Taj Ganj Urban Redevelopment

Taj ganj is a 400 year old market district sharing the peripheral skyline of the Taj Mahal. It includes clusters of bastis (neighborhoods) which originally started with the four ‘katras’ or quadrants down towards the southern gate of the Taj Mahal. It has since then expanded consistently and also in the process have developed groups of slum dwellings around the area. Taj Ganj unique urban condition until now and has escaped major state intervention towards urbanization. A strategical plan involving the stakeholders like the shopkeepers and the local residents of the Taj Ganj to improve the street character and help in upgrading the basic amenities and infrastructure has been therefore proposed.The specific area under consideration for the Urban redevelopment of Taj Ganj extends from Western gate Road of theTaj Mahal to the Eastern gate Fatehabad Road which includes the Taj Ganj area and the slums around. 

Facts:
Architect: Archohm
Location: Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
Typology: Urban Redevelopment        
Name of Client: Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam
Name of Client’s Firm: Departments of Tourism and Culture, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh    
Principal Architect: Mr. Sourabh Gupta
Design Team: Siddharth Singh, Sujit Jacob, Mohit Gupta, Shivani Shastri, Shailesh Pathak, Shriya Aggarwal, Inakshi Mittal, Kavana, Mariyam Hassan
Site Area: East Gate Road - 2.5km; West Gate Road - 1.5km; South Gate Road - 1.5km and Slum Area - 1200 sqm
Built-Up Area: 1040 sqm (Toilet Block, Control Room and Community Centers)
Start Date: December 2014
Completion Date: October 2016
Photographer: Andre Fanthome
Project Cost: 197 Cr.
Structural: Pristine Ideas Consulting Engineers, New Delhi
Landscape and Electrical: Archohm, NOIDA
Plumbing: SSB Tech, New Delhi     

The proposals includes urban scale development of streets by resurfacing the carriage way provision of pedestrian foot paths, cycle tracks, Landscape parks, seatings, toilets, security infrastructure etc. around Eastern Gate, West Gate, and Taj Ganj area including Landscape development of Open Spaces on the southern gate and western gate region. The proposal deals with the tourist facilities improvement by providing greener zone with urban infrastructure at intermediate intervals and improving the street façade and street infrastructure of the roads which is taken by the numbers of tourists including VIPs and dignities, to access the Taj complex. 

Also proposals for providing tourist facility centre in the form of Tajganj Visitors Centre has been proposed in the close vicinity of the Taj Complex in Taj Ganj area. It looks towards providing facilities and information for the tourist and activity center for the local craftsmen act as a bridge between the tourist and locals.