Figure 17 Kolkata Town Hall before restoration

4 Case studies - India

4.1 Kolkata town hall, Kolkata

4.1.1 History

According to Othman and Elsaay (2018), Kolkata Town Hall was established by the British in 1813 and the hall adopted the Roman Palladian-Doric style in its design as a reflection of the physical and functional aspects of the city. The authors report that some of its features, for instance, its floors, contained diverse ornaments.Additionally, Othman and Elsaay add that the town hall is also considered an integral heritage building that reflects the history that occurred within it.

Bandyopadhyay and Mitra (2019) further observe that various methods were adopted to modify and reuse the building. The methods were undertaken in a sequential order; i) survey of the existing condition of the building, ii) examination of building materials, iii) evaluation of the structural conditions, iv) assessment and rendering, v) hiring of contractors, vii) assignment of restoration funds and viii) management of operations (Othman and Elsaay, 2018).

The restoration of the building for public use also involved undertaking repair work for the different building elements such as the doors, walls, roofs, windows and other construction activities (Bandyopadhyay and Mitra, 2019). Following the regeneration, the building currently comprises important features such as the ‘Kolkata Panorama’ which is a high-techstory-telling museum, administrative area, public gathering spaces, academic seminar area and socio-cultural event rooms (Othman and Elsaay, 2018). Figure 17 displays the Kolkata Town hall before its restoration.

Figure 17Kolkata Town Hall before restoration(Othman and Elsaay, 2018)