Mumbai, India

“One Green Mile asks the question: what if we expected highways to give something back to the places they cut through? A flyover can provide some shade in a hot city, and creates a small area of land that can’t be developed with tall buildings. It’s not such a crazy idea to make that into a public space,” says MVRDV partner Stefan de Koning.

MVRDV and Mumbai-based architects StudioPOD, along with landscape architects Enviroscape and AMS Consultants have transformed a neglected space below Mumbai’s concrete Senapati Bapat Marg flyover into a new community space in Mumbai, full of amenities, greenery, and strong visual identity imrpoving the local community, tasked by Indian real estate company Nucleus Office Parks.

The project is named One Green Mile, the masterplan and urban design of the 1,800-meter-long streetscape and transportation systems along Senapati Bapat Marg was designed by StudioPOD, while MVRDV converted a 200-meter-long unused space beneath the flyover, known as Parel Baug, into a community space. 

According to MVRDV, on a broader scale, the scheme “offers a repeatable approach to sustainable urban development that asserts a new benchmark for underused public spaces in the intense Indian metropolis.”

As described by the architects, the Senapati Bapat Marg flyover is part of a series of major roads that extend for over 11 kilometers through the heart of Mumbai, generating significant noise pollution and creating a barrier between neighboring areas that limits options for mobility.

StudioPOD has developed the initial ideas & programming for this space.

MVRDV working in tandem with StudioPOD built upon these ideas with a design that includes sinuous blue stripes to create a cohesive visual identity used across all elements of the space, creating a concept for One Green Mile that offers a delightful and holistic urban spatial experience.

As MRDV claims, the most challenging part of this scheme was the transformation of unused space beneath the flyover structure itself, as the firm explained. 

To achieve this, they were invited to collaborate on a community space that would address the flyover’s negative impact while responding to the area’s lack of greenery and physical amenities.

StudioPOD’s scheme initially solved the traffic and street profiles and helped to define the program and identify the target groups.

Expanding upon this, MVRDV has created sinuous blue stripes and extended this visual identity to all elements of the space, proposing a concept for One Green Mile that offers a delightful and holistic urban spatial experience.

Creating a hilly paved landscape, the landscape also transforms the two-dimensional visual features into a 3D spatial experience, accommodating a whole range of different programs and providing a dynamic physical attraction.

“Visual accent colors in materials and graphics make all aspects of the intervention recognizable as a whole,” says MVRDV. 

MVRDV divided the whole strip into a series of public “rooms” with diverse functions – such as a lounge, gym, shaded seating area, performance space, and reading room. 

Planting extends throughout the space and greenery in the design – featured on a series of screens lining the space, an archway at the entrance, and in retaining walls and planters – promotes biodiversity, while cooling the surrounding spaces and dampening noise pollution.

“Perhaps one day we will see the end of noisy, unpleasant highways carving up our cities, but for now they are still, unfortunately, a necessary evil – one you can see in Mumbai more than most cities,” says Stefan de Koning. 

One Green Mile enhances connections for pedestrians and cyclists to make the area more comfortable and accessible.

The landscape features include paving, bicycle paths, and bright, large-scale zebra crossings that enhance safety. 

“It improves accessibility with the incorporation of an uninterrupted mobility network and mobility hub to stimulate cycling,” MVRDV adds. 

“The area’s lighting concept works alongside programmatic elements and urban furniture features to make a recognizable place, and ensure safety around the clock,” the office continues.

MVRDV emphasizes that the project exemplifies a circular economy approach by utilizing the space underneath and the flyover itself increases in value.

In addition to transporting cars, it acquires a new purpose as a sheltered, occupied public space. 

Engineering features to store and filter monsoon water to irrigate One Green Mile’s extensive network of plants. With its focus on shaded and inclusive green public spaces, One Green Mile can easily be repeated elsewhere in the city. 

Project: One Green Mile
Architects: MVRDV and StudioPOD
Lead Architect: Winy Maas
Founding Partner In Charge: Jacob van Rijs
Partner: Stefan de Koning
Design Team: Ronald Hoogeveen, Valentina Chiappa Nuñez, Jose Manuel Garcia Garcia, and Prajakta Gawde
Landscape Architects: LA Enviroscape Landscape Design Contractor and A. Morton Thomas and Associates, Inc.
Public Art: St+Art
Client: Nucleus Office Park Pvt Ltd.
Photographers: Suleiman Merchant