Vidyadhar Nagar - Jaipur new town

1. JAIPUR NEW TOWN
VIDYADHAR NAGAR

2. INTRODUCTION
• In 1984 Doshi was invited to work out a plan to deal with the drastic
overflow of people in Jaipur.
• Founded by Jai Singh, the city had been laid out according to the
principles by architect Vidyadhar Bhattacharya.
• The primary geometry was a deformation of nine squares.
• The plan referred to the mandala and implied that the city, its affairs and
its rule were linked to the cosmic order.
• This notion was intensified by Jai Singh’s observatory furnished with
extraordinary abstract devices for reading the position of the planets.
• The palace was based upon courtyard Havelis, terraces and smaller
streets.
• Known as the “Pink city” Jaipur was a model of urban sensitivity and
intelligent arrangement, combining beauty, utility and meaning.

3. • There were collections of concrete villas and flats; little was
kept for recreation, vast amounts of time and energy was
wasted in moving about, pollution was at epidemic levels
and there was a little sense of community or connection to
nature.
• Doshi attempted a synthesis of two traditions:
One – was the reformist urbanism of Le Corbusier with its
emphasis on nature, circulation and hygiene- the essential
joys of light space and greenery
The other – was the ancient urbanism of India with its tight-
knit streets, urban courts and mixed uses.
• The challenge was that it forced him to think of the city in
totality.
• The site for new Jaipur was North West of the old city and
about 4Kms away from it.
• Doshi decided to orientate the plan geometry so as to
accommodate the prevailing winds and cut down on western
exposure to afternoon sun.

4. • To the north was a parched slope which desperately needed replanting, so he
placed a water tank of monumental proportions in this position.
• Water, a life source was then guided down to slope into channels feeding fingers
of greenery through the entire city.
• Doshi, decided that it would be relevant to celebrate this principle in a new
mandala form that alluded to the recycling of spiritual energies.
• A main artery was run through the nine square sectors which were in turn
subdivided into subsectors maximizing privacy and containment.
• His plan crossbred aspects of Le Corbusier of Old Jaipur with aspects and hoped
to cancel out the disadvantages of both and to provide a model for later small
scale urban developments in India.
• Fundamental order between individual, community, nature and cosmos was
also present behind his architecture and urbanism.

5. The major observations in the city planning are:
• Each intersection of streets has been used to create a larger
open space and thus is used in creation of a hierarchy of
open spaces.
• Each sector has a square perimeter and roads around it for
making it accessible from the outside while the
arrangement within a sector assumes a more protective
approach.
• The major axis is running North-east to south-west, crossed
by a secondary axis along the main transversal road.
• Orientation is determined by the path of the sun so as to
minimize solar contact with built surfaces.
• Doshi has interpreted the lessons of traditional desert
towns with their tight clusters, courtyards, havelis and lanes
of transition from public to private space.
• There is an understanding of the social and cultural heritage
and thus there is a response to the needs of the user group.