Master Planning and Design for Dream City Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

Dream city ventures is an ambitious exhibition space proposal which is planned to be stationed within the heart of the city for a span of 1 to 2 months. This if first of its kind to be explored at Bandra Kurla Complex Grounds on an approx. 10 Acre piece of land. Our client was very interested on a business model which is intrinsically weaved with Indian culture, food and people. Our city is a mix of people from different parts of our country and everyone has their own distinct traditions and culture which in a cosmopolitan city of Mumbai gets merged well. The innate intent of this exhibition space was to celebrate different cultures from different states of India.

Henceforth the design proposal was developed with a thought to include two major sections, one for commercial purposes and the other as engagement spaces. They were divided proportionately so that there are enough interactive spaces within. The commercial space was divided into 5 different pavilions with each of them representing a different state from India with food joints, handicrafts shops, curios, museums and exhibition/theatre spaces. The engagement spaces included the central congregation spaces, Music performance spaces, walkways, open spaces / gardens, etc.

The master planning of this exhibition space was developed in such a way that the visitor should experience the same cultural space within the centre and at the entry point while purchasing the entry tickets to get a glimpse of the feel that they are about to venture. Once the visitor is inside the park the layout is such that it should be able to give them an overall view of the campus with all its different pavilions, so while they walk through each one of them they are intrigued to venture more into the other pavilions which can be achieved only by creating two to three different visually connecting focal points from different locations. This will also help is holding the interests of the visitors and will cater to different kinds of people for their personal choices of engagement. The central spaces are kept open for large open air musical performances which will work as a catalyst for generating more visitors. The overall circulation or movement path is very simple so that it is easily registered by visitors and provides them with enough opportunity to explore most of the exhibition spaces rather than just a few visits before they exit the premises. Each of the pavilion has a meandering pathway starting through a Museum / cultural exhibit space representing each state followed by retail spaces and food joints which can be well enjoyed with friends and family. The pathways within the pavilion are kept wide enough to avoid overcrowding and leads one upon some open spaces now and then to avoid blockage of pedestrian movement. These open spaces can be well used for relaxing and experiencing all the different activities which each pavilion is offering and surely cannot be missed by the visitor.

On the other hand, the master plan layout also focused on creating the core zone with a central open space with a performance stage which is just right for literary / musical events which could easily cater to a crowd of around 4000 to 5000 visitors. This will be an added interest for this exhibition space by catering to different interests of people as there are enough entertainment and media channel distractions which makes it difficult to hold people’s attention for long. The integrity of the space is well achieved by the simple layout through meandering paths and visually connecting pavilion and entertainment zones.