‘Crown of Nagpur’ to be redesigned

Nagpur: MahaMetro is redesigning its landmark artwork ‘Crown of Nagpur’ that is coming atop Sitabuldi Metro station to provide a better view to Nagpurians.
A source in MahaMetro said that the Sitabuldi station is a T-shaped building. “Earlier, we had planned the artwork in the centre of the T atop a three-storey building. However, a six storey building is being constructed on one arm of the T towards Rani Jhansi Square. This will block the view from that side. Hence we have decided to construct Crown of Nagpur atop the six storey building. Its base will be thus 10 metre higher than initially planned,” he added.

The source further said that redesigning was also required to take care of the higher wind speed at greater height. “The two factors may reduce the dimensions of the artwork. The redesigning will be completed next week and cost of the project will be known then,” he added.

Earlier, the artwork’s base was at a height of 40 metre, which means about 10-storey high. The height of the artwork was 14m. It will be 35-metre-long and 25-metre-wide. The base will be in the shape of an inverted flower with a crown over it and a transparent dome below the crown. A 2-metre-high 360 degree LED display will also be a part of the artwork which will be used for advertisements and generate revenue for MahaMetro.

The inverted flower will be made of steel and polycarbonate. The polycarbonate sheets will be lit with blue lights to give it an aqua theme and the dome will be a polycarbonate one.

The artwork is a collective work of MahaMetro officials and the architect who designed its New Airport station. MahaMetro also plans an open air restaurant on the terrace of the Sitabuldi station. The commuters will get an excellent view of the artwork from this restaurant.

MahaMetro managing director Brijesh Dixit plans to make the artwork an identity of the city like Qutub Minar of Delhi and Charminar of Hyderabad.