VEEDHI

INTRODUCTION

Jew Town is the narrow street between Mattancherry Palace and the Pardesi Synagogue. It is famous for the antique shops all along its sides. The colonial buildings lining the street add to its old-world charm.The first Jews were believed to have arrived in the first century BCE as sailors on King Solomon’s boats. They settled in the ancient port city of Muziris, now modern-day Kodungallur, 28 miles north of Kochi. Unlike other dwindling Jewish communities around the world, the Jews of Kochi did not leave their country due to persecution or hardship. Rather, it was the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 that attracted many from the mostly Orthodox community to emigrate and start a new life in the Jewish homeland. Jews who had left their hometown came to Kerala and made this their place of stay. They traded in spices and they had become prosperous in this field.The Jews had built a Synagogue in the 4th century in Kodungallur along the Malabar Coast. But later this community shifted to Kochi and a new one was built here .The synagogue, the oldest in the Commonwealth, was built by the Jewish community of Cochin. In 1662, it was destroyed by the Portguese and then reconstructed, two years later, by the Dutch.Yet despite these ancient roots, only eight Cochin Jews remain in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala. The rest, now numbering around 8,000, reside here in Israel

GROWTH

NEED OF STUDY

- The street is perishing.it need proper renovation and care

- Buildings are getting ruined

- One side of the street is inactive

- There is no proper trade happening and half of the shops are closed more often due to a few customers count

- The Jew culture that once enriched the street is dying

- To reintroduce the renovated buildings and synagogue and bringing back their cultural aspects and dignity

- Scope of provide the visitors and tourists a complete heritage walks through the street by highlighting the significance of the street’s constructions.

- Creating equal heritage throughout the stretch is hard because of the evolutions that happened at the place through time

- Renovate buildings in accordance with the culture and heritage

- To evolve and develop a street by maintaining its heritage

- Streets heritage and culture are needed to be renovated and highlighted

Reference : Smart Cities Mission Statement and Guideline (June 2015)

Built Use

Mostly commerical building are present.

Antique shops, trading centers and godowns are commonly seen. Residential buildings are less.

Building Typology

The building roofing is commonly tiled, concrete ,and sheet. HOUSE FORMs

In general a typical row housing pattern can be seen,with the buildings sharing common side walls and abutting the street .the architecture is largely influence by a mixture of dutch and traditional kerala styles .the façade of the external wall is mostly simple and plain ,devoid of any prominent decorations. Generally single or 2 storeys tall, spacious, the large eaves offering ample shade. The access from the street to the house into a corridor .on one side of the corridor is the living room and at the end is an ante-space, the dining room can be reached .

Pedestrian movement

The pedestrian axis is in tge right side of the street .These pathways are single way axis of 120m width .A partial pedestrian is provided in the left side .Hence there is a crowd in the street at evening time.

The four and two wheelers are accessing through the stretch to the main entrance and lorry and truck are accessing through the back entrance till a particular distance

Road and network

The road is 4.75m wide .only one side of the road as drainage.The other side is a pedestrian axis under the roof .There is a heavy traffic congestion in this street.

The road as no particular alignment.The road is breaking or twisted at some intervals .Eventhough 2 vehicles can pass at same time, but it feels congested

Edge type

The access is from the left side of the street .The shops for trading purpose are located here.The access to the godowns are through back side .Also the access to the residential area is through backside

Owning and Sharing

The jews used to occupy all the houses in jew town road and used to control a major portion of the spice trade.Most of the homes and businesses have been sold out and now many of them belong to non-jews. The ownership of most of the buildings has been transferred from the original jewish settlers to other non jew real estate entrepreneurs. Majority of the last generation of the original settlers have migrated.

PROPOSAL MASTER

SYNAGOGUE

After the migration of jews people the synagogue was destroyed.The jew street was partially renovated by the local people and other part is currently dead spot.To make the spot active we propose to renovate the synagogue in to a museum.The synagogue is part of this deadspot. Hence to make local attraction of people we decided to bring this proposal

CURRENT CONDITION

PROPOSAL

GRAFFITI

This wall is given as a decorative art to highlight the buildings in sides of the asial. This Graffiti wall is given in a small portion of the street. This art work is related to the Jewish culture.

STREET LIGHT

Currently there are only few no of street lights present .To produce sufficient light to the street more street light are proposed. This also gives a vintage appearance to the street and also bring back the jewish culture

STREET

Here we have a dead spot or a street that is not live . A street should contain a good drainage , streetlight pathway, accesseries and other elements Since these elements are absent in the proposed site . ,we proposed to redesign the street with all its elements and make the street active.

DRAINAGE

The drainage system here is not efficient. Only one side of the road has a drainage which is congested. Here we proposed to give a proper drainage system on two sides and also two over come flood

CAFE

The street is currently a dead spot and we decided to make it active .In accordance to it we proposed a café to bring interaction between people and resting place to for the visitors .