The Senapati Bapat Marg flyover is part of a series of major roads that extend for over 11 kilometres through the heart of Mumbai, generating significant noise pollution and creating a barrier between neighbouring areas that limits options for mobility. With the objective of enhancing 1,800 metres of streetscape and transportation systems along Senapati Bapat Marg, Nucleus Office Parks appointed Mumbai-based StudioPOD as the urban design and master planning lead for One Green Mile. For the most transformative part of this scheme, in a 200-metre-long unused space beneath the flyover structure itself known as Parel Baug, they invited MVRDV 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 developed the initial ideas & programming for this space. Then, working in tandem with StudioPOD, MVRDV 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.

“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 MVRDV partner Stefan de Koning. “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.”