A Concept of Indian Cities for the Future,
Rooted in our Culture
Brief:
Madurai, a City in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, with a history stretching back to the 6th century BCE. Once celebrated for its trade, literature, art, craft, and architecture, it was a centre of culture and prosperity.
This interactive piece asks: "What if Indian cities remained rooted in their traditional design while meeting the needs of the modern and future world?"
This interactive piece asks: "What if Indian cities remained rooted in their traditional design while meeting the needs of the modern and future world?"
Problem/Opportunity:
-Indian cities lack a visual identity
-Poorly copied Western architecture
-Streets are not walkable - lack of public leisure areas
-Chaotic traffic and road planning
-No integration of heritage elements
-Inconsistent zoning and infrastructure
-Lack of civic beauty and harmony
-Tamil architecture is limited to temples
Goal:
-Create a modern city for the future, rooted in Tamil identity
-Blend traditional architecture with urban functionality for the Tamil People
-Design walkable, efficient, and harmonious spaces
-Set a new standard for Indian city planning
Important elements of a Modern City:
-Green space, Parks/recreational areas and Squares for gathering/leisure
-Accessibility, Public Transportation, ease of moving around
-Planned roads with pavements, and reduced traffic - pedestrian/cycle friendly
-Zoning - by not dividing people
-Iconic City Centre for Business, tourism and leisure
-Modular and Scalable systems - city planning, designs, transportation expansion, waste management
Important elements of Tamil Architecture:
- Interlocking construction
- Fractals, ornaments, Colours, Kolam Patterns
- Pillars, Mandapams for gatherings, Ponds, Open Corridors with Pillars, Towers and entrances.
Map of Madurai for the Project:
The idea for the plan of Madurai for the project came from how video games like GTA 5 or Assassin's Creed take inspiration from a city's main elements and make a map with far fewer buildings while making it feel real and immersive.
This also helps the project run smoothly on a phone since it's AR. Vyaas Rohaan and Srishti Busar designed the Map of Madurai after thorough research.
The Design and Technical Bit:
After sketching the concepts for buildings and brainstorming various looks, I designed the buildings using Blender and prompted in Leonardo.ai for textures for various kinds of buildings, and UV-mapped them in Blender. I ensured that the poly-count was kept low and textures were compressed to ensure smooth performance on AR without compromising the visuals.
I then imported the models to Unity, made the animations and made it work in AR with the Meadow app.
Images from British Art Fair, 2025 at the Saatchi Gallery, London:
I got a chance to display Neo Tamil Urbanism as a Print+AR piece at the Digitalism section. See Linkedin post
Important Learning from Feedback:
One of the best learnings I had after speaking with multiple people was to enable the citizens with their ways of construction and enriching it with modern urban planning and Neo-Tamil Urbanism, rather than demolishing and rebuilding from scratch with a lot of restrictions. This would make the citizens feel like they truly belong there.
Credits:
Creator, Designer
Muhil V
Muhil V
Architects and Planners
Vyaas Rohaan
Srishti Busar
Vyaas Rohaan
Srishti Busar
Special Thanks
Shika Haku
Shika Haku
Music
Udhayanan C
Udhayanan C
Thank you
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