Rashtrapati Bhavan

Rashtrapati Bhavan is the official residence of the President of India that is located in New Delhi. The building was designed by Edwin Landseer Lutyens, which is credible in its size, vastness, and magnificence. The decision to build the residence was made after the capital of India was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. The focus will be based on the ideology of the plans and building materials that were used in construction. A biography of the building designer will be incorporated to provide a further understanding of Lutyens.

Edwin Landseer was born in 1869 in London, England, to an army captain. While growing up, Edwin appreciated local crafts traditions that would take complex interlocking shapes of cottages and barns (Geurst and Jeroen, 2010). He attended South Kensington School to study architecture that influenced him towards his creative career. At the age of 20, he took up architectural works that paid on commission for commercial buildings in town planning. Edwin dwelt on general stylistic designs. With his exceptional works, he developed a reputation by designing houses for English nouveau through picturesque vernacular style. The plans involved the incorporation of traditional vernacular techniques that used local materials. The house had an integration of romantically conceived gardens, gardens, and walkways. Edwin delighted in utilizing spaces that would yield a home with partly open and covered passages for a family towards the garden. Overtime, Lutyens started to incorporate a strong sense of balance, symmetry, and order in his designs. He planned and designed the Yorkshire that was based on a central block that has two rectangular wings.

Edwin’s notable breakthrough was on the presidential palace of the President of India, located in Delhi. The building brings out French planning principles whereby it is based on a central axis. There are fundamental structures in the building, namely RashtrapatiBhavan, that has radiating avenues connecting the secretariat. Edwin selected the classical triumph arch as the basis of his design but applied innovation in the process. He also designed the Viceroy House as a civil contractor. Edwin created the famous Imperial War graves Commission, Great War Stone, and military cemeteries in France. However, his architectural project in Roman Catholic

Cathedral in Rome remained incomplete due to his death in 1944.

            The building was designed by Architecture Edwin Lutyens and was completed in 1929, whereby it took 17 years to complete since its start. When the construction of the building was initiated, over 300 families were evited to provide room for development due to the design (Rosy, 2016). Over 4000 acres were cleared to produce area for construction of Viceroy House, which later became the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The original plan was to have Viceroy House on the top of Raisina Hill with the secretariat lower down. It involved blasting and leveling the rocky hill to accommodate Viceroy Residence, including the officials’ buildings. The rock base was advantageous for construction to provide a firm foundation. A railway line was laid out around the building for movement purposes, especially for construction materials. The city plan had been made away from the river whereby no streams were flowing south, and the subsoil water had to be pumped to the surface for all water requirements. Notably, the land in the area belonged to the Maharaja of Jaipur, which was 145 feet tall, which stands on the Rashtrapati

Bhavan.

Rashtrapati Bhavan plan https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/rashtrapati–bhavan–plan/rwGUVjOEb5ktLg

However, a decision was made to add 400 yards and put the buildings together on top of the plateau. Disagreements between Lutyens and Baker resulted in an obscured view of the building from the road. Sir Edwin had a perception of retaining the Viceroy House that would ensure it is visible from a distance, and it would also cut on the square between the secretariats. A steeper gradient led to a more challenging view of the presidential palace. Baker was concerned about pleasing the government; hence the initial design by Sir Edwin was hampered.

Rashtrapati Bhavan, Arch interior detail http://blog.zricks.com/architecture-designs-facts-rashtrapati-bhavan-new-delhi/rashtrapati-bhavan-3/      The building has four floors and 340 rooms. The floor area has a square 200,000 square feet, whereby it was built with 700 million bricks and up to three million cubic feet of stone. The building is not made with any steel materials, whereby there are two shades of sandstone, which reflect a blend of Mughal and Classical European style of architecture (Joseline et al. 2019). The outstanding aspect of the building is based on the dome-like structure that has a pattern of the Great Stupa at Sanchi. The dome can be seen from a distance that forms a long colonnade that improves the magnificence of the building. In the building, there is a Durbar hall. Ashoka Hall, Marble hall, North Drawing gardens, and Nalanda Suite are decorated, which attracts onlookers with their beauty and grandeur. The presidential estate has a Mughal garden that covers 13 acres as a blend from Mughal style with the design of a British garden. In total, there are 330 acres of land that the palace has a rich biodiversity with open spaces, forest cover, parks, and gardens.               Sir Edwin was responsible for creating the H shaped building that covers an area of 5 acres that involved thousands of laborers, including masons, carpenters, artists, cavers, and cutters saw for the completion of the work. It is the second-largest Presidential palace after Quirinal Place in Italy. The castle was formerly the Viceroy of India, where the former head of state resided. There are 750 staff who work in the Presidential palace. The verandas in the building are made of recurring designs with concentric circles. There are ornamental lawns that are symmetrical to the Mughalgarden, which is made up of plants, trees, and flowers. All these are designed to intersect with water channels—Ashoka Hall is the royal ballroom that has a central mural on the ceiling. Kashmiri carpet makers have woven the carpet in the hall. In the bedrooms, there are wooden chairs with backrest curved in a spider’s web pattern that was designed for the building specifically. The presidential study is located on the ground floor, whereby it is decorated with intricate patterns on the ceiling and mirrored in the chandeliers. The carpet on the presidential review is handwoven Kashmiri that covers the floor.

There are formal meeting halls where the president meets the delegates. The chambers are made up of armchairs and chairs that were also designed by Sir Lutyens. There is also a state Dining room that has central chandeliers commonly known as the North drawing-room. The dining rooms can host at least 50 people at once based on the arrangement. The main gate is made of durable Iron that has elephant statues on the outer wall. The refurbishing of the palace continuously increases its cost, whereby the building is subjected to change over time. The palace was built in a way that the dust haze of summer and winter mist would not lead to obscureness in the area. The northern location of the building was constructed in a way that it remains vulnerable to flooding during the rainy seasons due to the proximity of the Yamuna River. Thus the Raisina hill provided a spacious high ground that would not be prevalent to flooding and had better drainage (Vishal, Anjali and Ghazala, 2018). It became the appropriate site to site the palace. The shift was resulted due to the sanitation needs in the castle in the long run. The architectural designs were more of an art to represent the intellectual progress of the government. Hence, it required coordination and consultation with the government for it to be accomplished.

Sir Edwin’s architectural designs are an inspiration to include innovation and traditional designs in buildings. The rationale is to ensure that designing is compatible with different scopes that remain unique over time. Architectural drawings by Sir Edwin provoke creativity based on meeting the utilization of materials with a touch of nature. The Presidential Palace has minimized costs by including little steel during construction. It becomes an authentic measure in meeting the low prices while utilizing resources. Currently. Buildings are focused on ‘green’ production.

In the same way, the palace has included gardens that provide an ambient view. However, due to the increasing population, the land where the castle has been established occupies a large area that can be put to other productive activities. In place of a presidential palace being a mansion, it would have improvised on space by building several floors consolidating the 380 rooms, which are hardly occupied at all times. Modern Architecture aims at devising energy to ensure that electricity from wind and solar. It is an important aspect that should be incorporated in the extensive lawns of the gardens in the palace.

The Imaginations are exceptional in the palace, whereby an original house was expanded. The focus is to yield the prime achievements that challenge modern architectural designers to focus on reducing congestion by improvising existing buildings. However, it requires planning, especially in urban areas, to authenticate targeted structures. It will increase housing and reduce the number of construction activities taking place. The master plans should consider other resources such as rivers and the original layout. The palace has been an epitome of India as part of its achievement by having the second-largest presidential palace. These achievements should be in line with the country’s growing architectural designs suitable for the country’s population. It is essential for Sir Edwin’s architectural growth designs that are based on local contracts to state works. There is a prospect to consolidate architectural designs from traditional perspectives towards highly innovative ones that will reduce the workload and time required to put up buildings. Unlike in the classical era, modern architecture is simplified but requires creativity to remain competitive over time. Therefore, Sir Edwin Lutyens is an inspiration in Architectural designs that draws creativity from the local environment and puts a focus on the result, unlike the net income from the opportunity.

Rashtrapati Bhavan, Exterior view of south block (Hand Sketch) https://depositphotos.com/261721042/stock–photo–rashtrapati–bhavan–india–president–house.html

Work Cited

Geurst, Jeroen, and Edwin Landseer Lutyens. Cemeteries of the Great War by Sir Edwin

Lutyens. 010 Publishers, 2010.

Gupta, Rosy. “Depiction of Elephants in the Architecture of Rashtrapati Bhavan by Lutyens.”

(2016).

Joseline, Dyana, et al. “Restoration of Reinforced Lime Concrete Sunshades of a Century-Old Heritage Building in New Delhi, India.” Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions. Springer, Cham, 2019. 778-787.

Prasad, Vishal Kumar, Anjali Verma, and Ghazala Shahabuddin. “An annotated checklist of the herpetofauna of the Rashtrapati Bhawan Estates, New Delhi, India.” Journal of

Threatened Taxa 10.2 (2018): 11295-11302.