Ar Dikshu Kukreja believes that the India International Convention & Expo Centre (IICC)coming up at Dwarka in New Delhi will be one of the most iconic MICE facilities in the world. He explains why…
With the opening of India International Convention & Expo Centre (IICC), India is set to join the league of select nations that have built iconic conventional and exhibition facilities for promoting culture and business. Located at the western edge of Delhi NCR, the project will be built at a cost of about Rs 26,000 crore.
The project’s knowledge partner Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) has appointed our firm CP Kukreja Architects as its engineering and architectural consultant, and the award for the engineering and construction work of the first phase, worth Rs 2,791 crore, has gone to L&T. The project is currently at the structural stage of foundation establishment. The phase-I of the project will tentatively be completed by August 2020. “Our design aims to bring in the latest technological knowhow for building such dynamic facilities, and challenge the conventional methods of designing such structures that one is used to. The fact that weightage is being given to sustainability – through the building envelope, general installations, control systems, etc – would help establish the project’s standing as an iconic figure for future generations to come.”
- It is Asia’s second largest state-of-the-art convention centre, being designed to host the G20 Summit and the third largest in the world with a capacity to host 10,000 people at once. To be spread over 90 acres at its full glory, it has been conceptualised as a project that would anchor the future development of our country.
- It has been strategically designed to achieve four main goals: to be an icon of the new India, to become a destination in itself, to obtain platinum certification from the IGBC, and finally to be flexible enough to host varied world class events and celebrations including conferences, sports, etc.
- The iconography being integrated in the built structures (patterns, motifs, etc) is inspired from textile patterns that are visible in various regions across India. This is to give the IICC a truly Indian character and also highlight the rich Indian culture.
- The main conceptual reference of the project is the contemporary reinterpretation of the idea of a palace, which allows the combination of the master plan with urban and architectural traditions of India. The buildings will be laid out in a palace structure and show motifs and iconography which are typical of the culture of the Indian subcontinent. Icons linked to the greeting and welcoming ritual, like mandalas and rangoli, and other popular expressions like Namaste, traditional engineering elements such as staircases, embroidery and textiles, etc will ornament the entire structure.
- Walkability on the site has been given priority by limiting vehicular movement at the periphery, and introducing large buffered foyer designs, colonnades, canopies, green boulevards and different kinds of pergolas. The project keeps in mind the different kinds of persons who would be traversing the site, leading to a design promoting universal accessibility.
