Bangalore, an important hub for IT and other high-tech industries, is now growing rapidly with massive construction going on without a “sustainable” plan. In contrast, developer Karle Infra hired UNStudio and its sister, UNSense, an architecture and technology company, to develop the resource-sensitive masterplan, which was responsible for integrating the sensor technology into the project.
Karle Town Center with an area of 25 hectares is located next to the Bangalore ring road and the Manyata Technopark and at the same time - on the shores of Lake Nagawara. By 2025, there will be offices, housing and leisure facilities, including a theater hall with 1,000 seats, with a total area of 930,000 to 1.2 million m2.
The area will receive permeable boundaries - both for pedestrians and cars, for which both underground and ground paths are provided. The attractiveness of the Karle Town Center will be enhanced by the aforementioned theater, squares adapted for cultural events, amphitheater-style stages and staircases, which also play the role of important public spaces.
UNStudio has supplemented their masterplan with the Urban Branding Manual, a more flexible document that allows designers to keep their idea alive throughout the long-term implementation of the vision, matching the changing circumstances and needs of the city and its residents. The authors refer to this guide as a "project integrity guarantee." It focuses on the intended experience of a new development and how that experience should be brought to life. It is based on three themes: gardening, health and culture.
We already talked about culture above, and the theme of the garden is associated with the lush nature of Bangalore and the abundance of greenery in the city - which, due to the construction boom, may be a thing of the past. UNStudio, together with the landscape bureau Baljon Landscape Architects, greened not only the ground level, but also the terraces and facades of buildings. This should lower the temperature in the area, for the same purpose, the buildings are planned to be painted in
"Coolest white" color developed by UNStudio. Other eco-measures include taking into account the angle of incidence of the sun's rays, the prevailing wind directions, and the typical Bangalore suspension of soil particles in the air (all this is planned to be blocked by landscaping and thoughtful orientation of buildings, but the widespread use of natural lighting is also planned). Underground reservoirs for rain and "gray" water will supply it for irrigation of plantings, where the "gray" water will be purified. The environment in the area will be customized according to the physical, psychological and social needs of the residents using sensory technologies. All this is responsible for the topic of health.
However, it is important to note that one of the most important aspects of the project will be security, that is, most likely, the area will be clearly fenced off from the surrounding city and accessible to a limited number of citizens - in addition to people living and working there, as is customary in India.
