STREETSCAPES

Pondicherry gets its character from its streetscapes, may it be the French town or the Tamil town. Both have its unique features that complement the street. The Tamil town, for example, has a lot of exposed woodwork, exposed verandahs and balconies made of wooden posts, colours kept earthy, sculpted into intricate patterns, but still kept simple In the French part of Puducherry, the street character is defined by three basic colours, yellow, grey, white and the simple mouldings on the cornices.

A Tamil street has various dark colours used. The wood itself after varnish gives it a dark grown glossy finish, but sadly not a lot of the old buildings have been preserved.

A French Street has lighter colours and the shrubs and plants make the street very vibrant and full of life. The colours also make the streets look more open and spacious.

Tamil Streets

The Tamil streets emphasise on wood as an element. There is a rhythm created by the wooden posts throughout the street. The protruding verandahs break the monotonous flat facade.

Some of the buildings on the street share a common wall and create a long facade, the terraces create juxtaposed voids in the built mass. The lean to roofs sometimes continue through a number of houses creating a common element and a singular language.

With all the dark woody and earthy elements, the colours of the building are the ones that bring life onto the street. The large trees along with the aged facades give a feel of an old heritage area.

Street Elements

The street character is brought about by simple building elements. Each house has a framed entrance, with a carved wooden doorway with definition. The painted facades make the street lively, and intriguing, making you look further into the details of the streets.

The streets are covered with a canopy of large trees. The widths of the streets are made such that not more than two car can pass by at the same time. The protruding verandahs make interesting masses as you pass by. Compared to the French streets, Tamil streets are more crowded, since there a lot of people still living in this area.

Tamil streets get its uniqueness from the verandah spaces with seating, the heart and sole of the lifestyle of these streets. The evenings are filled with the laughs of the neighbours catching up over a cup of freshly brewed coffee

French Streets

The French streets emphasise mainly on the colours used and the open spaces created. The intent was to make the streets as open as possible in the least available space..

Like the Tamil streets the buildings do share a common wall but the voids created by the courtyards are larger to make the space even more open. A major difference is that the French streets did not have verahdahs, but had wider footpaths.

Each and every courtyard has a flowering plant that pops out of their compound wall, onto the street. This element clearly defines a French street from a Tamil street.

Street Elements

The absence of verandahs is an element that changes the character of the street completely. Instead they have sloping chajjas supported by brackets. The entrances are decorated with potted plants and flowering shrubs pouring over the gates.

Here too, like the Tamil town, the streets are covered with large trees. But the main difference is the cleanliness and the width of the street. There are dustbins at intervals. The colours on the buildings are light which make the streets seem more spacious. The French town has also been preserved well making them look new and beautiful.

The French streets tend to be a lot more formal than the Tamil streets, because most of the buildings have been converted into hotels or government buildings. Unlike the Tamil streets, these have benches lined along the footpaths to rest, and small landscape elements.