Makers of Bharat Mandapam, Gujarat's Dandi Kutir bag Yuge Yugeen bid, LOI awaited

New Delhi-based ARCOP Associates, the architectural firm that designed Bharat Mandapam — the venue of India’s G20 Summit Presidency in 2023 — has won the bid for the prestigious Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum, billed as the largest museum in the world.

ARCOP was also the interior design consultant for EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) Agency Larsen & Toubro India which worked on Yashobhoomi Exhibition and Convention Centre in New Delhi's Dwarka. Spanish firm IDOM shaped the conceptual framework.

Earlier, ARCOP had designed the Mahatma Mandir Museum named Dandi Kutir in Gandhinagar to celebrate the life and ideology of Mahatma Gandhi and his principles of social justice, non-violence and satyagraha. The project was completed in record time of seven months and inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi in 2015.

ARCOP’s past experience with Dandi Kutir is said to have strengthened its bid for Yuge Yugeen project.

For the project bid, the government had mandated a consortium with the presence of international partners.

The successful technical bid was thus made by ARCOP Associates and five international players, including Thailand born architect-designer Kulapat Yantrasast, Creative Director at WHY, a multidisciplinary design practice based out of Los Angeles.

The Union Ministry of Culture is in the process of issuing a letter of intent to ARCOP Associates. The project, to be built in the heritage North and South Block Buildings overlooking the Rashtrapati Bhavan, will be challenging for any architectural consortium for its sheer scale.

"The most challenging part will be preservation of the colonial era heritage building and its marriage with the Indian design elements. The brief to designers is to capture the timelessness of Indian civilization and its prowess in the fields of science, math, architecture, medicine and culture," said official sources.

The government is hoping for the 2027 deadline to open the first segment of the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum.

At present the design estimates eight verticals including Architecture, Crafts and art of India and Evolution of Indian architecture but this could change.

Asked about costs, official sources said the bids for Yuge Yugeen Museum were invited based on the quality and cost based selection criteria.

This criteria balances a bidder's technical capabilities (quality) with their financial proposal (cost) to determine the most suitable supplier for a project. Technical proposals are evaluated for factors like experience and methodology, while the financial proposal is assessed for its quoted price.

ARCOP Associates consortium beat four competitors for the bid.

What have ARCOP Associates built in India

* Bharat Mandapam New Delhi (Principal architects)

* Dandi Kutir Gandhinagar (Principal architects)

* Yashobhoomi Dwarka: (Design execution consultants)

* Architects -- IIMs at Amritsar, IIM Kashipur campus, IIM Raipur campus, IIM Visakhapatnam, IIT Hyderabad campus, IIT Indore campus