An EPC based design competition was invited by the Karnal Smart City Mission and on behalf of UPRNN, D Idea Architects prepared the design proposal for the development on 1.7 Km long stretch of the historic Mughal Canal Phase II & III. An elevated public realm was proposed along the entire length on this canal, accessible through lifts, staircases, and escalators at certain distances. Along this the city will get multilevel commercial space on one side of this canal, which would offset the development cost and the covered canal would be used as car parking.

Karnal has an important part in the mythological history of our country and it is believed that the eldest Pandav Karna founded this city at the time of the Mahabharat. The city has a historic lake called the Karna lake where it is believed that Karna gave away his protective armour to Indra, the Godfather of Arjuna, Karna‘s arch-enemy.

Our design concept was thus inspired from the life of the city’s famous founder Karna and takes references from important events in his life as mentioned in the Mahabharat. The 1.7 km stretch was divided in 5 parts, each part developed to accentuate 5 particular events of Karna’s Life- his Birth, the Three Curses, his Meeting with Duryodhana, Daan(donation) of his Kawach and Kundaland the 18-day Mahabharat war.The landscape of each zone reflects this in the design theme, the materiality, planting, art installations, geometry and the functions proposed.

The plaza accommodates shops, play areas, yoga gardens, amphitheatre, musical fountains and water bodies. There are walkways and cycle tracks to encourage the city residents to opt for a healthy lifestyle. Smart solutions for power management, solid waste management, sewage treatment and crowd management with system like BMS, sensor-based waste collection bins, solar power, centralised command centre, CCTV, smart lighting, signages and wetland based STP were proposed as a part of this design proposal.