Vanagaram Fish Market: Some small alterations which would have made this place even better.

Hi All,

Have been a frequent visitor to this Vanagaram fish market off late, after we shifted our residence to Nerkundrum, a locality next to Koyambedu. I was not the type of guy who visited the market for non-veg items, mostly it was my brothers or my father when ever it was possible. But you know you get married and then you need to do things you have not done before and in this list was added going to market. I think this is a positive change. The main reasons of not venturing to buy non-veg items was because of the kind of place you go to buy stuff. The Markets. It is a very bad sight and it will be filled with garbage and filth every where, which i could not handle. One more reason was I could not identify the different types of fishes, anyways this has not changed yet, but i still try to buy fish from market hoping the fish i get is the one i intended to get.This is not the topic i want to discuss, it is something different, it is about the design, planning and architecture of this market.

Before visiting this market for the first time, i was expecting something very dingy and badly maintained structure which i might not visit again. But to my surprise this place was not a bad place at all. I am sure about it. Considering some very bad govt. facilities (badly designed and badly maintained) i had visited in the past like hospitals, markets etc., this one was quite good in comparison to others which i have seen before. I would say the design of this facility, which was simple, was appreciable. But then we architects are not satisfied with even the best and my heart said cant it be even better.

Before going into the details of plan and the market structure i would like to comment on siting and location of this market, which could have been better thought off. This market is located on a an access road which will be hardly 30 feet wide of the Chennai Bangalore high road after Vanagaram Signal (about half a Kilometer from main road). This placement of market at this narrow road is something which irks me whenever i go there. Thousands of people coming to the market daily and even more during weekends have to fight out with 100s of large lorries bringing fish to the market to reach the market on this narrow road. This road also becomes a kind of market on weekends with all kinds of goods like fresh from farm vegetables, small wooden furniture, T-shirts etc., being sold by different hawkers. These kind of informal setting add an experience to the place but at the same time make this narrow road even more congested.Though these vendors are not legal and should not be sitting there, ours is an country where this sight is more common and anywhere there is crowd we get to see these informal shops springing up. All the above factors should have been considered by the authorities and the location of this market should have been either on high way or near highway rather than on a small road.

Here i would like to appreciate the present management of this market, who take every effort to avoid problems for people by diverting traffic and guiding the people near the entrance of the market without which it wouldn't be even possible to enter this place.

With in the site the building is placed on one edge with a very minimum setback. Had this building been placed in the center, with one side dedicated to the container lorries and the other side dedicated to the public would have eased many a problem. Also two entries for two different purposes would have helped as against the only bottle neck at present site.

At the building level also some small changes will help. The following are two cut sections of the market, showing the existing and a proposed idea by me with a small change. This change may help in the place getting better.

One of the major problems i feel within the market is mixing of people (customers) and staff who bring fish in large thermacol boxes to different counters inside the market. This causes a major problem as water drips from all the boxes on to the floor and above all the customers.This water keeps the floor in a very slippery and unhealthy condition. Not only this, therrmacol boxes that are filled with fish are quite heavy to lift and people lifting have to make the shortest and quickest way as they have heavy load on their head because of which they need push through the public and make their own way. Another problem is this structure could be better ventilated considering the crowd. So i just though within the same dimensions (in width) if we segregate the shoppers and staff by providing separate paths for both, a lot of clutter will reduce. So the proposed section has a dedicated Aisle in the middle for circulation of public and two separate paths on two sides of the building allowing only the workers. This path, as will be at a higher level can be made to easily access by a small ramp at the ends of the building. Also bigger openings with grills will help in bringing in more light and ventilation inside the market.

A schematic plan shows how the said change of segregation will help in having a better working condition for the laborers and better shopping condition for fish buyers.  

Some of the pictures of the market taken both during times of heavy crowd and off time when there is no crowd.

After seeing some of the photos you may feel that this place is not crowded. Actually, its a very very crowded place on weekends and i did not have the guts to venture into this market at that time to take photographs. Its literally not possible. So photographs are of the times when there was lesser crowd.

On the overall i would say this market is a well designed one, only if authorities had taken care of everyone in a more detailed way this could have been better. Regarding fish... if you are interested in that i think you get most of the fishes found in other places in Chennai and according to me the cost is also cheaper than other places. 

Hope you enjoyed reading...

ENJOY !!!!

Muzakkir G. M. Bijli