old and new structures, different strata of the society’s i.e. urban villages and the green and the blues coexist. Etched in history, over the years the area has experienced ‘regrowth’, with growing needs of the so-called urban society. Such as parks being converted into underground parking, ruined walls of historic structures being amalgamated into the new, encroaching of areas adjoining historic structures and developing urban villages of Shahpur Jat. This has further led to newer meanings to spaces such as Hauz Khas Village, which is now viewed as a party place rather than its historic values. Instead of envisaging a space that stems from the old into the new, the new developments and the history are like pieces of different puzzles that are unable to fit together.

The selected site consists of a stretch of land in front of the old kharera Wall ( unprotected monument) which has currently been encroached as the land was bought by a private company. The site also includes the market edge of the street with a road running through and culminates at the edge of a park which was converted into an underground parking. The park also houses an abandoned library.
The project aims to create a continuous movement loop or pattern within the site and at various levels. Thus there are three connections formed i.e. the movement loop, connecting the greens from the park to the other edge of the wall and the program which brings together a variety of programs.