24 May 2019
First look at UNStudio’s vision for the future of urban leisure in Bangalore
BY Andrew Manns
Dutch design practice UNStudio and their architectural technology division UNSense have revealed details of their ambitious plan to turn Bangalore, India, into a futuristic garden city powered by cutting-edge Internet of Things (IoT) technology.
The 62-acre redevelopment project, which will serve to counteract urban stagnation, will see the city's lakeside Karle Town Centre (KTC) transformed into a leisure, recreational, and civic destination with biking routes, sky gardens, public squares, a theatre, residential units, and retail outlets.
UNStudio and UNSense are collaborating on the scheme with Karle Infra, who – according to the architects – will position data-gathering sensors throughout the site to positively shape residents' mental and social wellbeing.
"We have so much data at our fingertips that can be used to analyse behaviour and inform design on an urban scale," commented UNStudio co-founder, Ben van Berkel.
"We should use this to devise urban solutions that allow us to live in healthy environments that enable social interaction and capitalise on our free time more valuably."
Speaking on the project, KTC's consultant landscape architect Lodewijk Baljon, said: "As gardens are places of reconciliation between man and nature, the Garden City of the 21st Century will demonstrate a new way of bringing man in contact with nature.
"In bringing forward the qualities of nature in the city, KTC will be an innovative cultural phenomenon."
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