Sept. 1: Twenty-two years after the curtain rose on Madhusudan Mancha, the auditorium next to Dakshinapan shopping complex, the 30,000 sq ft foyer in front of it is in the midst of a makeover.

"We are paying tribute to the poet after whom the auditorium has been named. He came back to Bengal after seeing the world, so our design scheme is focused on the emotion of a return to roots," said Abhishek Dutta, architect of Inscape Design Studio which is handling the project.

Exposed concrete has been used for the boundary wall which has Dnarao pathikbar, the opening words of Michael Madhusudan Dutt's self-composed epitaph, embossed on it. Next to it is the name of the auditorium. "Though a special font has been used for the quoted words, we have retained the font used on the auditorium facade to give it a uniform look," said Sujoy Das, the landscape architect of the studio.

A ticket counter has been built on the main road. Earlier, it was in the alley adjacent to the auditorium building.

For the walls of the counter and a guard room by the gate as well as the inner side of the boundary walls, exposed bricks are being used. "These days the trend is to use artificial brick cladding over a conventionally finished wall to bring that look. But we have deliberately kept it traditional by training the masons in bonding of bricks to bring the visual effect of a pattern," Das said.

To retain the natural look, instead of tiles, Kota stones are being used on the ground inside. "We are laying the stones alternately facing upward and downward. This way the colour variation will be natural," Dutta pointed out.

The wall inside will be camouflaged from view by greenery. A grassy mound will gradually rise to a certain height on which half a dozen frangipanis will be planted.

The steep ramp to the auditorium has been extended, making the slope conform to international standards.

Visitors will encounter a graphically digitised face of the poet in metal attached to a side wall of the entrance. "It is inspired by Madhusudan's bust inside the hall," Dutta said.

"We hope to complete by mid-November," said Tanmoy Das, the PWD executive engineer supervising the project.

But an eyesore is coming up next door in the form of a building for the panchayat and rural development department to which the adjacent plot belongs. It will block a view of the auditorium from the side. "We are helpless. Our only suggestion is a high wall with similar design elements to screen the construction as far as possible," the architects said.