Tata Housing ‘Avenida’ is located at Rajarhat, a planned urban centre at the fringe of the city of Kolkata, with stunning views of the rural landscape in the backdrop. The developer’s brief called for a residential footprint of approximately 1.5 million sq. ft on 13 acres of land.

Avenida exhibits a set of spatial narratives that exemplify the idea of an invigorated urban dwelling-pattern through a strong sense of community living and shared social spaces. The design asserts the idea of a public realm within a tree-lined central boulevard – suffused with a series of activities and creating a platform of social engagement for the residents.

The design process for Avenida started with the extrapolation of spatial characteristics that still exist in the core town area of Kolkata and have been transforming since the colonial era. The spatial relationship between the walkable streets, public plazas, nodes, and squares was reinterpreted to suit contemporary needs, and incorporated in the master plan to create the quintessential sense of place-making that defies privatised and individualistic segregation pattern typically seen in modern gated communities. These urban elements comprise of:

Boulevard, the public realm: The plaza with an entrance gateway marks the moment of arrival with a low-rise clubhouse defining the street edge. The 29-storied residential towers have been planned to counterpoise the curvilinear boulevard in a radial pattern; the towers have been oriented towards the South and South-East, to respond to the prevailing wind-pattern for maximum airflow into the habitable spaces. The boulevard embodies the inherent socio-cultural values of our society – it is a place of social interaction, recreation, cultural activities, and occasional festivities. The temporary festival corner, an art gallery, a library with an outdoor tea bar, a grocery and vegetable store, an ATM, health-care support, a corner café, and a child-care facility are all spread along the walkable 200m long curvilinear street, opening into single-storey colonnades, and defining the urban character of the neighbourhood. The festival pavilion and the art gallery are placed adjacent to the arrival plaza, to be able to collectively host many people and create an interactive interface with the city. A series of low-rise town homes and courtyard homes define the other edge of the boulevard, accorded a degree of privacy from the activities on the boulevard through tree-lined avenues. The overall sectional arrangement with a sidewalk, outdoor seating spaces, tree lines and low-rise built mass intensify the spatial relationship with the street at human eye level. Placed between the town homes and two of the residential towers, an elevated landscape park with a community space and outdoor sit-outs is further connected to the boulevard through a grand staircase; characterized by a relatively passive and quiet spatial quality that counterbalances the active boulevard, the landscaped park connects the backyards of the town homes and provides a tranquil space to repose for individuals and smaller gatherings.

The vehicular drop-off points for all the towers are located on the secondary streets that branch out from the boulevard, thus alleviating the boulevard from vehicular pressure. A dedicated pedestrian network connects the whole site, making it a universally accessible, entirely barrier-free environment.