VISUAL IDENTITY OF RELIGIOUS PRECINCT OF HARIDWAR

Abstract

In the contemporary world, every city has an identity which is reflected through its Art and Architecture. These identities are framed due to its unique past and have blended under the amalgamation of various religious rulerships. Under the huge pressure of urbanization, the landscapes of various cities have started to look similar and their visual identities are getting depleted. Since the identity of a city is widely infused by its historic landscapes, it is necessary to conserve these areas by protecting their tangible and non tangible values. Their urban facades need to be analyzed to understand the saliency of various elements that are contributing to the identity of these Historic Urban Landscapes. The salient elements need to be preserved to preserve the identities of these landscapes and thereby identity of the city. This paper takes the case of Haridwar which is a religiously important city and analyzes its Religious Precinct to understand the saliency of various elements that makes it unique from other religious cities. The main objective was to evaluate the architecture of the city’s urban façade through recall tasks and identify the various elements by semiotic assessment. The results were validated by assessing people’s visual experience through eye trackers. Outcomes include a palette for the identity design for the precinct and a list of preferences of people that can help in framing different policies to enhance it’s identity.