Gift City
Gujarat International Fin- Tech City is a vibrant developing business district currently under construction on the banks of the Sabarmati River. The city is spread across 550 acres between twin cities- Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. GIFT City is conceptualised as being above or at par with other global benchmark fin-tech centres like La Defense, Shinjuku, London Dockyards, and Lujiazui. It aims to be a global leader in financial and IT services hub by providing state-of-the-art infrastructure in sectors like high-quality commercial zones with the ideal blend of residential and social facilities.
Design Philosophy and Planning
GIFT City’s master plan reflects transit-oriented development which is based on a ’Walk to Work’ approach with pedestrian-friendly infrastructure and an efficient public transport system. The urban infrastructure also includes developed streetscapes with drop-off zones, parking facilities, and buffer zones indicating dedicated pedestrian and vehicular zones. Thus, it aims to be a ‘Smart City’ for India’s growing finance and technology sectors. Building a ‘smart city’ from scratch gives great opportunities to upcoming engineers to plan for future growth while preserving the quality of life on an architectural scale (within residences) and on the urban scale (transportation and mobility).
GIFT City’s ‘Ground-Up Design’ allows architects, planners and engineers to create an effective mass transit system while still making streets pedestrian-friendly, thus encouraging locals to walk where they can. GIFT also uses advanced technology in the form of unique IoT (Internet of Things) based applications to monitor and manage city infrastructure based on the ‘Vibrant Global City’ model. This smart city also brings a breakthrough as the first city to use district-wide cooling systems in India. Thus, this scheme aims to save money as there is no need to put air-conditioning into individual buildings.
Advanced Construction Technologies
GIFT City construction is based on various sustainability-related technologies like Green Building Initiatives through the use of non-conventional energy sources which helps in the reduction of energy waste thus indirectly reducing the energy bills at a larger scale. Overall planning and design parameters are based on existing climatic conditions and also aims to introduce micro-climate spaces by constructing sky gardens. GIFT City’s Water Supply and Sewerage System is based on the implementation of the ‘Zero Discharge City’ model for maximum utilisation of water with a total water requirement of 20MGD which is sourced from Narmada main canal, waste-water recycle and reuse, and rain-water harvesting.
The city’s solid waste management is based on the AWS (Automated Waste Collection) System through installations of chutes in the entire city as well as in individual buildings which demands minimum space requirement and minimum human intervention hence leading to less impact on health. The disposal of the city’s waste is based on plasma technology through a vacuum system of pneumatic pipes which sucks the water and then seals it in containers to make recycling easier. GIFT District Centralised Cooling system is proven with enhanced efficiency through economies of scale which helps to improve air quality by controlling atmospheric temperatures to help decrease the amount of noise and vibration generated throughout the day and reduces energy and maintenance costs.
Other design innovations include material efficiency, structural design efficiency, indoor environment quality enhancement, and operations optimization by putting all electricity cables and gas pipes underground to make maintenance easier.
Sustainable Design Innovations
As far as sustainability is concerned, GIFT reflects a sophisticated planning approach to ensure the irrigation of environmental concerns and green building design strategies for optimum uses of energy, water and construction materials. GIFT developed the vision of ‘Digging Free City’ by placing all utilities in a tunnel across the city such that there is no need to excavate the roads in future for repair, maintenance, renovation and upgradation of any utility. From a safety point of view- the tunnel is divided into ‘wet and dry sections’ which are physically separated from each other. The wet section carries utilities related to water, ICT and others whereas the dry section carries power cables and has access from the top.
34% of the land area in GIFT City has been utilised as green and open spaces. Planting of evergreen, flowering trees, columnar spread trees, ground cover or lawn area and continuous shrub masses, as well as the construction of landscape terraces, has been done to enhance the views where desirable.
Unique Built Infrastructure
GIFT City is home to uniquely designed built structures with advanced design and construction-based strategies in all architectural typologies. For Example- Diamond Tower is the tallest tower situated on beautiful Fortune Island and it symbolises ever flourishing diamond industry of Gujarat by portraying elegant edges of diamond-cut facets. Another astonishing structure is The Two Gateway Towers which stands tall as two archways that frame the Diamond Tower majorly draws its inspiration from Buland Darwaja and withholds the idea of India’s new arrival in the new millennial era. The smart city infrastructure also includes a ’Convention Centre’ with museums based on history, art, culture and Gujarat’s socio-economic life displayed in several halls, auditoriums and opera which has borrowed its design philosophy from salt crystals and the Dandi March movement.
GIFT City stands as a model for successful sustainable development on a larger scale for industrial and commercial areas, and it will be seen as a prototype for a futuristic model on which the construction of other smart cities will be based. This ‘smart city’ demonstrates resilient comprehensive development and vertical urbanism through ‘world-class fin-tech’ construction strategies.
References:
- An architect’s review. Available at : https://architectureideas.info/2009/12/3304/
- Gift City Case Study report. Available at : https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/1-case-study-report-gift-city-assignment-01pdf/252619295
