The Andhra Pradesh government has almost finalised its designs for the Assembly building at the upcoming capital of Amaravati.
A meeting of Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) officials along with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and representatives of architecture firm Foster+Partners was held at the Secretariat on Wednesday to zero down on the designs.
Famous filmmaker SS Rajamouli, who had been roped in by Naidu earlier, was also present at the meeting.
According to reports, the Assembly complex will include a viewing tower and a museum, and occupy almost 17 lakh square feet.
While several people present at the meeting, voted for their favourite designs, the CRDA said that the final decision will be taken only after feedback from the public.
Find the two designs below.
You can vote for which design you like, on the CRDA website, here.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting, Rajamouli said, “At the beginning of this exercise, I helped in documenting the aspirations of the Chief Minister, who wanted the building to be a show-piece of Indian-ness and one that reflects the richness of Telugu history and culture. Now, I provided images asked by the F+P. Otherwise, my contribution is as little as that of the squirrels in the construction of the Rama Sethu.”
In October this year, the Facebook page of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh released 13 designs for the new Assembly building.
"These are the Proposed 'AP Assembly' Designs at Amaravati. Your Feedback is solicited - Please indicate your choice of the design in comments section," the TDP said on its Facebook page.
Naidu also faced criticism for consulting film director SS Rajamouli for architectural designs of the buildings proposed to come up in Amaravati.
Rajamouli is the director of the two-part Baahubali series, which is based in the fictitious kingdom of 'Mahishmathi.'
While some questioned if it was relevant to seek inspiration for a twenty-first century, modern capital city from mythical imaginations of the past, others dubbed it an unscientific and irrational approach to city planning and architecture.