A visit to Mahabalipuram is a journey into time, reminiscent of the past glories and religious fervor. The sound of the stone carvers chipping away incessantly in their shops takes you back to the heady days of the old. Mahabalipuram is an archive, an amalgamation of myths, legends and history that is still being discovered. Until today, one hopes that someday we will see all the seven temples on the beaches of Mahabalipuram restored to their pristine glory, once again welcoming visitors to this ancient temple port.

Mahabalipuram is ‘Timeless’, a place that is still being uncovered. The core intent of this thesis is to re-establish the historical memory and identity of Mahabalipuram through a cultural port. The concept is to create a journey of unfolding perspectives and stories by creating a series of pauses in between the various group of monuments before culminating at the seventh temple (shore temple) and the ocean. Taking the essence of the historic structures, the design establishes a relationship between the cave and the horizon where one would catch glimpses of the horizon and the water from the cave below. Recreating the myth of the ‘Seven Submerged temples’, one would move vertically from the cave through the temples and the mound to catch sight of the shore temple. The culmination would be exploratory, reaching for the horizon and the void of the ocean and the lost temples.