Thanks to a students-driven initiative, the Kasturba Nagar MRTS station has received a facelift of sorts. As part of an international design competition organised by the University of Westminster, two groups of students from School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, have made the premises around the station more inviting.
The team comprising Lalith Mallikeshwaran, R. S, Harshini M, Kawin Kumaran K S and Abinayaa P, spruced up the vacant space behind the Ananda Vinayakar temple at Madhya Kailash junction to design a “Tree Park”.
Concrete blocks lying unused were painted in blue and yellow and turned into seats. Paper tubes used for rolling flexi banners were decorated to give the park a pathway and tyres are hung on the tree as a swing.
“The place was extremely dirty when we decided to give it a facelift, people were using it as a urinal and all the portable barricades were dumped here,” says Lalith Mallikeshwaren, a third year student of architecture. With the help of NSS students and our juniors, they cleaned the space.
The students are next working on getting an electricity connection for the place and an e-toilet.
The other group, consisting of final-year students of architecture, have drawn kolams at the rear portion of the MRTS station and have also put up installation of a tree, which serves as a seating space. “The seating arrangement had to be removed as we did not get the permission but we at least made a difference, by giving the drab portion of the MRTS station a dash of colour,” says Saranya.
