Archinect
Satish Chandran

Satish Chandran

Ahmedabad, IN

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Spiritual Tourism Circuit (Sree Padmanabaswamy Temple, Sabarimala, Aranmula)

The project was an initiative to boost the spiritual tourism of Kerala by developing a circuit that integrates three major pilgrim destination of Kerala.

  1. Sree Padmanabaswamy temple, Trivandrum
  2. Aranmula
  3. Sabarimala

In Trivandrum, the temple is located at the heart of the city and is surrounded by a tightly packed settlement. The urban fabric is not suited to the present needs and major intervention has to be done to facilitate the neighborhood as well as the tourists, bearing in mind the increased inflow of tourists after the discovery of the treasure, making it the richest religious complex in the world. The major intervention was to identify potential trigger points in the neighborhood and creating a heritage walk, hence taking the pilgrim back in time to understand the history of the place. 

In Sabarimala, the intervention was critical, mainly because it falls under the forest department and also because it has a bias of allowing majorly only male pilgrims to the place. Three spots were identified, 

  1. The Nilakkal base camp
  2. The trekking path or the Vazhinada
  3. The temple complex or the Sannidhanam

These three places were then meticulously documented and analyzed to find potential spots for development, after a number of discussions and revisions the design came up as a unified entity that tied the place together with a holistic approach. The proposal was especially appreciated in the Ministry for its clarity and sensitivity to the issues of the place.

Aranmula is the major spot for the famous Valla Sadhya (a festival in Kerala famous for its extravagant meal) and the boat race (also a famous sport in Kerala). Apart from these, the place is also the only production center for the famous Aranmula Kannadi or the Aranmula metal mirror. The entire intervention was based on these three aspects of the place and provided opportunities to take these authentic local activities to a broader spectrum of the society.

 
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Status: Under Construction
Location: Kerala, IN
My Role: Part of the design team at Kerala, coordinated with the PMC (E&Y India) for presentations at the Ministry Of Tourism, New Delhi.
Additional Credits: K. Raghuraman, Architects was the chief consultant of the project and I was a part of his design team. Mr. Vaibhav of Ernst and Young, India was instrumental in presenting the works at the Ministry of Tourism.