REVIEW | GOLDEN GRAND, BANGALORE

Golden Grand is an under-construction 23 floor residential apartment complex, located in the Golden Square Mile (GSM) in Yeshwanthpur in North-West Bangalore, India.

PROMOTERS:

The Golden Grand is promoted by Golden Gate Properties Ltd, a Bangalore based Public Limited Company which started its operations in 1997.

13 acre Golden Grand site with 5 towers and around 84% green area.

ARCHITECTS:

Golden Grand has been designed by HOK-USA, a well-known American architectural firm, the preferred choice of many Indian builders.

OVERVIEW OF GOLDEN GRAND:

The Golden Grand is located in a 13-acre property in the heart of the GSM.  When completed, it will have 790 apartments – both two and three bedroom units. As shown in the layout plan, there are 5 towers, out of which 4 are leaf-shaped, two-winged towers and 1 is a three-winged tower.  Each leaf shaped tower will have wings of differing heights. The promoters claim that each apartment has a stand alone design, which means that there are no common walls.

Leaf shaped two-winged-tower with 23 and 19 floors

FEATURES OF GOLDEN GRAND :

The Golden Grand apartment complex has the usual features common to most luxurious residential complexes such as:

1. Water body/ wet and dry fountains, Landscaped garden, Jogging trail, Party lawns, Toddlers park, Meditation center, Gazebo, ATM center, Cash-n-Carry store and business point, Basketball court, Tennis court, Pick-up and drop point for school children and parents within the apartment complex.
2. Security measures with Video Monitoring, Water treatment plant, Power backup, Building Management System (BMS).
3. In addition it has some other features like: Temple with Temple plaza, Skating rink, Open amphitheater, Solarium lounge by day and milky way at night.
4. HELIDECK facility for Airport Transfers & Emergency evacuation

The only three-winged tower with 19, 22 and 25 floors.

COMPLETION:

The expected date of completion of this project is March 2010. Here are some  of the latest photos of the Golden Grand. Photos Courtesy Golden Gate Properties Ltd.

2 winged-tower. Photo date 19 November 2009

ARCHITECT’S REVIEW:

Let me start with the good points:

1. I like the design of 2-winged, leaf shaped towers that allow more surface area (because of the curved surface) of the apartments  to be exposed to Sunlight. Usually in winged towers, the rooms at the junctions of the wings tend to be crowded in, dark and lack privacy. But these 2-winged buildings allow the light to permeate all the rooms of the apartments and allow privacy.
2. It is generally difficult to create massing in high-rise, multi complexes. Usually the  buildings tend to look too regular and variation  is introduced with the help of different colours on the building.  But in this project I feel that  the additional curved skin wall helps to create the required variation because of the different depths of the balconies and rooms. Also, the different heights of the wings break the monotony of the overall building mass.
3. The curved, external skin of the building with punctured balconies and bask-set windows, serves as a sun-shade and gives different points-of-view for the inmates because of the double-wall effect. It also gives the building a nice, curved, finished look.
4. Also it is good that the builders accepted this external, skin-wall design element proposed by the Architect, even though it means extra columns, beams, walls  and extra cost. But I guess, this is  because it was proposed by an international architectural firm.

So this brings me to the negatives of the project:

1. Why do builders approach foreign architects, when there are some really reputed architectural firms in Bangalore/India who have the capability to handle projects of this scale?
2. Is it not because the addition of the international Architect’s name to the project will ensure more sales? So it is quite clear that the builders know that the Architect does add value to the project.
3. So obviously comes my next peeve – Why is it that most builders prefer not to mention the Indian Architects associated with their projects,  in their promotional sites? And why don’t the Architects insist that they should be mentioned?

For my reviews of other upcoming projects in Bangalore, go to:

• REVIEWS