AVPNY - AUROVILLE & PONDICHERRY ARCHITECTURAL TRAVEL GUIDE

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Authors: Anupama Kundoo and Yashoda Joshi Concept and Series Designer: Ariadna A. Garreta Layout and Graphics editing: Núria Sordé Orpinell Itineraries and cities maps: Gopal Limbad Drawings: Umang Gupta and others (as cited on p. 155) Editing and Proof reading: Neha Krishana Kumar Photographer: Ariadna A. Garreta Copyright © Altrim Publishers (2019) First Edition All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise or stored in database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Published by Altrim Publishers Passeig de Manuel Girona 55, baixos 2a 08034 Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) www.altrim.net ISBN 978-84-942342-5-5 Processed at Reproscan (Mumbai, India) Printed at Thomson Press (India) Limited, 2019 Texts © A. Kundoo and Y. Joshi and others (as cited on p. 155) Maps and drawings © Altrim Publishers Photos © Ariadna A. Garreta and others (as cited on p. 155) Cover photo: No School ('The universal egg’ by P. Szekely in the foreground), by Ariadna A. Garreta


Indian Architectural Travel Guides

ANUPAMA KUNDOO & YASHODA JOSHI

AVPNY AUROVILLE & PONDICHERRY



CONTENTS Auroville: City as a New Frontier .........................................................................................8 About the guide ................................................................................................................10 AUROVILLE Introduction .....................................................................................................................17 ITINERARY I: INTERNATIONAL ZONE ..................................................................................18 ITINERARY II: INDUSTRIAL ZONE .......................................................................................34 ITINERARY III: RESIDENTIAL ZONE ....................................................................................56 ITINERARY IV: CULTURAL ZONE .........................................................................................70 ITINERARY V: AUROMODÈLE .............................................................................................80 PONDICHERRY Introduction ...................................................................................................................112 ITINERARY I: FRENCH QUARTER I ....................................................................................114 ITINERARY II: FRENCH QUARTER II ..................................................................................126 ITINERARY III: TAMIL QUARTER .......................................................................................134 Facts for the Visitor ........................................................................................................144 Buildings and Places Index ............................................................................................151 About the Authors ..........................................................................................................153 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................154 Pictures and Drawings Credits .......................................................................................155


ABOUT THE GUIDE This guidebook is for visiting both Auroville and Pondicherry. There are five itineraries for Auroville and three for Pondicherry. The five itineraries for Auroville are structured around the main master plan of the city, which is divided into 4 zones (as shown in the opp. page map) and the fifth itinerary is located in the zone that is outside the main circle of Auroville. Auroville is a city in making and one would require having his/her own transport to move around inside Auroville. If you are staying in a Guest House within Auroville (http://guesthouses.auroville.org/) then you can get an Aurocard- a visitor’s card which allows you to move around within Auroville. While there are many guesthouses and home stays around Auroville, only guests staying inside Auroville are eligible to receive an AuroCard. The AuroCard serves as an identity card and is required for visiting Matrimandir and attending any cultural events. The Aurocard can also be set up as a debit card for your expenses within Auroville (some Auroville units do not accept cash). All the public buildings which are mostly located in Itinerary I, can be visited in the working hours without prior permission, except for Matrimandir. Passes for Matrimandir viewpoint can be obtained from Visitors Centre after watching a short video on Matrimandir. The timings for obtaining passes are mentioned on www.auroville.org. To visit Matrimandir inner chamber, prior booking- at least a day in advance- is mandatory. Group bookings or bookings by travel agents are not accepted; individual bookings are the only way to go visit the inner chamber. Thus, if you want to see Matrimandir closely, we recommend at least a 2 day visit to Auroville or Pondicherry. Since Auroville is a city in making, there are certain ways to go around the place. In case you are staying in Pondicherry, a visitor’s pass can be obtained at the visitors Centre. 10

If you have 3 days to stay in Auroville, we recommend doing International Zone fully along with some schools in Cultural Zone and the ones in Itinerary V. The schools can be visited after school hours or on school holidays. Each day, depending on the time you spend at each building, you can visit up to 7-8 buildings in one day. The itineraries for Pondicherry are structured around the two main geographical zones of the city: French Quarters, and the Tamil Quarters. The heritage walks offered by INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) follow more or less the same itinerary for French and Tamil quarters. If you have just a day to spend in Pondicherry, we recommend you book a heritage walk with INTACH. The office is located on Aurobindo Street in the Tamil quarter.

Kolam (Rangoli) on the occasion of Auroville's 50th anniversary (February 2018)


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Auroville

Auromdèle Kuilapalayam Auroville Beach

Pondicherry Airport

Bay of Bengal

Pondicherry

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AV

AUROVILLE


THE AUROVILLE CHARTER 1. Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But, to live in Auroville, one must be a willing servitor of the divine consciousness. 2. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages. 3. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations. 4. Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual human unity. The Mother 28th february 1968

Morning bonfire on the occasion of the Auroville 50th anniversary, 28th February 2018 16


INTRODUCTION More than a decade before Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn arrived on the Indian architectural scene, India’s first example of pre-independence modern architecture was being realised in a small pocket of French India: Pondicherry, 150km south of Chennai, in 1938. The spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo Ghosh and his spiritual partner Mira Alfassa, better known as The Mother, envisioned a state of the art dormitory for the members of their rapidly expanding ashram and invited Antonin Raymond, a former disciple of Frank Llyod Wright, to design the project. The result was Golcond, India’s first reinforced concrete building, which achieved a standard that is hard to match even today. Thirty years later, in 1968, The Mother envisioned a new city, Auroville, named after Sri Aurobindo, dedicated to achieve human unity and international understanding. Auroville was inaugurated 10km north of Pondicherry on a barren wasteland with the participation of 5000 people from 125 countries and from all states in India; each of the participants brought a handful of earth from their homeland and deposited it into a marble-clad, lotus-bud shaped urn that still stands at the centre of this planned city. The Mother invited French architect Roger Anger to design this project. Of the several concepts for the proposed city of 50000 inhabitants, the one selected became popularly known as the ‘galaxy concept’. It housed four zones Residential, Industrial, Cultural and International- in a radiating but dynamic and spirally rotated movement around the city centre. The city centre consists of a lake, parks and gardens, and the Matrimandir, a focal structure meant for exercises in concentration and that which represented the soul of the city. Being compact at only 2.5km in diameter, the city plan offers ease of mobility. A concentric road called the Crown, located

mid-way on the diameter, at once becomes the main traffic distributer cutting through all zones while housing the prominent public buildings to service each zone. This keeps the city centre, the area contained within this road, free of congestion and also makes the town a paradigm of the garden city. It is one of the most unique plans for a city where non-polluting movements of transport have been taken into consideration, making it a city that takes care of all its citizens. The dream of building a new city for the future on a ‘clean slate’, with the purpose of promoting research and experimentation alongside integrated development, has been attracting architects and students from all over the world ever since Auroville’s inception. Without the fetters of pre-defined bylaws and free of restrictions imposed by the conventions of human society, a multitude of expressions materialised in the course of Auroville’s development in last 50 years, encouraging a lot of experimentation with materials and building technologies. Presently, this Master Plan and the dream of The Mother are still in preliminary stages of realisation. Though the experiments in community designs, sustainable living, building technology and materials continue, Auroville is far from being urbanised. As so many experiments in materials, building technology, sustainability etc. happened in early stages of Auroville, the place attracted many architects and designers. Presently there are about 15 to 20 full time architects practicing in and around Auroville. There are small to large studios depending on the type of practice of architecture. In last 20 years Auroville has become a major destination for architecture students looking for internships and workshops in green practices, material technology and sustainability. 17


Starting Point Visitor's Centre

International Zone

ITINERARY I INTERNATIONAL ZONE ITINERARY LEVEL: Medium (by bicycle / foot) DURATION: One day / 6-8 hours DISTANCE: 2.5 km (1.55 ml) PRACTICAL INFORMATION: Visitor's Centre: Open daily from 9am to 6pm Information Service: Open daily from 9am - 1pm and 1:30 - 5pm Sundays from 9:30am - 1pm and 2 - 5pm

“The first aim therefore will be to help individuals to become aware of the fundamental genius of the nation to which they belong and at the same time to bring them into contact with the ways of life of other nations, so that they learn to know and respect equally the true spirit of all the countries of the world�. The Mother As stated in the Master Plan document of 1968 for Auroville the International Zone 20 ITINERARY I INTERNATIONAL ZONE

Guests who want to visit Matrimandir for the first time, have to come to the Matrimandir booking office at Visitor Centre personally (daily except tuesday) from 10 - 11am and 2 - 3pm. All the practical information about Auroville its available at: www.auroville.org Auroville - A to Z www.auroville.org/contents/135

represents the whole world; here a pavilion of each nation will represent its soul. It will house about 3000 people. This zone will have meeting halls, conference halls, communication centres and exhibition centres. The adjacent crown area of the international zone will house, cafes, restaurants, information kiosks, guesthouses and other recreational facilities for the habitants as well as the visitors. The role of International zone is to illustrate, in a concrete manner,


Auroville Visitor's Centre, Exhibitions Hall (1992) above, and the main building (1988-92) on left page

the application of the concept of ‘unity in diversity’ at Auroville by bringing together various nations and cultures for humanity as a whole. As seen in the master plan of Auroville (Galaxy Plan), the International zone along with all other three zones connects to the centre of Auroville, Matrimandir, which forms the Peace Zone. The first building in the International zone was Bharat Nivas Complex; Pavilion of India built in 1974. As of now, this zone

houses American Pavilion, Tibetan Pavilion, Pavilion of France, American Pavilion, Unity Pavilion, Savitri Bhavan, Atithigriha guesthouse, Swagatham Guesthouse etc. There are also residential buildings located in this zone, which are meant for the people working in the International zone. Currently, one has to enter Auroville through the International zone via Visitors Centre by procuring a guest pass.

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1. Matrimandir Roger Anger (Collaborators: Piero and Gloria Cicionesi) 1968-2007

Peace Zone

The Matrimandir is perceived as a large and slightly flattened golden sphere suspended above the ground, which appears to rise above the earth. It symbolises the birth of new consciousness seeking to manifest, breaking forth from matter. A first level slab connects the four pillars, leading to the second level slab through a narrow passage into a widening spiral staircase within a section of an inverted cone. Long double-helical ramps provide two ways to 22 ITINERARY I INTERNATIONAL ZONE

reach the suspended inner chamber from the second slab. The ramps end in 2m wide and 3m long vestibules. They are located between the massive double concrete ribs that arch above the suspended chamber and lead to the chamber doors. The inner chamber is a dodecagonal space finished with white marble walls and white carpeting on the floor with a pure crystal globe in the centre that converges the rays of electronically concentrated sunlight which falls


Matrimandir wood model based on Auroville Master plan (1971)

on it through an opening in the apex of the sphere. The surface of the sphere is made of multiple specially designed discs of varying sizes; each is covered with a gold leaf fused in between two glass pieces. The base of the crater below this sphere is treated as an ornamental water body representing the heart of the lotus. Ramps descend to here from the oval garden surrounding the structure, while the edifice rises upwards between these, representing

the petals of lotus. These petals are cladded with red sandstone matching the colour of the surrounding earth. Matrimandir garden, called as Park of Unity, is divided into 12 parts radiating from the centre of the main sphere. The Amphitheatre forms a very important feature of this park with the centrally placed urn carrying soils from 124 nations. The amphitheatre hosts various activities and programmes throughout the year, main attraction being the bonfire. 23


Starting Point Town Hall Complex

Industrial Zone, Town Hall Complex

ITINERARY II INDUSTRIAL ZONE ITINERARY LEVEL: Medium (by bicycle / foot) DURATION: Half day / 4 hours DISTANCE: 2.5 km (1.5 ml) Auroville, which “belongs to humanity as a whole”, has always welcomed outsiders interested in the project, and tries to help them – by way of individual contact and via its Visitors Centre – to understand the aims and ideals of the township, its physical reality, and its way of functioning, though at the same time it does not wish to be perceived or treated as a sightseeing ‘tourist’ site.

Since its inception, The Mother wanted a strong economic section for development of Auroville. In one of the first documents prepared by Roger and his team in 1965 on the inception of the international city, it is mentioned that working places such as factories, industries must find their own form of beauty, same as with the habitat, without forgetting their essential functions. Shapes, colours, simplicity of volumes, order, gardens should be an intrinsic component of Auroville’s in36 ITINERARY II INDUSTRIAL ZONE

PRACTICAL INFORMATION: Architecture tours and workshops: Auroville Green Practices www.agpworkshops.com Earth construction and building technologies workshops: Auroville Earth Institute www.earth-auroville.com

dustrial complex, instead of distancing themselves systematically from all this as in the past. This section will have to contribute in its own way to the successful image of the new city in relationship to the centre of the city; in practice its location is determined. In The Master Plan document of 1968 by Roger Anger, there is a section on Functions of Town and its Population, the four main functions being Cultural, Education-Training, Research and Economy. Auroville’s Industrial


The Multi Media Center (left page) and Town Hall site plan; the building design aims to create public spaces

zone has to serve the purpose of economy as envisioned by The Mother and planned by Roger Anger. The Master Plan document of 1968 states, “The economic activity is the material support of the life and radiation of Auroville. It will contribute to the expression of cultural activities without being considered a regional pole of growth; the town has to contribute to the local development by offering industrial employment to the local population and by giving them a technical education.”

Industrial Zone is a 109 hectare area of land, located to the north of central Peace Zone, hosting various types of small to medium scale factories (Auroville Units) which are focussed upon Auroville’s effort towards being a self-supporting township. This zone also has various training centres, arts and crafts centres and city’s Administration Centre. One can visit many of the production units of Auroville like Upasana Integral Design Studio, Wellpaper, Shraddhanjali and many more. 37


Starting Point Solar Kitchen Junction

Solar Kitchen Junction

ITINERARY III RESIDENTIAL ZONE ITINERARY LEVEL: Medium (by bicycle / foot) DURATION: Half day / 4 hours DISTANCE: 3 km (1.8 ml) PRACTCAL INFORMATION: The Solar Kitchen is the Aurovilians community dinning hall. The Kitchen asks guests who intend to eat there to book in advance. If you go unannounced without a booking, you have to wait until 1pm. After that un-booked diners are welcome.

This zone is spread over 160 hectares as per the Master Plan by Roger Anger and divided into five sectors of varying densities. It mainly comprises of residential community buildings, community meeting spaces, crèches and lower age group educational needs, work studios, first aid centres, parks, playgrounds, landscaping elements, eco-friendly parking areas, kiosks and convenience stores. The adjacent Crown area is planned for dwellings and city level re58 ITINERARY III RESIDENTIAL ZONE

Open daily 12:15 - 1:15pm for lunch, no dinners Payment by Aurocard, or Auroville account only Bookings: 0413 2622197 https://www.auroville.org/contents/513 The schools, individual houses and communities in Auroville are private properties and, therefore, not open to the public.

tail stores, communication centres, cafes, libraries, health centres etc. To compensate for the low-rise housing for the green city of Auroville, and still provide the required compactness and density, Roger Anger introduced urban structures that he called Lignes de Force (meaning Lines of Strength), the most distinct elements of the city concept. These extremely long structures rise above the rest of the city at one end, and gradually


The Library on the Crown Road (above), near to the Solar Kitchen, both designed by AV Design Consultants

slope down over the entire length to reach the ground at its other end. In the residential zone, the towering heights are located towards the periphery of the city, their terraces facing the city centre, and in the industrial zone the reverse occurs. There are 10 such lines of Force planned in the 3 sectors of residential zone. High-density urban structures, with mixed-use occupy 31.29 Ha of total 160 Ha of the Residential Zone and house 25,000

residents. This enables the rest of the residents to live in low-rise low-density conditions. This also means that a significant amount of land is liberated for green uses such as agriculture, forests, recreation and parks. One can find communities such as Vikas, Grace, Creativity, Luminosity, Swyam and Maitrai in this zone. These are low-rise residential structures located within sector one and two of the residential zone. 59


Starting Point Crown Road

Cultural Zone

ITINERARY LEVEL: Short (by bicycle / foot) DURATION: Half day / 3 hours DISTANCE: 2 km (1.2 ml)

The cultural zone crosses the residential zone along Matrimandir Lake and inner side of the Crown and is about 105 Ha in area. As per Auroville’s Master Plan document the Cultural Zone will have: - A centre of experimental and human research, and a campus for higher education where the services will be organised by the students themselves. It will be a place for self-learning and shall motivate students to apply their minds to what they are mainly 72 ITINERARY IV CULTURAL ZONE

ITINERARY IV CULTURAL ZONE PRACTCAL INFORMATION: The schools and kindergartens in Auroville are private properties and, therefore, not open to the public. Visitors should contact the school to allow them, and if aproved, arrange a visit. All the educational centers fall under the SAIIER (Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research) organization.

interested in. Thus, each student will have a specially designed curriculum for himself/ herself. - A technical education centre for students from around the world and for the local population. - A very advanced sports complex; currently the sports complex called Dehashakti, located in Dana community, is in its first phase. - A centre for performing arts; Centre for Research in the Performing Arts (CRIPA)


The Auroville roads, tracks and cycle paths are mainly not paved, so the ride can be quite rough sometimes

is in its first phase and is located on Kalabhumi Campus. The planned total population for this zone is around 3000 people. Presently, the cultural zone houses two crèches, one kindergarten, two primary schools, and a full-fledged sports ground and centre (Dehashakti). A Youth Centre, a music studio, and a Centre for Performing Arts have been created in this zone. In addition, 'Kalabhumi', an artists' settlement, has been con-

structed, providing studios and spaces for different art forms (visual and performing), staff quarters and a gallery. At present, Kalabhumi offers studios for sculpture, metal work, painting, drawing, dance, music practice and an Amphitheatre. The area where Cultural Zone crosses the Crown in the Master Plan is envisioned as a fully pedestrian zone with spaces for art exhibitions, short performances, cafes, libraries, children’s play area and other recreational activities. 73


Starting Point New Creation

New Creation, Kuilapalayam

ITINERARY V AUROMODÈLE ITINERARY LEVEL: Short / Medium (by bicycle / foot) DURATION: Half day / 4-6 hrs DISTANCE: 4.5 km (2.8 ml)

Even though the Auromodèle residences, Aspiration community and the other communities nearby fall outside the main circle of Auroville, this is the region where first experiments of The Mother’s idea for the city of the future began. The initial residents started the living experiments by building first settlement in the form of Aspiration community. The original huts, built using wooden rafters and woven panels of local palm leaves, do not exist anymore. But 84 ITINERARY V AUROMODÈLE

PRACTICAL INFORMATION: The schools and kindergartens in Auroville are private properties and, therefore, not open to the public. Visitors should contact the school to allow them, and if aproved, arrange a visit. All the educational centers fall under the SAIIER (Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research) organitzation.

the form of the original huts is retained in some of the residential units in Aspiration by using bricks and pre-cast ferrocement panels. Because of its closeness to Kuilapalayam village, many factory units, offices, schools and a health centre rapidly developed in this region. Most of these schools and factories are still functional today (Auroville Press, Maroma etc.) but many of the Auroville administration offices now have


After School I (above), the architecture of the earlier buildings in Auroville is the result of an art experimentation mostly associated with sculpture

shifted to the main Town Hall inside Auroville. One can visit these factories with prior appointment. Mason and Co chocolate factory in Fraternity community has become very popular in last five years. The communities, which were developed in the early years, are Aspiration, Petite Ferme, Auromodèle, New Creation, Fraternity and many more. As the village of Kuilapalayam has grown rapidly, all these communities seem to have become gated communities

and no longer are open residential areas as envisioned in the master plan. One can find many good cafes and eateries in this area. Roger Anger began building his prototypes for residential communities in 1972 in this region. Andre Hababou built many buildings using ferrocement in New Creation and Fraternity communities. Since all the buildings in this region are either in residential communities or are school buildings, prior appointment for a visit is a must. 85



PNY

PONDICHERRY


Union Territory of Pondicherry / Puducherry District: Puducherry Area Total*: 19.54 km2 (7.54 sq mi) Population (2011): 244,377 Density: 13,000/km2 (32,000/sq mi) Languages: Tamil and English (officials), French 110


INTRODUCTION Pondicherry has an interesting crosscultural history and its built form lends a unique identity to the town. The old part of Pondicherry is known as the Boulevard Town since it is bounded by four boulevards that once constituted the outer limits of the city’s fortification. The Boulevard Town presents two distinct architectural styles in the Tamil and French quarters, which are separated by a canal and unified by a rectilinear grid plan. In the French Town the buildings are in European style adapted to a tropical climate, whereas in the Tamil Town area they are in the local vernacular. While maintaining their individual identities, the two styles have influenced one another, evolving into a synthesis: Franco-Tamil architecture. History of Pondicherry "Pondicherry" is the French interpretation of the original name "Puducheri" meaning 'new settlement'. Excavations at Arikamedu, about 7kms to the south of the town, show that the Romans came here to trade in the 1st century AD. The trade included dyed textiles, pottery and semi-precious stones. The findings are now displayed in the Pondicherry Museum. Pondicherry was part of the Pallava, the Chola and Pandya empires from the 4th to 14th centuries, and thereafter it became a part of the Vijaynagar Empire, followed by Islamic rule. In 1521 the Portuguese were the first Europeans to return to trade in textiles. In the 17th century the Dutch and the Danes followed suit. The flourishing trade attracted the French to establish a settlement in 1674. Under Governors such as François Martin and Dupleix, it grew into a prominent fortified town and an important port of call. In 1746 the British lost Fort St George in Madras (Chennai) to Dupleix, and re112

taliated by capturing Pondicherry in 1761 and razing the town to the ground, sparing only a few structures. However the Treaty of Paris returned Pondicherry to the French. The removal of fortifications led to flattened ramparts, which form the boulevards of Pondicherry today. A storm water canal separated the French and Tamil quarters, and streets were laid in the form of a grid. By 1768 much of the old town of Pondicherry, as we know it today, had been laid out and rebuilt on its former foundations.

Houses at the Tamil Quarter: Subbiah Museum, house at Vysial Street, Anantha Heritage Hotel, and the 17th-century mansion known as Hôtel Lagrenée de Mézières (Cluny Embroidery Centre) at the French Quarter (clockwise from top left)

Pondicherry administrative plan (1931)


Starting Point Canal Street

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Salai (Canal Street)

ITINERARY I FRENCH QUARTER I ITINERARY LEVEL: Short (by foot / bicycle) DURATION: half day / 4 hours DISTANCE: 2 km (1.2 ml) PRACTICAL INFORMATION: Sri Aurobindo Ashram www.sriaurobindoashram.org Open all days (8:00am to 12 noon, 2:00 to 6:00pm). Some sections of the Ashram require a pass (except if you get accommodation in any of the Ashram Guest Houses), the Bureau Central can help by providing information and the pass you might need. The French quarter developed along the beach and around the present Bharathi Park, which is surrounded by stately government buildings. Residential villas extend on either end interspersed by institutional structures. In general the buildings fall into two main categories: residential, which form the majority, and are simple and varied, and public, which are set amidst large plots with fenced enclosures. French building styles were adapted to suit local climatic 116 ITINERARY I FRENCH QUARTER I

There are daily conducted tours for those interested in visiting the various units of the Ashram, the Pondicherry town, as well as the Auroville township. Golconde Dormitory: Open to tourists at all hours every day (however the best time to viist is around 9:00pm). Manakula Vinayagar Temple Open all days (5:45am to 12:30pm, 4:00 to 9:30pm)

conditions. The street facades are usually characterised by continuous wall-to-wall construction with high garden walls and elaborate gateways. The faรงades are divided into smaller panels by the use of pilasters and cornices, and feature flat or segmental arched windows with bands and louvered wooden shutters. Wooden balconies over iron brackets and continuous parapets with simple ornamental features are common. Most French houses were built on similar


The city is divided into two parts by the canal, and all the main streets lead to the open roadstead offshore

ground plans with few variations and with full or partial street frontage. The main façades have colonnaded porticoes to provide better protection from sun and rain, and also act as a transition space to the garden court. A major change from the original French model is the use of flat terraced roofs instead of the pitched roofs of the Parisian villas. The walled gardens form private interior courts on to which the rest of the building spaces open. The interior of the houses are

usually more ornate than the exterior. High ceilings, tall arched doors and windows mark the rooms, and in the case of two­ storied buildings, vaulted staircases wind up. Often the inclined window-shades were made of light materials like wood or metal. The itinerary guides us through the most significant buildings as well as to the main streets: Rue de la Marine and Rue Surcouf, Rue de Saint Louis, Rue Romain Rolland or the Goubert Salai. 117


Starting Point Mission Street

Mission Street, Tamil Quarter

ITINERARY III TAMIL QUARTER ITINERARY LEVEL: Short (by foot / bicycle) DURATION: half day / 4 hours DISTANCE: 1.2 km (1 ml)

Heritage Walks in Pondicherry: INTACH: www.intachpondicherry.org/ 62, Sri Aurobindo Street Phone: +91 413 2225 991 www.intachpondicherry.org/flipbook/pdf/ Heritage_Trail_Map_Pondicherry.pdf The Heritage LAB: www.theheritagelab.in/pondicherryheritage-walk/

Originally the native Tamil town developed around the nucleus of a group of temples in the northern section, and the streets were laid along the east-west axis, onto which the back-to-back row houses opened. These streetscapes, with continuous wall-to-wall construction, are very different in character from the French streetscapes. The exterior facades mainly feature a thalvaram (street veranda with a lean-to roof over wooden posts)- a social extension of the 136 ITINERARY III TAMIL QUARTER

house providing shelter for pedestrians- and a thinnai (semi-public veranda space) with masonry benches for visitors and pilgrims. These 'talking-streets', so called because of their intimate scale and interactive nature, are typical of vernacular Tamil architecture, and the entire street stretch is homogeneous because of connecting elements like lean-to roofs, cornices and pilasters and engraved columns with ornamental parapets, which define the skyline.


Tamil quarter streetscapes (Vysial Street), with continuous wall-to-wall construction and featuring a street veranda

All houses are similar, but no two houses are exactly the same. The thinnai marks the sensitive transition space after which the house is entered through a finely carved wooden door. Once inside, the mutram (colonnaded courtyard) becomes the central family space around which the various other spaces are functionally arranged. Within the intimate fabric of this quarter an interesting morphology of builtform is observed, ranging from the simple

country tiled single-storied house of the old Hindu quarters, to the two-storied houses with considerable colonial influence of the later Hindu and Christian quarters, to the more elaborately ornamented and colourful houses of the Muslim quarters and to the whole, a synthesis of two varied styles is evident in many buildings.

137


FACTS FOR THE VISITOR Auroville is a city in making with Matrimandir at its centre. The area is forested with dense bushes and trees in some places. These trees were planted in late 1960s to avoid soil erosion. The most visible development and growth of the city are near Bharat Nivas complex and in the administrative zone of town hall. Rest of the areas seems far because of dense forestation and lack of local transport. There are two ways from where one can enter Auroville. One is via Thindivanam highway through Edayanchavadi village and second is via East Coast road through Kuilapalayam village. The road leading from Kuilapalayam to Auroville has developed considerably in last 15 years and many cafes, boutiques and small hotels have come up on this road. Geographically Auroville falls under Tamil Nadu state administration, but is closest to Pondicherry.

plan is quite striking. The main city is divided into French quarters and Tamil quarters (also called White and Black towns) by a canal running north-south through the planned city. The main city is a walkable city and easy to navigate. The Union Territory consisted of the main town of Pondicherry with many small villages surrounding it. Now the city has grown a lot beyond the Tamil quarters in the western direction absorbing some of the villages into the city area. WHEN TO GO Auroville and Pondicherry have a hot and humid climate with northeast monsoons coming in months of November and December. The winter period is very short for about two months. The best time to visit is from November to February with the harvest festival of Pongal happening in the middle of January. GETTING THERE AND AWAY

The Union Territory of Pondicherry was under French rule until 1954. It comprises four former French India enclaves in three South Indian States and includes the seaside towns of Pondicherry and Karaikal in Tamil Nadu, Yanam in Andhra Pradesh and Mahe in Kerala. Pondicherry region includes the communes of Ozhukarai, Ariankuppam, Vilianur, Manndipet and Nettapakkam. They are scattered within the state of Tamil Nadu. Pondicherry now known, as Puducherry (means ‘New Town’ in Tamil language), and generally known as ‘Pondy’ has a population of about 800,000 inhabitants. It is a small city with fast paced urbanization, much like most other cities in India. The French planned the main city so its gridiron 144

Air Pondicherry has a very small airport with one daily flight from Bangalore and one from Hyderabad. Chennai airport is about 160km away and is connected well to rest of the cities in India. So, we recommend taking a flight to Chennai and driving down via East coast road to Pondicherry-Auroville; it takes around three hours. Taxis to Auroville-Pondicherry from Chennai airport can be booked in advance (some of them are UTS-Unity Transport https://www.auroville-unity-transport.com/contact.html. You could also share the cab at Auroville Taxi Share https://www.taxishare.auroville. com). There are many state transport and private transport buses going to Pondicherry from Koyambedu bus stand in Chennai.



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