The Banganga Precinct

The Banganga Precinct, located in the historic Walkeshwar area of Mumbai, holds immense spiritual, cultural, and historical significance. As home to the ancient Banganga Tank, believed
to have originated from Lakshmana’s arrow, the precinct has been a living heritage site for centuries. Despite its importance, Banganga’s urban fabric is rapidly fragmenting, caught
between modern high-rises and the pressures of urbanization, resulting in neglect, loss of identity, and declining accessibility for both devotees and cultural tourists.
NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE
Heritage Under Threat: Banganga’s cultural and spiritual heritage is at risk due to encroachments, infrastructure
neglect, and unplanned developments.
Fragmented Urban Fabric: The streets, pathways, and public spaces around the tank lack clear organization, making
navigation confusing and reducing the spiritual journey’s impact.
Opportunity for Cultural Revival:Banganga’s rich mythology, history, and cultural practices — including the legend of
Lakshmana’s arrow activating the spring — remain under-communicated to the public. This is a lost opportunity to turn
the precinct into a living cultural landscape that celebrates stories, rituals, and local traditions.
Calm within Chaos: In fast-paced Mumbai, Banganga should serve as a calm, devotional retreat, balancing heritage
and modern needs.
Space for Rituals: There’s no dedicated space for priests and families performing post-death rituals like Pind Daan and
Shraddh, especially during Pitru Paksha, when the site gets overcrowded.
Functional Segregation Needed: Ritual zones should be clearly separated from daily visitors who come for temple visits
or sightseeing, to preserve sanctity and improve movement.
OBJECTIVES:
Preserve Built & Intangible Heritage — Protect tank steps, temples, and ritual practices through sensitive
conservation and interpretation.
Cultural Interpretation Center — Tell Banganga’s stories and rituals through a cultural & narrative hub, using
exhibits, installations, and technology.
Ritual & Pilgrim Spaces — Create dedicated zones for priests and families to perform post-death rituals
(Shraddh, Pind Daan), especially during Pitru Paksha.
Urban Integration — Redesign streets, pathways, and edges to seamlessly connect the tank to temples, sea,
AIM: and cultural center.
To reimagine and redevelop the Banganga precinct as a seamless cultural, Recreational Promenade — Connect Banganga to the seaside, offering a cultural promenade blending
spiritual, and recreational corridor that preserves its sacred heritage while spirituality, leisure, and history.
introducing contemporary urban design interventions, offering calm and Technology for Engagement — Add QR heritage trails, AR storytelling, and digital archives for younger
devotion for Mumbai’s ever-hustling population. audiences and global outreach.
CURRENT SCENARIO: UNDERSTANDING EXISTING EFFORTS AND GAPS
Banganga Tank and its precinct are undergoing a phased redevelopment led by the BMC
(Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation), in collaboration with Architect Vikas Dilawari and
Shashi Prabhu & Associates, under the ownership of the Gaud Saraswat Brahmin Temple
Trust (GSBTT). This is a living heritage site maintained by the State Archaeology
Department, blending religious significance with ongoing community life.
🔹 Ongoing Revival by BMC:Desilting, step & wall repairs, bund wall construction to prevent
seawater [Link] & fauna preserved since it’s a living site.
🔹 Encroachment Clearance:Illegal structures removed to restore spatial & visual integrity.
🔹 Basic Beautification:Adding benches, lights & signage for visitor comfort.
🔹 Public Amenities:Basic seating & ritual platforms for ceremonies.
🔹 Heritage Restoration Focus:11 Deep Stambhs being restored under Vikas Dilawari’s
[Link] on removing layers of plaster & paint to return to original form.
🔹 Ram Kund Challenges: Located by the sea, regularly fills with plastic & [Link]
delayed until debris management is resolved. Jurisdiction overlaps with Maritime Board
further complicate this.
🔹 Ownership & Funding: Tank owned by Gaud Saraswat Brahmin Temple Trust
(GSBTT).Phase 1: ₹6 crore BMC funding + GSBTT funds architects’ fees (₹60-70 lakh) for
design control.

Gap Analysis:
While these initiatives address structural stability and visual tidiness, they fall short of
addressing the site’s complex cultural and spatial dynamics, including:
❌ Absence of clear zoning for ritual and tourist flows, leading to overcrowding during high
ritual seasons like Pitru Paksha.
❌ No dedicated, well-designed ritual pavilions or private areas for families and priests
performing post-death ceremonies, leaving these sacred acts vulnerable to disruption by
casual visitors and tourists.
❌ Lack of interpretation spaces or storytelling installations to narrate Banganga’s layered
mythology to first-time visitors.
❌ **Missing connections to the larger cultural and urban fabric, such as linking the tank to
the seaside promenade for a continuous cultural corridor experience.
ADAPTIVE REUSE : MILLS OF MUMBAI
India United Mills 2 & 3
Mumbai’s textile mills were once the economic lifeline of the city, shaping its industrial and urban history. Today, several mill compounds lie vacant or underutilized,
representing wasted spatial potential within a dense and ever-growing metropolis.
India United Mills 2 & 3, located in the heart of central Mumbai, hold immense potential for adaptive reuse, transforming industrial heritage into vibrant, mixed-use public
spaces that blend culture, commerce, and community use, while retaining the mill’s historic identity.
NEED & SIGNIFICANCE:
Revitalizing Urban Brownfields:
Old mills occupy prime land but remain underutilized, limiting their potential in a land-scarce city like Mumbai.
Preserving Industrial Heritage:
Mills are architectural assets — adaptive reuse retains the city’s industrial memory while adapting for new-age needs.
Meeting Public Space Deficit:
Central Mumbai lacks accessible public plazas, cultural spaces, and green zones. Reimagining mill compounds can
address this deficit.
Social Impact through Mixed Uses:
Combining economic spaces (co-working) with social infrastructure (healthcare, wellness) creates balanced development.
Sustainability through Reuse:
Adaptive reuse inherently promotes conservation of embodied energy, reducing construction waste and carbon footprint.
OBJECTIVES:
Preserve & Celebrate Industrial Heritage:
Showcase original architecture, machinery, and archival content through creative interpretation within public areas.
Create an Inclusive Public Plaza:
Ground floor as an open green public space for events, exhibitions, and community interaction, offering a much-needed
recreational pause in a congested urban core.
Introduce Flexible Mixed Uses:
Co-working hubs & training spaces to support local businesses.
Community art studios & cultural incubation spaces for artists and performers.
Seasonal event zones for flea markets, festivals, and cultural programming.
Add a Healthcare & Wellness Wing:
Dedicated zone for affordable healthcare, wellness initiatives, mental health counselling, addressing social needs of CURRENT BUILDING CONDITIONS (APRIL, 2024)
surrounding communities.
Integrate Sustainability:
Adaptive reuse through minimal intervention design.
Introduce rainwater harvesting, solar energy, and passive ventilation strategies.
Enhance Connectivity:
Create pedestrian-friendly linkages to surrounding neighborhoods, ensuring the mill becomes a natural extension of the
urban grain.

ADAPTIVE REUSE OF MILLS IN MUMBAI

Phoenix Mills:
Transformed into High Street Phoenix, combining retail,
leisure, and event spaces. It retains some industrial elements,
proving that adaptive reuse can be both commercially
successful and heritage-sensitive.

Kamla Mills:
Once a textile mill, now a business and F&B hub, showing
how industrial heritage can drive economic and cultural
activity. It blends old mill elements with modern spaces,
creating a vibrant social destination.
The Story of the Marathas
The proposed project aims to create a Cultural Narrative & Agro Tourism Centre strategically located between
Sinhgad, Torna, and Raigad Forts—three iconic symbols of Maratha pride and military brilliance. This tri-fort zone
attracts history enthusiasts, trekkers, and cultural tourists, making it ideal for a multi-functional interpretation
centre that merges immersive history, guerrilla warfare storytelling, hands-on farming experiences, and cultural
exhibitions. The centre will not only preserve and showcase Maratha heritage but also promote rural tourism,
local livelihoods, and sustainable agriculture, enhancing the cultural and economic fabric of the region.

NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

✅ Heritage Interpretation Gap: SINGHGAD FORT

While the forts themselves offer physical heritage, there’s limited interpretation of Maratha military strategies,
guerrilla warfare techniques, and daily life of soldiers and locals who supported these battles. The centre will bring
these untold stories to life.
✅ Tourism Circuit Enhancement:
Sinhgad, Torna, and Raigad are already part of Maharashtra’s popular heritage tourism trail. A cultural hub that
connects these forts will act as a knowledge and experience centre for tourists visiting all three.
✅ Rural Livelihoods & Sustainable Tourism:
The project merges agro tourism with heritage tourism, promoting organic farming, local crafts, traditional cuisine,
and cultural performances. This creates income opportunities for local communities while ensuring sustainable tourism RAIGAD FORT
growth.
✅ Experiential Learning:
The centre moves beyond passive galleries, offering AR/VR battle simulations, live re-enactments, heritage walks, and
role-play experiences that make history engaging for all age groups.
✅ Cultural Revitalization:
By hosting workshops, festivals, storytelling sessions, and local craft markets, the centre revives intangible cultural
heritage, ensuring local knowledge is passed down to future generations.
OBJECTIVES
Heritage Storytelling:
Create themed galleries, audiovisual displays, and digital archives that narrate the
military genius of Shivaji Maharaj, focusing on guerrilla warfare tactics, fort
construction methods, and wartime rural life.
Immersive Engagement:
Offer AR/VR battle simulations, live re-enactments, and role-play sessions, where
visitors can experience what it was like to defend a fort or plan a guerrilla ambush.
Agro Tourism & Rural Connect:
Establish a working farm showcasing traditional farming techniques, organic
cultivation, and water management systems used during the Maratha era, with a
farm-to-table café serving local cuisine.
Heritage-Sensitive Design:
The built environment will use local materials (stone, wood, mud), vernacular
architecture, and low-impact construction to blend with the natural and historical TORNA TREK POINT -34MINS (13KM)
surroundings. SIGHGAD FORT - 1HR (35KM)
Community Involvement: RAIGAD BASE CAMP 2 - 28MINS ( 9.6KM)
Train and employ local youth as heritage guides, performers, farmers, and artisans,
ensuring they benefit economically while becoming custodians of their heritage.
Cultural and Educational Events:
Host annual cultural festivals, storytelling competitions, craft fairs, and heritage
education programs to attract both tourists and locals.
Flexibility for Seasonal Programming:
Design spaces that can adapt—hosting exhibitions, film screenings, school visits, and
evening cultural performances based on seasonal tourism patterns.