Andhra Pradesh Assembly to be an iconic structure

AMARAVATI: It's a dream coming true. The new assembly building in the capital city of Amaravati will be a real structural marvel. Determined to make it a global iconic structure, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has made the master architect - Norman and Foster - of UK to prepare the designs with truly global standards. Experts say the structures will be a talk of the world.
"About 90 per cent of the work on the designs has been completed. The architect firm is giving the final touches to the designs following the suggestions made by the chief minister after going through the latest sketches," CRDA commissioner Sreedhar Cherukuri told TOI.
The assembly building structure has been segregated into three separate blocks. The assembly building and its secretariat will be in one block and the council building and its secretariat in another. The third block will consist of a massive central hall with a convention hall. All the three blocks will have nearly 4 lakh sft of space as against 1 lakh sft of space of the present assembly buildings. The access for general public will be allowed up to the central hall during the assembly session.
"All the four sides of the assembly and council halls will be fitted with transparent glass walls which make the proceedings transparent. The people can watch the entire session by sitting in the central hall," said another official involved in the process. This is considered to be the first legislature hall to have transparent walls in the world. In the age of streaming of live telecast of proceedings, there is no point in having meetings in the closed-door halls, the official said.
Another feature that stuns anyone who visits the new assembly, the structure will have a gigantic tower with air holes. The tower will be around 170-180 metres tall with a provision of access for visitors to the top of the tower. At the top block, a watch and view telescope will be fitted to enable people to have a bird's eye view of the city. "The top block can easily accommodate about 5,000 people," said Sreedhar.