Dr. Zama M.S. is the Founder and Managing Director of Starneth India. He leads the company's strategy, partnerships and accountable delivery of landmark observation-wheel projects in India.
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Ahmedabad Eye
Riverfront Civic Frame
A Sabarmati riverfront wheel carried by twin concrete pylons above a terracotta stepped civic court.
Concept. Design direction, not a committed project
Concept visualization. Every design direction on this page remains a concept until site, engineering, wind, geotechnical, aviation, coastal, environmental, heritage and authority studies are completed.
The city
Where it sits, and what it is read against.
Ahmedabad has an unusually complete architectural record, from stepwells that address heat through depth to dense pol housing with carved screens and shared courts. The city also has a significant body of twentieth-century modernism and a long riverfront rebuilt as public space. Textiles, printing and block work reflect its culture of craft and enterprise, while the annual kite season turns the sky into public realm. Summer heat is severe and dry.
Concept motifs
- Stepwell section
- Pol screen
- Woven band
- Tensile canopy
- Terrace market
- Sandstone
- Indigo
- Turmeric gold
- Terracotta
- White
- River blue
Cultural research
Every source below changed something in the design.
Cultural material is used here as design logic: geometry, proportion, circulation, material and climate response: never as applied surface decoration. No temple, mosque, monument, government building or sacred object is copied, and no religious imagery appears on capsules, tickets, merchandise or commercial space.
- Sabarmati Riverfront
- Supplied the two-level public realm: an upper promenade and a lower water-edge terrace, which the concept extends into the site rather than replacing.
- Stepwell geometry
- Is the structural and spatial idea. The boarding sequence descends through terraces into a cool, shaded court before the visitor rises again in the wheel: the whole destination is organised around that descent.
- Pol-house screens
- Gave the lattice logic for the terrace edges, the pavilion walls and the capsule ceilings: a fine, repeated, shade-casting screen at the scale of a hand rather than a building.
- Gujarati textiles
- Set the pattern language as weave rather than print: bands crossing bands. It appears in the rim banding, the screen density gradients and the lighting.
- Kite culture
- Generated the canopy family: lightweight tensile shades that move with the wind and are read from above as well as from below. They are shading devices, not kite-shaped decorations.
- Modernist architectural heritage
- Set the material honesty: exposed structure, plain brick and concrete, and no applied finish pretending to be something else.
- Craft and entrepreneurship
- Made market and workshop space a programme requirement rather than an afterthought, sited on the terraces where it is visible from the promenade.
Design direction
Riverfront Civic Frame
Ahmedabad Eye uses two tapered concrete pylons and a steel axle crosshead instead of the standard triangular wheel frame.
Short rear stabilising legs complete the support system while keeping the front elevation open toward the stepped public court.
Terracotta terraces, deep colonnades, water channels and heat-tolerant planting turn stepwell principles into environmental performance.
A separate temporary screen may show an authorised civic address by Narendra Modi. It is event infrastructure, not permanent wheel architecture, and requires image rights and approvals.
How the wheel stands up
- Two tapered reinforced-concrete pylons carry the steel axle crosshead, with short rear stabilisers and independent foundations.
- A deep trussed rim and straight radial cables support thirty enclosed cabins.
- The terminal and stepped public court remain structurally separate from the wheel foundations.
- Concept only. Wind, seismic, geotechnical, flood, aviation and riverfront approvals govern the final design.
Station architecture
- A low, shaded riverfront terminal with deep roof edges, open courts and clearly separated ticketing, queue, boarding and exit routes.
- Stepwell-inspired environmental logic is expressed through shade, thermal mass and water, not through an excavated boarding pit.
- Perforated metal and local masonry screens provide solar control while preserving supervision and wayfinding.
- The temporary civic media screen remains physically and operationally separate from ride safety systems.
Capsule and visitor experience
- Woven-pattern interior screens at the ceiling, with indigo and turmeric accents against plain surfaces.
- Heavy solar control: this is the hottest, driest capsule brief in the platform, and glare is the governing comfort issue.
- A clear floor and a fixed rail, so the capsule works for a family group as well as for a couple.
- Level boarding at the lowest terrace, at a designated position in every rotation set.
Lighting identity
- Warm white light traces the rim and cabin thresholds at low intensity.
- Pavilion screens cast a restrained woven pattern onto the ground without animated spectacle.
- Any temporary civic screen is dark outside authorised programming and never carries party branding or an endorsement claim.
Landscape and public realm
- Terraced planting stepping down to the water, using species that tolerate heat, drought and a seasonal river edge.
- Every terrace has shade before it has planting, and shade before it has seating.
- The lowest court forms a cool, shaded space with planting and water. It remains open to the public without a ticket.
Commercial activation
- A craft and market edge along the middle terrace, visible from the promenade above.
- Food on the upper terrace with river views, separated from the queue.
- Event terraces that can be booked without closing the public descent.
- Workshop space for makers, because craft here is a live economy rather than a heritage theme.
Visitor journey
Arrival to return, in six moves.
- 01PromenadeArrival at the top level, with the whole descent visible below.
- 02DescentDown through terraces, past the market edge, under the canopies.
- 03CourtInto the shaded court at the lowest level: the cool point of the site.
- 04BoardingLevel boarding from the court, at the bottom of the section.
- 05RotationRising out of the excavation, then the river, then the city.
- 06ReturnBack up a separate stair and ramp to the promenade.
Climate response
- Severe dry heat governs everything. The section exists to put people below grade and in shade.
- Canopies are sized for wind as well as for sun, because a tensile shade in a hot dry city is also a wind structure.
- The lowest court is designed as a cool sink with evaporative planting, not as a basement.
Sustainability approach
- Passive cooling by section: depth, shade and mass before any mechanical system.
- Excavated material reused in the terrace construction rather than removed from site.
- Drought-tolerant, regionally native planting; no irrigated ornamental lawn.
Accessibility approach
- A continuous accessible descent: ramp and lift reach every terrace, including the lowest court.
- No terrace is reachable only by stair, and no accessible route is longer than the stair route by more than one terrace.
- Level boarding at a designated capsule position in every rotation set.
- Rest points and shade on every terrace, because the section itself is the effort here.
Mobility connections
- Arrival from the existing riverfront promenade rather than from a dedicated car park.
- Set-down at the upper level only, so the descent stays pedestrian.
- Intended to link to the riverfront cycle route at promenade level.
Concept gallery
Ahmedabad Eye: concept visualizations
Concept visualization. Every design direction on this page remains a concept until site, engineering, wind, geotechnical, aviation, coastal, environmental, heritage and authority studies are completed.
Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Destination overviewCanopies are read from above as well as from below. Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Blue hourWoven radial bands: the weave stays legible at night. Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Boarding pavilionTicketing above, queue in the middle, boarding at the bottom. Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Capsule and visitor experienceSolar control first: glare is the governing comfort issue. Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Structural detailCrossing bands rather than single radial lines. Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Public realmThe lowest court is public, shaded and free.
Leadership / Ahmedabad Eye
Leadership and project partners
Company accountability, with local responsibility.
Starneth India leadership applies across the platform. Local partners are credited only on the project where they hold a confirmed role.
Local partners will be added here only after their project role and publication approval are confirmed.
Project status
Concept. Design direction, not a committed project
Ahmedabad Eye is a design direction. There is no award, contract, financing, concession, approval or construction start associated with it, and nothing on this page should be read as one. Each city project would be structured, financed and contracted independently.
Concept last reviewed 2026-09-06.
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