Festival Marketplaces- A brief background
Text: Zarminae Ansari
Visuals: Courtesy Zarminae Ansari & Port Grand Authorities
Karachi’s waterfront festival marketplace
The Port Grand Food and Entertainment Complex opened at the end of 2010, to much fanfare, inspiring great optimism in the midst of the violence that plagues the city. It was, and is, a rarity: an adaptive reuse project on a historic 1,400 ft bridge, creating a 200,000 square foot waterfront development in old Karachi. Known commonly as “netty jetty” (Native Jetty), the area of the Old Napier Mole Bridge was used to dump garbage, and was frequented by junkies. Shahid Firoz, the CEO of the project, intended the project to be a catalyst to “…revive the culture and traditions of old Karachi”[1]. Its much-photographed highlight is not just the view of Karachi Port and the occasional cargo train rattling past to the delight of children, but an awe-inspiring 150-year old Banyan tree skillfully lit at the entrance of Napier’s Tavern- an exclusive club-restaurant built using material from the old bridge.
The website of the project still uses the original 3D renderings rather than actual photographs of the built reality, which clearly express the original intent. Balloons, fireworks, and throngs of people: a “festival marketplace”. Indeed, many visitors to the development have pointed out the similarity to other famous waterfront marketplaces in North America, an idea that was most popular in the
Seventies and captured the imagination of town administrators as the great answer to revitalizing downtowns and waterfronts.
Visuals: Courtesy Zarminae Ansari & Port Grand Authorities
Karachi’s waterfront festival marketplace
The Port Grand Food and Entertainment Complex opened at the end of 2010, to much fanfare, inspiring great optimism in the midst of the violence that plagues the city. It was, and is, a rarity: an adaptive reuse project on a historic 1,400 ft bridge, creating a 200,000 square foot waterfront development in old Karachi. Known commonly as “netty jetty” (Native Jetty), the area of the Old Napier Mole Bridge was used to dump garbage, and was frequented by junkies. Shahid Firoz, the CEO of the project, intended the project to be a catalyst to “…revive the culture and traditions of old Karachi”[1]. Its much-photographed highlight is not just the view of Karachi Port and the occasional cargo train rattling past to the delight of children, but an awe-inspiring 150-year old Banyan tree skillfully lit at the entrance of Napier’s Tavern- an exclusive club-restaurant built using material from the old bridge.
The website of the project still uses the original 3D renderings rather than actual photographs of the built reality, which clearly express the original intent. Balloons, fireworks, and throngs of people: a “festival marketplace”. Indeed, many visitors to the development have pointed out the similarity to other famous waterfront marketplaces in North America, an idea that was most popular in the
Seventies and captured the imagination of town administrators as the great answer to revitalizing downtowns and waterfronts.
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