Designing the Khalsa Heritage Museum is certainly one of the most challenging tasks in the history of museum design. The riches that this Museum can offer are immense. Its requirements fall only between being an archive and a pageant, to chronicle the triumph of the spirit of a people. The vision it offers the world and itself, can only be a crafting of the finest sensibility and aesthetic that convey both the incisive stand taken on behalf of Truth by the Gurus of this religion and the grandeur of its history. In evolving a design strategy and metaphor for this Museum, some of the many challenges before us are:

• How to be of relevance and interest to a very wide spectrum of audience who may be physically overing over a kilometre from the point of entry to the exit?

• How does the Museum / exhibits sustain the interest and inform an audience that covers Sikhs and non-Sikhs, the rural and the urban, the local to the global, from the non-literate to the scholar?

• Any historical narrative is at once linear as it is multi-layered. How can
  the design encapsulate the same spirit in a three-dimensional spatial experience?

• The story is about 500 years old, but the communication technology to be used to narrate it is the most contemporary. How do we seamlessly integrate state-of-the-art technology with the vernacular aesthetic in a manner that does not alienate but actually enhances the primacy of the message over the medium?

• The story to be told is deeply spiritual, passionate and emotional. The design therefore cannot be passive. How can we convey this spirit and also be informative?

• The content for inclusion constitutes a challenge to museum design that must ultimately consider the practical question of finite space within which infinity can be offered, and where there can only be these many recreations and dioramas for a visitor to meaningfully handle physically, mentally and emotionally. The important distinction to be kept in mind is that this is content for an exhibition, not a book. Connections in an exhibition have to be made by multiple layers, presented simultaneously, not in a linear fashion. Objects/artifacts in themselves will also not capture the story and its contexts, nor will images and text. The third dimension that fills space will also include sound, light, interpretive installations and other special effects to augment communication.

• Lastly the challenge posed by Moshe Safdie's architectural design. How does the museum's design resonate with the given architectural / spatial dimensions, so that a ! perfect harmony is achieved between space and content, the envelope and the message?

The core premise on which the design is based, is to create environments that transport the visitor into a different time and space, thereby enhancing their capacity to receive the intended communication / message.

The visitor to the Khalsa Heritage Museum it is hoped, will not only leave better informed, but will also be emotionally moved to contemplation. Most importantly, repeat visits must be encouraged, to discover a new facet, or a subtler nuance.

The layered communication strategy we propose is primarily at three levels. The first overview level is experiential, appealing to the widest range of visitors. The next level will permit the more enquiring mind to delve into contextual detail, what we call "windows" of discovery. The third level would facilitate those that seek greater explanatory depth / wider perspective — a History Wall that runs parallel to the main storytelling.

We invite the visitor to undertake this journey, not as a pilgrimage but a voyage of discovery.
 

• Foyer & Courtyards

• The covered triangular space, open on all sides is the nerve centre of arriving and departing visitors. In order to ensure that this space does not become a crowded bottleneck, the proposed design has created alternative spaces of interest in the courtyards on two sides. Covered steel shelters with seating facilities and video monitors have been designed to keep visitors occupied fruitfully as well as provide shelter from the elements and give access to salubrious views of the water body. This is for the large courtyard.
   

• For the smaller one, (approaching from the bridge) human scale fibre-glass manikins with embedded sound bytes give visitors interesting insights into "conversations" encapsulating the global spread of the Sikh Diaspora.

• In the foyer there is a centrally located Information Centre to guide visitors to various facilities and galleries etc. Large plasma screens on three sides orient visitors in 3 languages on how to view the museum, as also the introduction to the multi-image show in the Boat Building, which starts the museum experience.

• Multi-Image Show

• Visitors enter this space from the foyer at 321m level and traverse the ramps to reach the exit at 326.6m level. While they traverse this route, a state-of-the-art multi-image show with larger than life images, surround sound and special effects, bring the people and land of contemporary Punjab to life. Based on the concept of centring the show is visualised to the theme of "Naam Japo", "Kirt Karo" and "Wand Chakho". The concept of "centring" is essential to get visitors to mentally orient themselves and focus on a new experience, move from the familiar to the unfamiliar, leaving behind their immediate preoccupations. The show would be of about 7-8 minutes duration.

• The Milieu in which Guru Nanak is born
  
  From associations of the present, the viewer moves into an environment that encapsulates 15th Century Punjab. The design treatment here utilises semi-dioramas using images culled from period miniature paintings juxtaposed with three-dimensional scaled architectural features and representative objects that give visitors a sense of the period. Sound in select spaces illuminate the voices of change such as Kabir, Baba Farid etc. against the backdrop of the craft communities. The salient features of the socio-political and economic milieu are also presented and before the visitor exits the gallery, he/she is introduced to the presence of Guru Nanak.
  
  Installation: Guru Nanak's Concept of the "One"
  
  The spaces in the Drum Building (both at level 327.6m, ramping up to 330m, level and at 321m) hold the central philosophy of Sikhism. While the upper level encapsulates the spirit of Guru Nanak's Revelation and leads to the galleries on Guru Nanak, the lower level (the last gallery that the visitor sees in the Museum) utilises strands of the Ardaas in summation. However conceptually both spaces have been designed to relate to each other, a relationship that the visitor perceives only at the lower level, before exiting the Museum.
  
  This immense installation in the upper level is inspired by the concept of "Ek Omkar" and the 10 Nanaks. The visitor ascending the ramp to reach level 330m almost does a parikrama around the central installation. The sound of the Mul Mantra softly resonates within this space.
   

  Guru Nanak
  
  Two galleries have been devoted to the first Guru. In the first gallery the main metaphor are the tree, a symbol of the witness to time, around which Guru Nanak's early life is exhibited with Sultanpur as the location. A strong shaft of light recreates the event of the Revelation.
  
  The remaining gallery focuses on the Udasis through a range of created spaces in scale, which utilise technologies ranging from Peppers' Ghost to virtual dioramas.
   

  In the next gallery, the Udasis continue, leading upto Kartarpur and the Guru's teachings through the Babur Vani. Kartarpur is the conceptual location within which the principal Sikh institutions of congregational worship, langar, sangat and dharmsal as propagated by the Guru, are depicted. The central space in this gallery has been given over to the music and compositions of the Guru. Localised digital audio facilities will be custom designed for the purpose. The space uses the architectural provision of a central light shaft to imbue the space with a soft glow.
   

  Guru Angad & Guru Amar Das
  
  The central exhibit here is inspired by the Goindwal Baoli. Against this backdrop, the other content will unfold with the help of sound, visuals culled from period miniatures and other visual sources. Objects d'art that are representative of the period will be used to give the visitor a flavour of the times. The focus would however remain on the core teachings of the second and third Gurus.
   

  Guru Amar Das & Guru Ram Das
  
  The story of Guru Amar Das continues in the first part of this gallery where Baisakhi is used as a metaphor to signify the growing sangat. Lenticular screens and other special effects will inform the visitor on the establishment of Ramdaspur, the excavation of the sarovar and Diwali becomes a metaphor against which the story of Guru Ram Das unfolds.
   

  Guru Arjun Dev
  
  The central space here is occupied by a metaphorical recreation of the Harmandir Sahib which has been designed using brocaded textiles 'windows' through which shafts of light converge in the centre signify the presence of the Adi Granth. The visitor leaves the Petal Building at 330m level with the execution of the Fifth Guru at Jahangir's behest.
   

  A History Wall runs parallel to the main exhibits throughout the Museum, from Guru Nanak till the Prelude to Partition as a spine that provides information in 3 main categories: Significant and relevant events in the History of Punjab, the History of India and the History of the World. The History wall too has been visualised in a manner that affords interactivity, transcending linguistic/literacy barriers to the extent possible.
   

• Installation: Guru Arjun Dev's Martyrdom
  
  Situated on the terrace of the Triangle Building and as a transition space between the Petal and the Crescent Building, this installation has been designed to commemorate the martyrdom of the Fifth Guru. A pyramid of glass, whose base is made of perforated copper sheets through which heat emanates, water cascading down the glass surfaces to suggest the contrast of coolness and serenity. The pyramid apex is crystalline and catches and reflects the light of the sun. Visitors would be encouraged to go around this installation in a contemplative mood.

• Installation: Miri-Piri
  
  The twin principles of spirituality and temporality are manifest in this steel installation of the twin swords, which the Sixth Guru is associated with.
   

• Guru Hargobind, Guru Har Rai &Guru Harkrishan
  
  The Akal Takht forms one of the main exhibits in this space, juxtaposed in the same orientation as it is with the Harmandir Sahib. Taking largely from miniatures spaces have been created that communicated the changing vistas associated with the three Gurus in this section.

• Guru Teg Bahadur & Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1688)
  
  A key exhibit that informs this space is the installation depicting the significance of the martyrdom of Guru Teg Bahadur. This installation made of sheets of broken glass on a raised platform, culminates in a steel frame, which is sliced to signify both the determination of the Guru and the actual act of execution. The glass sheets would have etched text of the Guru's compositions on Shahidi. Cyclic changes in colour and the appearance of thunder and lightning would hark to the circumstances of his martyrdom. Custom made woven textiles take the visitor through the missionary travels of the 9th Guru.
  
  The focus of the exhibits on Guru Gobind Singh is the Guru's Paonta years, the literary activities there and the Battle of Bhangani. Steel is used in various innovative ways as surface, texture and form to communicate the Guru's idea of Sarbh Loh.
   

  Guru Gobind Singh (1689-1704)
  
  Visualised as a narrative image and special effects show, visitors to this gallery are taken through the Guru's Anandpur years. Using projected film, miniatures enlarged to fit specific events in the story, the highlight of this show are the circumstances leading to the Birth of the Khalsa. This event is treated with 3D hologram of the khanda, lighting effects to recreate the narrative of ape gur chela, leading upto the revealing of a steel Nishan Sahib. The narrative continues thereafter with the events upto the siege of Anandpur.
   

  Guru Gobind Singh (1704-1708)
  
  The narrative continues from the earlier gallery. However, here the treatment is through shadow play creating larger than life imagery of the battles of the Guru at Chamkaur and Mukhtasar, the martyrdom of the sahibzadas etc. The visitor leaves the show, which leads him to the Zafarnama and the Guru last years at Nanded, ending with his interactions with Banda Bahadur and his appointing the Guru Granth Sahib and the Guru Panth as his successor.
   

• Installation: Guru Granth Sahib & Guru Panth
  
  As the visitor ramps down to level 324, he/she becomes a part of this installation. This installation is a tensile flower-like structure made of gold and silver fibre such as lycra, formed to appear like it is receiving divine light from the light shaft overhead. The walls of the ramp have sculptural relief in full scale of the Guru Panth. At the base, a gold embroidered backlit wall would have quotations such as "Guru Manyo Granth", etc. Seating designed in sculptural form allows the visitor to spend some time here in rest and contemplation.
  
  Overall, the design treatment for all sections dealing with the Gurus, are at a more spiritual and hence abstract level. Therefore, it takes minimal recourse to literal depiction of the events in the times of the Gurus.
  
  However, from Banda Bahadur onwards the design treatment is more illustrative, enhancing the emotive content. If we may consider level 330 to be informed by the spirit of the Mul Mantra, then the spirit of the Ardaas informs the subsequent level.

• Banda Bahadur
  
  Primarily using illustrations, part recreations, images culled from period paintings, objects such as coins/seals and armaments, this section brings out the valour of the people in this period marking their efforts to realise sovereign rule. Ending with his capture and execution the persecution of the Sikhs becomes the leitmotif of this gallery and the next.

• Towards Sovereign Rule (1716-1765)
  
  This section has a series of specially created environments that simulate the key events in Sikh history of this period, ranging from persecution in the hands of the Mughals to the desecration of the Harmandir Sahib, the two Ghallugharas and the rise of the Misl chiefs. Some of the key exhibits in this space include the Forest of Spears (nezon ki chaon mein); the instruments of torture as mentioned in the Ardaas wherein the visitor can get a close idea of what the Sikhs may have actually experienced; the Shahidi installation at the very tip of the space, with its base and outer form in wood and its core in steel, capturing the Khalsa spirit. The positioning of this installation makes the visitor realise its co-relation to the teachings of Guru Gobind Singh as the steel core soars through the two levels to almost reach for infinity. The section ends with Sikh sovereign rule in which many of the key gurdwaras are built. It leads on through the Sukerchakia Misl to the early years of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
   

  A Sovereign State — Maharaja Ranjit Singh
  
  The visitor enters this section through a simulation of the Alamgir Gate signifying Ranjit Singh's entry into Lahore. The focus in this section is on unification, consolidation and expansion of the Sikh Empire. Using tents as a structural metaphor for the various military activities, artefacts devoted to military regalia in the Maharaja's times, the ambience is that of opulence with military prowess. In a recreated court scenario, key members of his court are placed in life size manikins, around a full size replica of his throne. Focus lights and sound bytes tell visitors about these personalities. Amidst displays of textiles such as the Kashmir shawl, Ranjit Singh, the aesthete is revealed to the visitors. A highlight of this section is a virtual walkthrough of the Harmandir Sahib, revealing details of the decorations effected under Ranjit Singh.
   

  In Defence of Sovereignty A Revitalisation of the Khalsa Tradition
  
  The first part of this gallery is presented within a maze-like structure to suggest the immediate situation after Ranjit Singh's death. With British presence becoming more visible, as a backdrop, the role of the Durbar and the Khalsa Army is shown, eventually leading to the Anglo-Sikh Wars. The Wars have been depicted in a sound & light walkthrough, which captures the situations the Khalsa Army finds itself in. The Khalsa bravery and spirit is captured through the words of the British soldiers, poignantly bringing to the fore the tragedy that led to the annexation of the Punjab.
  
  In the second part of the gallery, growing Christian proselytisation demands that the Khalsa identity is reaffirmed. The exhibits here are of the Nirankari & Namdhari Movements against the backdrop of the British context. This gallery culminates with the Singh Sabha, which has been visualised within a university library-like space to signify the literary activities of the period and the Sabha's emphasis on education. Windows look out to specific events such in the period in which the Singh Sabha has a significant role. Computer multimedia programmes permit the more academically inclined to browse through the material generated in this time.
   

  Gurdwara Reform Movement & Politics - Nationalist & Sikh
  
  This gallery commences with an exhibit on the Rakabganj episode. Thereafter each event, such as Babe di Ber, the Nankana Sahib massacre, etc. has been given a separate space. Within this context the establishment of SGPC and the Shiromani Akali Dal is portrayed. This part of the section culminates in the Ragi Jathas of the Jaito Movement in which the design treatment transitions from two to three dimensional representation accompanied by bold and evocative graphics.
  
  The jail becomes the metaphor for the depiction of movements such as the Babbar Akalis and the Naujavan Bharat Sabha and the death of Bhagat Singh.
  
  Constricted space is the key design metaphor, be it the jail or the political scenario in which Sikh politics of the freedom struggle are overlapped by national politics of the period. The idea is to gradually build up the sense of being cramped by events that become the prelude to Partition.
   

• Saga of Courage
  
  This section, at the initiative of the museum designers is essentially a photographic exhibit of the legendary courage shown by the Sikh soldiers in the World Wars.

• Prelude to Partition
  
  The key national events in which the Sikhs find themselves involved are depicted here primarily through archival newsreels and press photographs. The officious looking columns that punctuate each key event provide a sense of the overarching British administrative presence. The sections ends with the Boundary Commission, which has an interactive relief map of the subcontinent, through visitors, can examine the various options explored for dividing the nation.
   

• Partition
  
  Two broken walls mark the entry to the section. Echoing with the Freedom at Midnight speech of Nehru and the speech of Jinnah. Thereafter the visitor enters a corridor-like space. On one side are images of kafilas using lenticular screens to show movement in both directions. On the other is the simulation of a railway bogie in the foreground and using the windows provided by the architecture to be that of the train, plasma screens show the countryside that is being left behind. The corridor leads to an open space, which is a scene of utter devastation, signifying communal violence and destruction to people and property. A key metaphor that recurs is that of the empty platform with a track going into infinity. Graphics will provide official data related to Partition.
   

  This section leads to the border at Wagah from which the visitor moves into the gallery on Rehabilitation, while the other side metaphorically leads to Pakistan. Images of those things dear to the Sikh imagination will be portrayed here, a reminder of what was left behind.
   

  The Rehabilitation section uses the refugee camp as a metaphor to recount stories of families separated due to Partition, while it leads to the spirit of optimism that led the Sikhs to rebuild their lives from scratch. The treatment for this part is upbeat, with backlit panels and cuboid structures to suggest reconstruction.
   

• New Beginnings
  
  A video wall is the only exhibit here. Through a multi-image show, it captures the Sikh spirit of entrepreneurship, resilience and bravery and how this spirit transformed the Punjab. On the other side are the 5 Takhts juxtaposed against the backdrop of Nankana Sahib, reminding the visitor at once of what they have and what they left behind spiritually.

• Summation
  
  This last section is for the visitor to quietly take stock of what they have experienced and the message they have received from Sikh Heritage. Visualised as a space to encourage quiet contemplation, the strong image is that of the shaft that the visitor now recognises as coming from the space they have seen earlier. The steps lead to a water body with gently cascading water from the walls. Strains of the Ardaas informs this space in which the presence of the Gurus envelops the visitor. The last message, that the visitor leaves with, that is relevant universally to our contemporary lives is "Nanak Naam chardi kala, tere bhane sarbat da bhala" in as many scripts of the world as possible, projected in white gently moving lights.