Proposal and Process
Name - Reconditoning Hebbal Railway Station
Site - Hebbal Railway station.
We all have that one memory that is related to a Railway journey in our childhood. Railways were
the prime means of transport as well as a pocket-friendly op;on too, It is safe, comfortable and convenient
to travel from one place to another. When I was a kid, my mother used to take to my grandmother's house,
It was in the nearby area to the main Pune Railway Sta;on. A few hundred meters away behind the house
there was a railway track, which was a quite a busy track with a lot of locomo;ve movements. Every ;me I
heard of a train I would run to the track from the back door just to see and feel the speed of it. Since I was
a child I have been fascinated by train journeys, I used to love the hot soup that the Rajdhani express
serves, it was a delight. Even today I am s;ll equally fascinated by them and I would choose to travel by
railways given the option.
The system of Railways was introduced in India by the British officers who had conquered the land for quite
sometime. India is such a vast country with a lot of poor people who cannot afford expensive travel
op;ons, oKen think of railway as their go-to op;on since its a cheaper op;on with comfort. When we talk
about Railways, we also think about the sta;ons, the platforms, the rush and the luggage seMlement etc.
Bigger Railway stations such as Howrah Junc;on railway sta;on, Kolkata, Chhatrapa; Shivaji Terminus
Mumbai etc, have a very detailed planning and infrastructure keeping the track and the capacity people in
mind.
Research question and Inquiry
Inquiry areas -
- The sense of the place
- Redesigning Infrastructure with regards to the sense of the place
AKer doing a few site visits and visual documenta;on, I felt aMached to the sense of the place, which is a
very important factor for the development of the place. Nowadays people and designers are giving more
importance to the aesthe;cal and material factor than the people and their sense of that par;cular place.
With my design, I want to create a blend of these factors. A balanced design equally giving jus;ce to the
Infrastructure and the Sense of the Railway Sta;on. I have aMached a few pictures of the place below,
through my pictures I want to communicate the sense of the place that I have captured through my lens,
given the point of ‘sense of the place’.
Assuming that the Hebbal Railway sta;on is going to be a part of the Suburban Railway Project. I want to
Redesign the infrastructure keeping the suburban developmental measures. AMemp;ng to deconstruct this
idea, I came upon my project research ques;on. Through this design, I want to infuse the blend of an
emo;on of the place and modern infrastructure of the site.
My research ques;on challenges the blend of sense and infrastructure. The aMempted ques;on is as
follows.
Question - How can I redesign the Hebbal Railway sta;on keeping in mind the increased demands of
Suburban Railway Station, yet retaining the natural sense of place?
Methodology
This project is my first aMempt at redesigning a Railway sta;on I adapted a few hand tools and
documenta;on tools.A few methods I adapted for my research were :
*Mapping of the site, Hebbal in general as it spreads.
*Observing the people and the paMern if there is one.
*Read a Book - How to study Public life, to understand the tools to capture the public life beMer. Tools such
as - Counting, tracking, mapping, Dairy notes and Photography/videography of the site.
*An overall view and context about Hebbal, its importance, and posi;on as the ‘gateway of Bangalore’
*Developed a process chart for breaking down my research and categorising it under a few factors such as -
*Selection of the site, understanding the context, Documenta;on, Community feedback etc.
*AKer a Thorough research, I arrived in the communi;es that are going to be affected by my project,
Communities such as - Cargo Workers, Vendors, police, Pedestrians etc.
*Community Event - I aMended a Rail Yatra, organised by the ci;zens of Bangalore
Yeshwanthpur - Heelalige - Yeshwanthpur, 600/900 commuters joined this Yatra in order to support the
cause of ‘Modalu Train Beku’
Initiatives taken -
* Documen;ng of the event - notes, pocket thoughts, pictures, interviews
(videos), going forward and engaging with the yatra par;cipants.
* Casual conversa;ons over the topics - emo;on of the place, cultural
architecture, train systems in general.
* Contact numbers of a few important people, possible leads for more
informa;on on Railways. A group for user tes;ng, community reviews
and feedbacks.
Made a few site visits in a different light, day and night, which gave me different scenarios for the
Station. A picture of two ;me periods as to compare the working and the frequency of the trains and
passengers.
I have also kept a recorded hand journal, which is also my diary for observa;ons and sketches of the
plaLorms and scenarios.
Since my next step was community par;cipa;on, I started using a few tools for communica;ng/approaching
a society.
Assumptions
The two assump;ons I am taking the advantage are-
1)Hebbal railway sta;on is a part of the new Suburban Railway Project.
2)People being aMached the sense of this place, and would like the balance between infrastructure and
Nature.
These two are the main assump;ons, that are the suppor;ng pillars of my project for people. I have
shiKed my focus from the material point of view to the public point of view, by which I would like to cater to
the public issues more and deliver a jus;fied redesigned Railway sta;on for Hebbal.
Possible Design Outcome
I aim to design an infrastructural balance between People and Nature.Hebbal sta;on being an oasis in
Hebbal and neighbouring the Hebbal Lake, for people to see in midst of Hebbal rush, Its a plain beau;ful
site that I would like to preserve by adding the redesigned infrastructure to go with it.
Books referred to -
1) Urban Design Toolkit -
Of Enviornment, Ministry. Urban Design Toolkit - Third Edi8on. 3rd ed. New Zealand: Ministry for the
Environment, 2006. hMp://www.mfe.govt.nz/publica;ons/towns-and-ci;es/urban-design-toolkit-thirded;on/sec;on-2-co.
2) Innova;ve Thinking about a global world, Bourdieu's field-
Bourdieu, Pierre. Innova8ve Thinking About a Global World, Bourdieu's Field. N.p.: publisher, publica;on
year. hMps://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2011/02/bourdieus-field.html.
3)The sense of a Place - Jennifer Adams, NYAdams,
Jennifer. Sense of Place - the Nature of Ci8es. SeaMle: Thunder Bay, 2016. hMps://
www.thenatureofci;es.com/2016/05/26/sense-of-place/.
4)Splintering Urbanism-
Marvin, Simon, and Stephan Graham. Splintering Urbanism. London: Routledge, 2001. hMp://
www1.caminos.upm.es/sic/files/04_seminarios/1_Sem/05/descargas/6_Splintering%20urbanismGraham.
* Case Studies - Chhatrapa; Shivaji Terminus CST, Mumbai
Howrah Junc;on, Kolkata
South Beijing Junc;on, China
Broomsgrove station
Following are the picture of the existing Railway Station -
Site Analysis of the area-
Ideation and rough plans -
Plans -
Sketch up Model for the proposed plans -
