Traffic island – NID’s homage to Mahatma

The National Institute of Design (NID) in collaboration with the Aditya Birla Group has sketched out a unique traffic island design for the city to convey to the citizens, the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in the past, present and the future.

Talking about the design, principal designer and faculty of communication design in NID, Anil Sinha said, “This is a very special project, which will pay homage to the father of the nation but will not be just a statue like it usually is. This design will be a piece of art that, with the passage of time, will signify and strengthen the relevance of Bapu.”

The concept of the design is ‘the mass mobiliser’ and shows a human figure, that of Gandhi. While explaining his design Sinha said, “There are six screens arranged in a circle that depicts Bapu’s figure. Another circle within the bigger one shows six cut outs of the figure moving towards a centre point. While the screens are symbolic of the past, the cut outs moving towards the centre signify his relevance in the present time and the future.”

At one side of the road, an elevated platform will be constructed from where people can take a better look at the art form which will appear as a charkha. “The traffic island derives its inspiration from the integration of the core Gandhian philosophy of movement, simplicity and minimalism. When looked at from the top, it will stand out as a charkha, which is an embodiment of forward movement as well as interconnectivity,” explained Sinha.

While Aditya Birla has funded the project, the structure was design by Anil Sinha along with his team which includes Supriya Pokharna, Ankita Gajjar, Nanki Nath and Jaydip Balevia. The design will be planted in a traffic island on one of the crossroads in the city but details about the exact location have not been revealed yet.