Project Description

Translating the rhythm of Jantar Mantar into space

Jantar Ghar is a space inspired by the instrumental music of Jantar Mantar from Satyajit Ray’s Hirak Rajar Deshe. The project tries to imagine what the rhythm, repetition, and mood of the music would feel like if they became architecture. Rather than copying the music directly, it turns its beats, pauses, and emotional movement into a pathway that people can walk through and experience.

The design begins with a long processional path. Along this path, repeated arches create a steady rhythm, almost like musical beats frozen in space. As visitors move forward, each arch becomes a threshold, guiding the body from one moment to the next. The repetition creates a sense of flow but also a quiet tension, as if the space is slowly pulling the visitor deeper inside.

The journey ends in a large enclosed chamber surrounded by high walls. Although the space feels protected and enclosed, it is not completely closed off. Upper windows allow soft light to enter from above, creating a calm but mysterious atmosphere. The light falls gently across the walls and floor, changing the mood of the space and giving it a sense of silence after the rhythm of the pathway.

The project also connects to the idea of the “Jantar Mantar” machine in the film a device linked with control, repetition, and obedience. In this design, that idea is expressed through the repeated arches and directed movement. The architecture quietly controls how people move, where they look, and how they feel.

Jantar Ghar is therefore both poetic and spatial. It turns music into movement, rhythm into arches, and sound into light and shadow. The space becomes a walkable interpretation of the instrumental piece calm, repetitive, atmospheric, and slightly mysterious.