The Banyan Tree that Saved the Intersection.

The tree stood there and the bridge ended there, they were fulfilling different needs but not the one required for pedestrians to cross the road to land at the first floor lobby. The tree is protected and so is the bridge but by different authorities. In addition a public washroom exists at the foot of the bridge. Except for the beautiful and graceful Banyan tree the intersection of these streets seems like a left over planner’s nightmare.

The solution is easy, continue the bridge towards the first floor lobby; this new extension is built over a new public toilet; create an escalator to take pedestrians up to the new bridge extension; then design the structure to not only to be compatible with the details of the building, but also to navigate around to avoid the Banyan tree.

Easier said than done. The sketch took more than 36 hours to physically draw and coloured on the presentation board. First, one had to survey the site and photograph the existing site conditions. Then using the photograph as a base for the perspective, the Banyan tree is carefully drawn. An imaginary elevation of the new bridge extension is created as it interfaces with the existing bridge superstructure, and finally the escalator is inserted along side and under the new bridge extension. Of course the public toilet would be in the base of the bridge structure.

This sketch is created from a conceptual idea with no professional architectural plans drawn. It is an ‘architectural artist impression’ of what the intersection could possible be like, and for it to be presented to the authorities having control of any developments there. My sketch initiated discussions and later a refined proposal was built except for the inclusion of the escalator.  Free-hand sketching proved to be valuable and is not ‘dead’ in the professional world of architectural design.