A Shop for Every District: The Unity Mall in Varanasi

Every district of Uttar Pradesh makes something it is known for. Banarasi silk in Varanasi, chikankari in Lucknow, brassware in Moradabad, glass in Firozabad. The One District One Product scheme has given these crafts a name; the Unity Mall in Varanasi gives them an address. Planned on a compact urban site at Ganganagar Colony, the mall brings the crafts of all 75 districts of the state, and of every state and union territory of India, into a single building.

A shop for every district

The brief was simple to state and hard to plan: 111 shops, each one belonging to a district or a state, each one needing to be seen. The answer was a long, wedge-shaped atrium running through five floors of shops. Every shopfront faces the central void, so a visitor standing on any floor can look across and see the crafts of other districts above and below. No shop is hidden at the end of a corridor.

More than a market

A mall for crafts has to explain as well as sell. The fifth floor is given over to that: a digital craft Museum where visitors can explore weaving, carving and metalwork through virtual and augmented reality, and hands-on areas where artisans can demonstrate their work and run workshops. An Auditorium, a children’s play area, a food court and an open-air restaurant make it a place to spend an afternoon, not just a shopping stop.

A facade that moves like the river

Varanasi is a city shaped by the Ganga, by its ghats and by the long curve of the river past them. The facade of the Unity Mall takes that curve as its starting point. A screen of slender aluminium fins and louvers stands in front of the glass, designed parametrically so that the bands of terracotta colour behind it seem to ripple across the building like water. The screen shades the glazing from the strong sun and gives the building a single, recognisable form from the road.

Set into the front is a large roundel, part carved relief and part glass, which acts as the emblem of the building. At the entrance, a customised terracotta ceiling welcomes visitors with a material that belongs to the crafts inside.

Built for a tight urban site

The plot is just under 5,900 square metres, in a dense part of the city. To keep the ground free for people, parking for 345 cars goes into three basements with stack parking. Shoppers, the Nagar Nigam offices on the sixth floor, a future hotel and service vehicles each have their own entry and route, and the whole building is barrier-free. About 15% of the plot stays green, and the building is planned for a GRIHA 3-star rating.

ARCH-EN DESIGN is the Project Management consultant to UP PWD for the MSME Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh, and prepared the concept design, the design basis report and the documents for its construction in EPC mode.