Young Designers 2011

		Young Designers 2011
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Sumegha Mantri | sumeghamantri@gmail.com

Taj Ganj, Agra: A Study and an Approach Plan towards Sustainable Heritage and Community-based Tourism

Exhibition Design | GDPD
Guide: Tanishka Kachru;Dr. Jignesh Khakhar
Sponsor: National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

Keywords
Taj Mahal
Taj Ganj
Agra
Ethnographic study

My project attempted to study space and all its ‘phenomenological’ associations. In this context, the word ‘phenomenological’ refers to the study of the sensory and the lived experience. The site of study was the historic Katras (caravanserais) of Taj Ganj, adjacent to the south gate of the Taj Mahal (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The Katras were part of the original design of the Taj Mahal.

The project was initiated by Uttar Pradesh Tourism, who were interested in finding out how the south gate of the Taj Mahal could be made more accessible to tourists and how the Taj Ganj experience could be improved not only for its visitors, but also for the resident community. As a lead researcher, my responsibilities included understanding the place, communicating that understanding to field researchers, engaging with the residents of Taj Ganj, identifying gatekeepers to the community and laying down the groundwork for the study that was to follow, data collection, analysis and synthesis and finally, suggesting a larger vision and design guidelines for the site.

The project has helped build an understanding of the different elements (living, non-living, tangible and intangible), their relationships and functioning that contribute to the total experience of the tourist site.
Though its scale and complexity were challenging, I learnt immensely during the course of this project through fieldwork and by analysing the collected data, synthesising it to build a larger picture and connecting it to the theory.