6. UNDERSTANDING OTHER ELEMENTS
FATEHPUR SIKRI Mughal emperor Akbar conceived and built this royal complex between 1571 and 1585. It was built upon a hill but the top was flattened out to create this horizontality spread out citadel. Spaces are demarcated through level differences and plane punctured walls. The labyrinthine structure is woven together only through the contiguity of the floor plane. The floor plane and the structures are symbolic and each accentuates the other mutually. The roofs created by the built masses generate floors for a different level. The Panch Mahal structure with its open colonnaded frame structure collects the space vertically, unifying individual parts making it a pivotal reference point upon which the emperor would sit. Other modulations such as depressions and plinths help in creating sub-identities within the spaces.
Figure 99 69
