Project Description

Ahmedabad has become one of the most rapidly transforming cities, not only in India but on a global front. While being declared as a ‘heritage city’ by UNESCO foundation, it has taken huge steps in developing the city infrastructure. Projects like the Sabarmati Riverfront and the newly renovated Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium have not only catered to the needs of its inhabitants but has also catapulted the public infrastructure of the city at par with international standards. The Metro Rail service has been introduced to acknowledge the growing need for public transportation in the city. The Metro Stations functionally serve as a point of boarding and de-boarding trains but they often stand out as mundane buildings. Towards the completion of the first phase of Ahmedabad Metro, HCPID was entrusted with ushering life into some of these buildings through a facelift exercise of 13 out of the 33 Metro Stations. The idea was to integrate art as a part of passenger journey made by daily commuters as well as tourists from different cities. It was important that the proposed art spoke to all strata of passengers. The artworks were thus envisioned in two layers - the backdrop would be composed of prominent buildings and public spaces of the city; while the foreground would comprise of the activities, people and features of the city.

Art & The Stations

The backdrops showcase the underlying common theme for all the stations that would interest tourists and visitors – giving them an insight into the city; while the foreground which changes with each station would enable daily commuters to develop a sense of belonging by reliving their memories of city life depicted through colorful artworks on the walls of this newly added infrastructure in their city. The facelift exercise included Doordarshan, Gujarat University, Ranip, AEC, Gandhigram and the Old High Court Metro Station among others. Each of the metro stations given to us as part of the facelift exercise offered some unique features - connections to pedestrian walkways at street level, major interstate transport hubs, prominent facades, additional floors for commercial use, etc. These unique situations not only compelled us to study passenger journeys carefully to identify prominent locations for artworks, but also to produce suitable themes. After thorough research, deliberations and client discussions a list of more than 60 buildings and public places was prepared that were to be used as backdrops for different artworks. The list included both heritage buildings as well as recently added infrastructure. In addition to this, themes such as festivals, people, flora & fauna and Gandhism were carefully curated as part of the foregrounds for different artworks