BAAB-E-GUJRANWALA

Abstract

Gujranwala is Pakistan 5" Largest city with a population of 2 million people, located in central Punjab. The city expanded around its central core (the old city) to its northern, southern, and western side along the main GT road. It expanded limited to its eastern bank. Among many transportation services, roads are the most used service in Pakistan. It connects people from different parts of the city and connects a city to another one allowing people to exchange information, but people are deprived of a platform where they can do so. A main bus terminal connects one city to many other cities all over the country. The most used modes of transport are buses and vans used by the public to travel through most parts of the country because of its affordability. A bus terminal is the first and last impression of the city therefore, it must state the summary ofthe entire city. There is a need to bond architecture today and space to hold a dialogue between modern architecture and cultural context of the city. A bus terminal allows exchange of information from a local person to an outsider and vice versa, it is a space designed for the community and facilitates the entire city. Gujranwala is one of the few cities of Pakistan that is competing against China to produce goods, it is one of the model cities of Pakistan, it has grown and modernized a lot over the tenure of past 10 years. There are many stereotypical notions of Gujranwala being a farmer's land or has a conservative notion attached to it, in fact, it is the city of industries, it the city of the rich. Considering the context, Gujranwala is lacking in a symbolic and architectural representation of itself. A bus terminal acts as a central culminating point for most modes of transportations all over the city which include all kinds of public transports, local buses, vans, intercity, rickshaws, taxis etc. The roads all over the city act as connectors. In illustrative terminologies, the hub is the heart, and the roads are the veins and arteries. The heart keeps the true version of oneself. Therefore, a city's heart must summarize the whole tale of the city in one architectural masterpiece, and it must be beating. The approach is to knit the urban and social aspects of the city in an architectural masterpiece. The approach is to revitalize the existing bus terminal of the city, the idea is to cater to the existing problems and redesign it as a new one.