Saifabad Mint Museum

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The 119-year-old Royal Mint, established by the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to introduce machine-made coins among the princely states of India. A part of the mint was restored and converted into a museum to showcase the coinage and currency heritage of the historic city.

India Government Mint, Hyderabad (IGMH), a unit of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), is one of the four Mints engaged in manufacturing and supplying coins to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for circulation. While the present mint was started in 1997 at Cherlapally with modern machinery, the first mint was started in Saifabad in 1903 in the Nizam period.

The mint compound, as known in Hyderabad was open to the public as part of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ programme of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of India’s independence.

Year 2022

Client India Government Mint, Hyderabad

Discipline Exhibition design, Brand identity

Sector Arts & Culture, Design and Architecture

Team

Convener - Anuradha Reddy, INTACH Hyderabad
Design Critic - Pingali Naga Praveen
Documentation - Punna Nithish
Preliminary Documentation - Pravani Pagadala

Pre-Visualization - Gupally Manish Anand

Structural Consultant - SP Anchuri
Building Conservation and Restoration - Mir Khan, Deccan Terrain

Furniture Conservation - Ibaadulah Khan

Furniture Manufacturing - Raavela Interiors
Civil Consultant - Upender Bejjanki
Civil Contractor - Prasangi

Flooring Contractor - Ravi Kumar

Electrical Contractor - Mir Khan

Electrical Coordinator - Shailesh Kumar Awachat

Electrical Supervisor - Ram Mohan

Operations - Ambarish Kumar Karre

Bullion - Shivarama Krishna
Maintenance - Murali
Fabrication - Nayeemuddin
Copywriting and Content Development - Srikanth Mettu
Proof Reading - Tanaji Ramdas Shivalikar

Graphics Production - Jagadeesh Rao

Labelling - Santosh Mekala
Translation - Visal V Prabhu
Marketing and Merchandise - S Kavitha

The visual identity was evolved from the profiles of the machine-made coins and its geometric play inspired by the motifs of the Nizam period. The intention was to create a design that brings back the nostalgia of coinage, and the result was an identity based on the association of existing elements of the significant past rather than being entirely new.

In search of something modern and human yet retaining the sense of India, Kohinoor by Indian Type Foundry was opted for. This typeface is based on the proportions of Indian glyphs and supports major Indian regional languages.

Pantone 136 C was chosen as the identity colour as the monetary system of Golkonda remained firmly based on gold and the yellow cloth symbolism of Nizam's flag.

Selecting which part of the mint compound to activate spatially was critical in the design process. The east entrance opens to a narrow linear passage of 96’, and this pocket was ideal as it connects with the main access road. The other sections in the mint were isolated and had fixed heavy minting machinery, which made them unsuitable for the intervention.

A linear trigger was devised to activate the mint compound with a gallery as its function. A double-loaded numismatic gallery containing displays on both surfaces was appropriate for the intervention based on the requirements.

The restoration of lime plaster involves removing deteriorated plaster, applying fresh lime plaster and finishing with Lime Cebara or Ceh-bara.

The gallery space needed display units to showcase its exhibits, and making new units for such was not sustainable. Old furniture units from the mint compound were restored with minimal alterations and were used as display units for the gallery.

The selected pocket's width was 15', which can lead to circulation issues if transformed into a gallery. It was resolved by designing the movement based on the frequency at which the panels and the exhibits are displayed.

Heatmaps were generated using an AI developed by Zyro and the colour relations and proportions of the heatmap were analyzed using the computation model developed by Jégou from Université de Toulouse.

The wall surface had a series of existing protrusions made of metal L sections, and these were used to develop a detail with cable trays to hold the track lights and to hang the foam display panels. The lime restoration was done till 10' from the finished floor level, and above 10', the walls were treated with lime paint. This created two sections in the wall; finished and unfinished.

A continuous wooden strip was added separating the finished and the unfinished lime plaster and this added definition and scaled down the verticality of the gallery space.

The display panels are conventionally done with orthogonal grids and layouts, and to break this notion, a grid system based on the geometry of the coinage was developed.

Coins are intricate objects, and their details are often unnoticed and unappreciated. Panels were generated addressing this to showcase the coin's sophisticated details with enlarged layouts and macro photographs.

Existing and conventional coin cabinets hold the coins resting upon a solid background which showcases only a single side of the coin and requires an additional coin to view the other side. The rare old coins pose difficulty for the museum curator to arrange two pieces of the same coin so that the visitor can view both sides properly.

To resolve this, a coin cabinet was developed with a reflective mirror at the base with a series of glass steps floating above it. The mirror is configured to reflect the reverse face, thus showcasing both the obverse and reverse faces of a coin. (pat. pend.)

Signages developed for the museum used the form and the proportions of the machine-cut coins to create a cohesive look. The printed currency of the Nizam period had its value mentioned in four languages, which influenced the design of the museum handout with descriptions about the existence of the mint and its significance in English, Hindi, Telugu, and Urdu.