You are on page 1of 7

History of Architecture (AP313) | Essay| 2014

Page 1 of 7
DEVLOPMENT OF GURGAON- and it's architecture
Essay for History of Architecture (AP313)

Jasvinder Singh
Roll Number: 01416901611
Sushant School of Art and Architecture

Gurgaon is the second largest city of Indian state of Haryana.[1] situated in the
National Capital Region (N.C.R.) located 19.9 miles (32km) south west to New Delhi
the capital of India. Gurgaon has a population of 876,824[2] which has grown
extensively during the last decade, Gurgaon has become the city with the third
highest per capital income in India after Chandigarh and Mumbai[3], Gurgaon has
witnessed rapid urbanization, chiefly as a result of multinational
corporations opening outsourcing offices in the city. The city's economic growth
started with the leading Indian automobile manufacture Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
setting up a manufacturing plant in Gurgaon in 1970s[4] today gurgaon is home to
about 250 fortune 500 companies with companies such as Microsoft , Google,
Nokia , Yahoo, Dell , Pepsi , Airtel ,DLF , American express, etc have made gurgaon
their home in India, the high purchasing power has led to a boom in the retail
industry. it has also become the call centre capital of the world[5][6]

History of Architecture (AP313) | Essay| 2014

Page 2 of 7
Img source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HaryanaGurgaon.png
Etymology
The district delivered its name from the name of guru dronacharya, the village was
given as gurudakshina to him by his students; the pandavas and hence it came to
be known as guru-gram, which in course of time got distorted to gurgaon. thus the
district has been existence since the times of mahabhartha.[7]

History
During British rule in India gurgaon was divided into pargaonas by britishers, every
parganas were given to petty chiefs and granted as jagirs in lieu of military services
made by them. these jagirs later came under the direct management of the british; ;
last important changes took in 1836 AD there after the district remained unchanged
until the 1857 uprising. in 1858 AD it was transferred from the north western
provinces to punjab, [8] following indias independence, gurgaon remained a part of
the state of punjab but after the reorganisation of punjab in 1966 it became a part
of the newly created state of haryana.
The contemporary city started developing since 1970 after the setting of
manufacturing plant of Maruti Suzuki, it was the time when then cities like delhi
were expanding it stretched south east to faridabad in industrial era and at the time
delhi started moving towards south west the era was MNC's
software development and gurgaon was attractive to them because of its proximity
to new delhi and the international airport

History of Architecture (AP313) | Essay| 2014

Page 3 of 7
Architecture
Gurgaon's skyline is ruled by many skyscrapers the city is been home to several tall
buildings with modern planning. it has estimated 1,100 residential skyscrapers[9].
the city lacks proper urban infrastructure with broken roads and streets that often
leads to traffic jams. the initial settlement started in gurgaon in the area east to
national highway 8, a part of which shows urban planning and without a doubt
gurgaon is the kind of city urban planners can learn from, today gurgaon is home to
every big name in the corporate world. Its buildings are designed by the best
architects from across the world. Gurgaon has more than 20 outlets for luxury cars
such as BMW, Audi and Volkswagen. Malls that stock practically every international
brand dot the landscape
Urbanisam
gurgaon saw a massive increase in its population and economy after real estate
major DLF group bought farms owned by the local people and started developing
housing societies for upper-middle class residents of delhi, world class buildings
were built to make gurgaon more appealing for investors these housings societies
became a real estate phenomenon in northern India with many delhites preferring
the greener and newer planned gurgaon over the congested and heavily polluted
metropolis.
The urban landscape has been constantly changing in the fast growing city of
gurgaon in the past few years, the present city of gurgaon can be considered the
metropolitan area of an old civilization encompassing every single settlement
around the original city
History of Architecture (AP313) | Essay| 2014

Page 4 of 7
the tallest highrise office and residential buildings are mostly located in the north
western areas of the city and especially in the business and shopping districts of
MG road , DLF city and ashok marg
Gurgaon alone has 43 malls with Ambience Mall being one of the largest in the
country, spread over an area of over 8.6 lakh sq ft. the mushrooming shopping
malls of gurgaon like the ambience mall, DLF city centre , mega mall , MGF , MGF
mega city, MGF metropolitian, DLF star mall etc. are also indicative of the
reorganisation by retails of far-reaching aspiration and deep pockets of the
residents of the city
By 2010 the state government hopes to complete a world class golden triangle city
centre (GTCC) in sector- 29 with as many as four skyscrapers higher than taipei
101. some experts are even worried about the project because gurgaon lies in an
earthquake prone area. the fast growing population has created a huge demand for
housing , resulting in escalating property prices in recent years.
Economy
The need of a business centre and also closer to Indra Gandhi Internationl Airport
made gurgaon as one of the most prominent outsourcing and offshoring hubs in
south asia. real estate ,automobiles, retails and banking are other major industries.
gurgaon contributes over 50% of haryana's income tax revenues along with
faridabad
Transportation
gurgaon is connected by road, rail and air. the government has created an 8 lane
expressway from delhi to gurgaon. the express way between guraon and new delhi
History of Architecture (AP313) | Essay| 2014

Page 5 of 7
provides non-stop connectivity to the indra gandhi international airport the
internation airport is only 10 miles away from gurgaon
most of gurgaonites own cars as the cream of the delhi-ites have moved to gurgaon
but to minimize the traffic gurgaon also has delhi metro and rapid metro
connecting gurgaon with delhi and helping the office workers form heavy traffic
jams
Education
the city is also home to a number of reputed educational institute , ITM (institute of
technology and management) IILM (indian institute of law and management) SSAA
(sushant school of art and architecture) the gurgaonites normally do their higher
studies there and even students from delhi , faridabad , noida come to do their
higher studies
Life in gurgaon
Shopping- gurgaon is considered as the unofficial "mall capital of india" it is known
for its large number of malls and shopping malls and facilities, first shopping malls
were established on MG road since then many new ones have sprung up around
the city like ambiance mall the largest mall , MGF mega city, weddings mall and
gold souk are one of many speciality malls in town
Real estate
Construction work is an important industary in gurgaon , almost 20% of the city is
involved in the sector as real estate is one of the most important money earner for
gurgaon the land in and around gurgaon fertile but agriculture being not
remunerative, farmers do not think twice before selling their land to big corporate
History of Architecture (AP313) | Essay| 2014

Page 6 of 7
firms like DLF and unitech which in turn constructs it parks and offices complexes.
Gurgaon is also the home to many renonwed hotels uppal orchid was awarded the
greenest hotel in the world and many hotels like westin have also been given award
many times

Figure 1: Sushant Logo
Ref: http://goo.gl/HVab17
Bibliography
[1] http://gurgaon.gov.in/pdf/about-gurgaon.pdf
[2] Indian government Census 2011
[3] the chandigarh tribune
[4] http://www.hindustantimes.com/gurgaon/chunk-ht-ui-gurgaonsurvey-
topstories/gurgaon-s-better-than-delhi-but-way-behind-shanghai/article1-
1058239.aspx
[5] australian IT artical - india is the world's biggest provider of call centre services
[6] forbes magazine article- gurgaon is the biggest provider for call centre
[7] http://gurgaon.gov.in/pdf/about-gurgaon.pdf
[8] http://gurgaon.gov.in/pdf/about-gurgaon.pdf


History of Architecture (AP313) | Essay| 2014

Page 7 of 7

You might also like