Becoming Urban :
Towards and agenda for research on architecture from South Asia (2018)
As South Asian countries undergo an urban transition during the early 21st century, their existing city centers, and near and far peripheries have emerged as the new frontiers of urbanization. Today, there exists a widespread recognition that much of this change will be centered beyond metro-cities. In this backdrop, design practices are largely called upon to envision the spatial forms associated with the ‘urban transition’ narrative and attendant aspirations to make globally connected cities. Beneath the skein of such a metanarrative, however, South Asian cities present multiple forms of mixing, innovation and promiscuity, both old and new. Such multiplicities of the ‘becoming urban’ prod the design fields to ask new questions, and present new challenges as well as opportunities to consider. How can architectural research engage with society’s multiplicities and their spatial manifestations in South Asia?
Our premise is that if society’s multiplicity is at stake in the becoming urban, then architectural research needs to build capacities to engage with its multiple dimensions in ways that could constitute a critical and creative terrain for design explorations. Provisionally, we have in mind, the associational dimensions of count and category, type and image, resource and organization, language and sound, smell and taste, fear and desire, property and law, event and everyday, memory and belonging, and so on. For instance, the construction of a category forms the basis for the organization of a count in speculating urban futures; multiple organizational forms engender diverse avenues of urban participation to stake claim to (un) built resources; objects and space acquire the character of property in the grammar of law; or, underlying the desires to project certain futures rest hidden urban fears. We, therefore, ask: What new fields and debates could architectural research open out in thinking about the multiplicities of the becoming urban in South Asia? How can research methodologically engage innovatively into the happening of the social?
01 / Claims and Passage
> Objects of the street: Understanding articulation of street space through furniture - Vidhi Gandhi
Furniture has been primarily understood as an integral part of domestic environment i.e. indoor spaces. However, when moves out of its domesticized nature and enters the street, it turns the flatness and sterility of the street into a liveable environment. Unlike other places in the world where streets end up as places for mere vehicular movement, in urban contexts like ours, streets also become an active part in the lives of people in most South Asian contexts. In urban context, especially in cities like Mumbai, we notice that the streets are used for social interaction, congregation and mass communication. These activities on the streets are facilitated
through the objects on the street that people use as ‘furniture’. Much of these objects in the street trigger social action, creating space for conversations to occur. It thus becomes a layer that facilitate these social encounters on the street. In addition to aiding infrastructure for economic and social purposes, urban street furniture adds
vibrancy to the streets.
The aim of this thesis is to understand the role of furniture in humanizing streets and the manner in which articulation of urban spaces takes place through a varied and inventive set of objects that users devise to live with the street. Along with benches, street lamps, traffic lights, traffic signs, taxi stands etc. provided by the State - that facilitate public activities on the road or the sidewalks, movable objects brought in by people on the street allow for certain public formations and actions within the city. This paper focuses on these portable, transient and pliable objects on the street. The study argues that these also constitute of the urban street furniture that is created and utilized by people, almost adding up as the infrastructure on the street. This disquisition intends to understand how people use furniture to make spaces on the street and thus investigate what a street can afford so as to find new ways to make ‘architecture’ amenable and accessible to people.
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The aim of this thesis is to understand the role of furniture in humanizing streets and the manner in which articulation of urban spaces takes place through a varied and inventive set of objects that users devise to live with the street. Along with benches, street lamps, traffic lights, traffic signs, taxi stands etc. provided by the State - that facilitate public activities on the road or the sidewalks, movable objects brought in by people on the street allow for certain public formations and actions within the city. This paper focuses on these portable, transient and pliable objects on the street. The study argues that these also constitute of the urban street furniture that is created and utilized by people, almost adding up as the infrastructure on the street. This disquisition intends to understand how people use furniture to make spaces on the street and thus investigate what a street can afford so as to find new ways to make ‘architecture’ amenable and accessible to people.
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> Architecture of humanisation and claims - Shrushti Jain
This work aims at understanding the architectural form that is able to hold diversity of activities and lives. As a case study I looked at public transit related infrastructure which includes flyovers and skywalks.
My main research question is: How do people claim planned public infrastructure such as streets, skywalks, sidewalks and flyovers in the city?
The aims and objectives of the research are: To understand what is the architecture of claim? How is public infrastructure humanised and how is it appropriate to lend itself for multiple use of the spaces.
The sub question includes:
● Who is claiming it and why?
● What are the different types of strategies of claim?
● What are different forms of claim?
● How do different forms of claim manifest as a space?
● What are the different arrangements or mechanisms through which the claim operates?
THESIS STATEMENT: Appropriation of planned transit infrastructure such as streets and flyovers through various claiming practices generates new spatial configurations that humanise these mega infrastructures.
Glossary for this work:
Infrastructure: Drawing from the writings of Abdoumaliq Simone’s paper on People as Infrastructure, I intend to extend the notion of infrastructure to the social practises defined by people’s everyday activity in the city. We understand that human bodies and infrastructure have a dialectic relationship, where they constantly make each other.
Claim: In an urban context, claim is a belonging or notional right that one acquires over property, land, space by occupying it over time. The nature of claim shapes the form of the space. The transformation of the space is often assessed with the idea of increasing the affordability of the space.
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My main research question is: How do people claim planned public infrastructure such as streets, skywalks, sidewalks and flyovers in the city?
The aims and objectives of the research are: To understand what is the architecture of claim? How is public infrastructure humanised and how is it appropriate to lend itself for multiple use of the spaces.
The sub question includes:
● Who is claiming it and why?
● What are the different types of strategies of claim?
● What are different forms of claim?
● How do different forms of claim manifest as a space?
● What are the different arrangements or mechanisms through which the claim operates?
THESIS STATEMENT: Appropriation of planned transit infrastructure such as streets and flyovers through various claiming practices generates new spatial configurations that humanise these mega infrastructures.
Glossary for this work:
Infrastructure: Drawing from the writings of Abdoumaliq Simone’s paper on People as Infrastructure, I intend to extend the notion of infrastructure to the social practises defined by people’s everyday activity in the city. We understand that human bodies and infrastructure have a dialectic relationship, where they constantly make each other.
Claim: In an urban context, claim is a belonging or notional right that one acquires over property, land, space by occupying it over time. The nature of claim shapes the form of the space. The transformation of the space is often assessed with the idea of increasing the affordability of the space.
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> Mumbai’s Street Religiosities: Spatial Negotiations and making of Public Space - Karan Dalal
How do street side temples shape public space in Mumbai, and, in turn, are shaped by it? I situate this question in the
backdrop of the seemingly uncontroversial notion that streets and their edges ought to become conduits of unobstructed
vehicular and pedestrian flows.
I explored this question through the case of Garage Road which forms one of the north-south connections for vehicular
traffic between Juhu and Bandra in Mumbai’s western suburbs, and has seventeen small street temples along a stretch
of approximately one kilometre. The physical setting for these temples is shaped by an informal settlement on one edge
and apartments on the other edge with the presence of numerous garages, tea stalls, eateries and other small shops.
These street temples manifest spatially into deities located under trees, shrines located between garages, public toilet
and police chowky, and even around street markets and photo frames hung on compound walls.
The central idea the thesis focuses on is the relationship about the negotiations that spatially manifest the public space
and often are stimulated through the idea of street side religiosity that help to resolve several social, cultural, political and
personal constructs.
During my field study, I focused on understanding the processes that resulted in the emergence of the seventeen
street temples, the actors involved in these processes, ways in which built form was incrementally constituted, and the
implications on surrounding spaces and communities. I have chosen to represent the evolution of four temples in the
form of graphical stories that illuminate the above analytical aspects. The negotiations underlying the making of public
space assume diverse forms such as. Negotiating property appropriation for livelihood generation, negotiating claims
over fuzzy boundaries, Negotiating subversion of unruly and unhygienic activities and Negotiations through appropriation
and affordance.
What do the aforesaid instances of negotiation allow Architects to think about public spaces?
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> Architecture of Watching - Riya Parekh
The thesis dissertation is an investigation on the acts of watching and its effects
on the surrounding built environment, human body, the usage of space and the
actors contributing to this act. It attempts to understand how the act of watching contributes to architectural built form and how configuration of form structure modes of seeing. The thesis is an exploration of the built environment that
promotes structures of watching. In the course of understanding this structure,
the book explores various edges in my neighbourhood, their character and the visual connection that is established between the edge and the street. The study
establishes relations between edge conditions of the built form with structures of
watching. It provides conditions in which built form lends itself towards the act of
watching.
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Densities and Porosities
> Architecture of Congestion - Deep Shah
This study aims to look at the different aspects that contribute to the
densification of a place, sometimes causing congestion in spaces around the railway station. The study at hand has been conducted for the station
precinct within Goregaon (West) that is one of the northern suburbs of Mumbai.
The research focuses on the relationship of these highly energetic spaces and activities and its interdependency on one another. It also looks at, how this relationship changes with time. The land use and transport cycle
states that activities and accessibility are overlapping in a way that they supplement each other’s existence.
The research is structured through four main understandings: Time and periodical events, Edge conditions, Programs in the precinct, Statistical
Indexing.
On basis of various personal experiences, interviews, questionnaires, photographic documentation and sectional drawings of the Goregaon-Station precinct, it highlights planning process (content framework, interacting actors, strategies) and the spatial design (transport, surroundings and building layout) of these projects were described and analyzed.
From the analysis, it is observed that the architecture of transition interface has not been thought of and designed in order to accommodate the complex and multi-dimensional activities that happen in and around the station area. The interchanges of medium can be strengthened in order to allow smoother movement while preserving most activities that happen in the station precinct.
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On basis of various personal experiences, interviews, questionnaires, photographic documentation and sectional drawings of the Goregaon-Station precinct, it highlights planning process (content framework, interacting actors, strategies) and the spatial design (transport, surroundings and building layout) of these projects were described and analyzed.
From the analysis, it is observed that the architecture of transition interface has not been thought of and designed in order to accommodate the complex and multi-dimensional activities that happen in and around the station area. The interchanges of medium can be strengthened in order to allow smoother movement while preserving most activities that happen in the station precinct.
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> Architecture for mobile densities - Nishi Shah
Travelling to and fro from the railway stations every day for work seems like a task for the Mumbaikar’s. The crowded and busy area outside the station causes a lot of chaos and discomfort for commuters. The quality of dispersion and movement of the large mass of people depends largely on the architecture of the area.
The thesis thus tries to find out the relation between the quality of dispersion of high density of people and the architecture of the immediate outside of the railway stations.
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The thesis thus tries to find out the relation between the quality of dispersion of high density of people and the architecture of the immediate outside of the railway stations.
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03 /
House and Typology
> Reimagining the transforming Bastis - Shreyansh Gupta
The project focuses on the informal settlements and how to improve their habitability.
The paper has been divided into six chapters. The paper starts by giving the overall background on the slums and types of interventions made for their betterment.
Further, the paper articulates parameters for evaluation of these interventions. Five case studies have been studied where intervention have been made and they
have been evaluated base don the parameters. It is found that of all the interventions including provision of common toilets, provision of separate toilets, up-gradation, site and services, redevelopment, and rehabilitation and resettlement, it appears that redevelopment, resettlement and provision of toilet are least effective.
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> Of Queering Households - Trisha Salvi
The nuclear family consisting of a heterosexual couple and their two biological children
might be the normative idea of a family for many. Indian mainstream media and policy
cater to this safe image almost exclusively. However, the reality of households in middle-class contemporary Mumbai is changing. While this change can be attributed
to a broader economic upheaval, there are other subtler shifts that are influencing
this multiplicity of household types to emerge. This study is an investigation into the
various queering family forms that exist and are rapidly emerging in Mumbai and
the kinds of spaces these households create when forced to fit into a normative
apartment structure. There is a gap between the functioning of all families today and
the normative housing type in the city, the apartment. This dissertation aims to explore the transformations in household structures in contemporary Mumbai and the spatial
house forms they generate. The objectives are to map the manner in which these
transformation manifest physically in space and subsequently explore the new housing
typologies that are relevant to queering households.
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> What Makes A Home? A Study Of Homeless People In Mumbai City - Aagam Shah
Cities are formed by various forms of Home, but we differ to recognize only few of them which is actually the need. Moving away from the generic idea of Home one needs to understand that there are many different forms in the city that are Home
to someone else. The idea of home in the city is different for everyone but we have
failed to understand that and the definition for us has stayed only to BHKs (Bedrooms, hall and kitchen). Our such sense of space keeps us away from observing onto the spatial configuration of the “Non – Home” homes in the city which are
possessed / shared / squatted / camped by the homeless. The spatial characters of these spaces shows the fragmental nature of it and how many such fragments constitute as a home for them.
The following chapters will evidently prove that how people have made the city as their home in many different ways, and since it not being in a formalized manner
we have termed them as “Homeless”. Even though the State coming up with unreasonable plans to relocate the Homeless out of the city, they have still survived in
the nooks and corners of the city and have kept their social, economic and cultural circles intact. There can be solutions where they don’t have to be in social exclusion
just to portray the City’s society Ideal.
Going against the idea of declaring Homeless, let’s rather understand their multiple idea of home in the city and their social construct with the society. Let’s crave
for some innovative and relevant ideas of homes for them. City has the potential to house both, it is up to us how much close do we keep them to us.
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Institutions and Typology
> Learning Ecologies and Spatial Form: The Case of Municipal Schools in G(S)
Ward, Mumbai - Sandeep Saive
In South Mumbai, one can find at every two kilometres a municipal school. In Parel, the area that I have lived in since my childhood, I have observed that during the last few years many of the municipal schools are receiving low student enrolment, and are therefore, under-utilized. As a result, some of these schools either have shut down or are becoming hybrids by incorporating new non-educational programs such as NGO offices, clinics, Aadhar card offices and voter identity card offices, and even temporary programs such as medical camps and marriage functions, in the school building, for their financial sustenance.
Many of the municipal school buildings are not well designed. In some cases, the school buildings are congested, as there are no open spaces for the student to use. In other cases, although the school has open spaces, the design of classrooms and corridor spaces do not allow them to maximize the use of movement and open spaces. In private schools, students often find a much better physical learning environment. In addition, learning does not happen in four walls of the classroom but also in the interaction spaces of buildings, open spaces around the building as well as in the street adjoining the school.
Therefore, my concern is what could be the future spatial form of these schools and their learning environment? The thesis argues that the spatial quality of the school has a direct co-relationship to the quality of education, as much as a good education and good teachers has. Without a creative up gradation these schools will end up with poor quality of education, the remaining schools will also slowly shut down, and they will continue to be used for other functions that we have already started seeing, taking over.
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Many of the municipal school buildings are not well designed. In some cases, the school buildings are congested, as there are no open spaces for the student to use. In other cases, although the school has open spaces, the design of classrooms and corridor spaces do not allow them to maximize the use of movement and open spaces. In private schools, students often find a much better physical learning environment. In addition, learning does not happen in four walls of the classroom but also in the interaction spaces of buildings, open spaces around the building as well as in the street adjoining the school.
Therefore, my concern is what could be the future spatial form of these schools and their learning environment? The thesis argues that the spatial quality of the school has a direct co-relationship to the quality of education, as much as a good education and good teachers has. Without a creative up gradation these schools will end up with poor quality of education, the remaining schools will also slowly shut down, and they will continue to be used for other functions that we have already started seeing, taking over.
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> Architecture and Power - Archiit Chatterjee
The thesis investigates the concept of power in architecture, where the work focuses on recognizing architectural methods and techniques that bring about experience of power in space. The work discusses cases of public buildings (in this case , Municipal ward offices) which develop a relationship between spatial configuration and experience of power.
For example, the Asiatic society, Mumbai, was a former Town Hall. Today it functions as a typical library that is configured in such a way that the administrative authorities sit on the dais, where as the durbar hall is configured into different reading spaces divided by the book shelves, and tables respectively. Now, the authority that sits on the dais keeps an eye around the immediate spaces near the dais and creates a sense of anxiety for the user. To counter that, the user group tends to create personal pockets away from the administration’s surveillance. In a space like this, the presence of someone crossing the hall is always felt from the footsteps of people walking over the teak wood floor boarding. This phenomenon creates a sense of indirect awareness of somebody behind you, which blurs the notion of privacy that one feels in those pockets while reading books. Here, it is because of the orientation of the durbar hall and the elevated dais along the axial corridor that creates a sense of unintentional and subconscious play of power/control on to its users.
However, the grand staircase that was once the main entry to the institute, that was meant to create an awe for the colonial institutions and its seat of power, has now adapted itself into a place of leisure and for passers-by to sit and relax, creating a sense of pause from the daily routine. It is the configuration of the durbar hall alongside the elevated dais which is used by the authorities to enact surveillance and control on to its users but also the private pockets inside the hall and leisure activities on the staircases which create a very nuanced play of power dynamics in space. These are ‘techniques’ that the authorities use in order to create a sense of control on the users, at the same time there are responses by the users which form subtle tweaks to the act of controlling. Michel De Certeau speaks of ‘strategies’ and ‘tactics’ in the “Practice of Everyday Life” where he calls ‘tactics’ the tools of the weak and ‘strategies’ the tools of those in power.
The thesis explores spatial and elemental configurations that play an important role in shaping, manipulating human behaviour. The primary intention of this thesis focuses on the relationship between internal organisation of an institute, its building elements and its everyday social interaction with its users.
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For example, the Asiatic society, Mumbai, was a former Town Hall. Today it functions as a typical library that is configured in such a way that the administrative authorities sit on the dais, where as the durbar hall is configured into different reading spaces divided by the book shelves, and tables respectively. Now, the authority that sits on the dais keeps an eye around the immediate spaces near the dais and creates a sense of anxiety for the user. To counter that, the user group tends to create personal pockets away from the administration’s surveillance. In a space like this, the presence of someone crossing the hall is always felt from the footsteps of people walking over the teak wood floor boarding. This phenomenon creates a sense of indirect awareness of somebody behind you, which blurs the notion of privacy that one feels in those pockets while reading books. Here, it is because of the orientation of the durbar hall and the elevated dais along the axial corridor that creates a sense of unintentional and subconscious play of power/control on to its users.
However, the grand staircase that was once the main entry to the institute, that was meant to create an awe for the colonial institutions and its seat of power, has now adapted itself into a place of leisure and for passers-by to sit and relax, creating a sense of pause from the daily routine. It is the configuration of the durbar hall alongside the elevated dais which is used by the authorities to enact surveillance and control on to its users but also the private pockets inside the hall and leisure activities on the staircases which create a very nuanced play of power dynamics in space. These are ‘techniques’ that the authorities use in order to create a sense of control on the users, at the same time there are responses by the users which form subtle tweaks to the act of controlling. Michel De Certeau speaks of ‘strategies’ and ‘tactics’ in the “Practice of Everyday Life” where he calls ‘tactics’ the tools of the weak and ‘strategies’ the tools of those in power.
The thesis explores spatial and elemental configurations that play an important role in shaping, manipulating human behaviour. The primary intention of this thesis focuses on the relationship between internal organisation of an institute, its building elements and its everyday social interaction with its users.
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> Architecture of Transactions - Akshata Shenoy
The purpose of this study is to draw focus to the architecture of different kinds of marketplaces and their relationship with the intensity of activities they allow/ afford. The marketplace assembles and dismantles through the
transactions that take place. Marketplaces have evolved over the years and
also have fragmented into newer typologies each having unique characteristics providing different experiences. With the advent of the newer typology of markets, the relationship of space, time and people gets redefined.
In this process one needs to carefully assess what aspects of social life gets lost or rediscovered. The intention of this thesis is to study and understand transactions within markets in order to find the balance between social and commercial aspects through architecture.
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> Architecture of Public Service Institution: Police Stations - Sitanshu Rawal
Police in the city of Mumbai play an important role for the smooth functioning and for maintaining
the law and order in the city. Police stations along with beat chowki’s have been set up by the
government for the citizens to approach. The city has been divided into 13 zones with 93 police stations, 4 beats and 150 – 200 police officers per police station.
While visiting police stations from various zones in Mumbai one observes that the built form of
the police stations haven’t changed since they have been made. In the past few years there have been changes the in the way the police functions and there also have been additions to how a police station needs to be built. There have been new duties and new regulations that have been issued for the development of the police station which have demanded for a change in the spatial configuration, there has been an immense alteration done in segregation of spaces in the existing built form which has led to an issue of space in the police station. As a result the police stations have become congested both for the police officers as well as for the citizens. As we all know that without the police the city wouldn’t function efficiently and smoothly, the police then become the absorbers and generators of stress in the city. Due to this the police stations becomes the epicenters of stress in the city. It is important that the form of the police station is more citizen friendly rather than being epicenter of stress for the city.
The police stations are supposed to be public service buildings which while visiting the citizens should feel comfortable and free instead of being scared and unsure. While talking to a few citizens about their encounter with the police station, it was learnt that the police stations end up being uncomfortable spaces for people to share their problems that need to be resolved through law and order. These spaces are also dim, dingy, opaque and indistinct in nature. They are also not gender friendly and disabled friendly which add on to the indistinct nature of the police station. Further police stations have small shrines or temples in the compound which complicates their secular nature.
This research attempts to understand the built form of the police station and also how and why the police stations become epicenters of stress in the city. It also tries to understand why they have developed a sense of agoraphobia in the citizens which has led to the citizens avoiding to visit them unless and until required in extreme situations.
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the police stations haven’t changed since they have been made. In the past few years there have been changes the in the way the police functions and there also have been additions to how a police station needs to be built. There have been new duties and new regulations that have been issued for the development of the police station which have demanded for a change in the spatial configuration, there has been an immense alteration done in segregation of spaces in the existing built form which has led to an issue of space in the police station. As a result the police stations have become congested both for the police officers as well as for the citizens. As we all know that without the police the city wouldn’t function efficiently and smoothly, the police then become the absorbers and generators of stress in the city. Due to this the police stations becomes the epicenters of stress in the city. It is important that the form of the police station is more citizen friendly rather than being epicenter of stress for the city.
The police stations are supposed to be public service buildings which while visiting the citizens should feel comfortable and free instead of being scared and unsure. While talking to a few citizens about their encounter with the police station, it was learnt that the police stations end up being uncomfortable spaces for people to share their problems that need to be resolved through law and order. These spaces are also dim, dingy, opaque and indistinct in nature. They are also not gender friendly and disabled friendly which add on to the indistinct nature of the police station. Further police stations have small shrines or temples in the compound which complicates their secular nature.
This research attempts to understand the built form of the police station and also how and why the police stations become epicenters of stress in the city. It also tries to understand why they have developed a sense of agoraphobia in the citizens which has led to the citizens avoiding to visit them unless and until required in extreme situations.
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Memory and Belonging
> Architecture Of The Monument:
Vasai Fort - Chinmay Kadwadkar
The thesis looks at the engagement of the local community, settlement and the city with the built form of the monument, in the case of the Vasai Fort. It maps the spatial usage of the fort by different user groups, by closely looking at the various interfaces
offered by the existing structure. The thesis studies nuances of claims and the nature of habitability, which are identified through fieldwork. It also discusses conservation, to preserve these existing relationships and the built form as against conservation in the conventional sense. Therefore, the thesis focuses on conserving the relationship
of the built form to allow engagement with different user groups and exploring the possibilities of new interventions.
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> Architecture and memory: Remembering home in involuntary dislocation - Dhruv Chavan
There are many cases in Mumbai, and elsewhere in India, where masses of people have been dislocated due to reasons beyond the choosing of the household. Their dislocation has been involuntary and irreversible, often being a result of events or projects that have unfolded at disjunct times and scales. This thesis acknowledges the effects of involuntary displacement and the existing study as well as the measures taken towards it. It argues for a different approach towards addressing the issue, through the memory of home.
In this dissertation I argue that the study of memories of home in involuntary dislocation can help advance a more humane approach to envisioning architecture in sites of resettlement and rehabilitation. This argument moves beyond commemoration and glorification of the past, on the one hand, and engages in a critical conversation with the contributions of Aldo Rossi-and Kevin Lynch in the study of memory and architecture, on the other hand. Addressing these urban memories through thick visual and textual narratives, it states that the sense of home lies within four spatialities : Threshold spaces, Performance spaces, Psychological spaces and Leisure spaces. With this it presents three opportunities for an architectural exploration in the current context of Mumbai through new development, redevelopment, or retrofitting
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In this dissertation I argue that the study of memories of home in involuntary dislocation can help advance a more humane approach to envisioning architecture in sites of resettlement and rehabilitation. This argument moves beyond commemoration and glorification of the past, on the one hand, and engages in a critical conversation with the contributions of Aldo Rossi-and Kevin Lynch in the study of memory and architecture, on the other hand. Addressing these urban memories through thick visual and textual narratives, it states that the sense of home lies within four spatialities : Threshold spaces, Performance spaces, Psychological spaces and Leisure spaces. With this it presents three opportunities for an architectural exploration in the current context of Mumbai through new development, redevelopment, or retrofitting
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> Civil War and the inversion of public space in Borella, Colombo - Rutu Kelekar
How did civil war transform the nature of public space in Borella, a neighbourhood on the eastern edge of Colombo? Civil war (1975-2009), I hypothesise, resulted into the inversion of public space in Colombo city, which
I define as either a decrease in instances and / or intensities of small and /
or large groups of gatherings and social interactions. I have approached the
analysis of the inversion of public space qualitatively by focusing on five
aspects: physical character, ownership, nature of users, the transformation
of space through specific interventions, and the changing associations of
users with the space.Through graphic novel narratives, I advance two arguments on the inversion of public space. First, in drawing attention to
the spatiality of urban fears, I argue that civil war has led to the inversion
of those public spaces where both, the state and the Tamil radicals, eyed a
potential to draw widespread regional, national and international attention
to their cause. Second, I argue that three broad strategies are deployed in
the inversion of public spaces namely, Partial programmatic erasures and
alterations, fortifications and policing rules and regulations .In the face
of the inversion of public space in Borella through the above strategies,
how can architects engage with the reconciliatory processes of ‘rebuilding
hearts and minds’? I consider that such a design provocation could be operationalised by asking: How can architects reprogramme Borella’s public
spaces to reverse their inversion in the post- civil war context? What kinds
of physical strategies could emerge to defortify the architecture of public
spaces?
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Systems and Organisation
> Organisational architectures of agricultural transaction points - Prajyot Mulye
How have the emerging chains of agricultural produce manifested in the architecture of agricultural transaction points? If we consider scene of contemporary Indian urbanization via food, this question is situated in the backdrop of the new chains of retail and supermarkets such as Reliance fresh and Nature’s Basket, online retail such as bigbasket, and new farmers markets, on the one hand, and the ongoing urban transition with sharp agrarian protests and social upheavals, on the other hand. Moving beyond existing architectural research that frames arguments by constructing
extreme scenarios of the urban future, I propose that architectural practice, in India, could find it more fruitful to begin with the premise of understanding the emerging market chains and the architecture of their transactional points. Drawing on the approach of actor-network theory, I explore this proposition and research question through the five different types of market chains in the Mumbai region. I argue that the contemporary Indian metrocity such as Mumbai presents multiple chains of perishable agricultural produce and their corresponding organisational and physical architectures of transactional points that compete with one another. These include: the
architecture of micro-entrepreneurs, state corporatism, private conglomerate corporatism and village co-operative corporatism. My dissertation opens out the architectural questions to explore in the process of aligning with the latter.
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> Architecture for Digital Nomads: A trace from conventional to emerging form of organisation - Shubham Gaikwad
The aim of the thesis is to establish the correlation between forms of organisation of work and built form with a special attention on the emergence of co-working spaces in
the city of Mumbai. This is done through comparing field studies of a wide range of workspaces
from the conventional forms like the factories and office spaces to the re-emergence of dispersed, small-scale and shared workspaces -commonly referred to as co-working spaces.
Co-working spaces are a recent phenomenon, in their current avatar,within the city of Mumbai with a history not longer than five years. These spaces cater to the young entrepreneurs, freelancers, creative professionals, lawyers and so on of the city. Two aspects that define these new enterprises are their inability to afford office spaces in the city and their dependence on internet. The economic impossibility of owning space has fostered the rental model of subletting of workspace and an ecology of shared spaces required for the ‘start-up’ enterprises to operate and thrive. The research tries to speculate future possibilities of workform in the city by comparing the shifts from conventional idea of work to the emerging idea of work
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Co-working spaces are a recent phenomenon, in their current avatar,within the city of Mumbai with a history not longer than five years. These spaces cater to the young entrepreneurs, freelancers, creative professionals, lawyers and so on of the city. Two aspects that define these new enterprises are their inability to afford office spaces in the city and their dependence on internet. The economic impossibility of owning space has fostered the rental model of subletting of workspace and an ecology of shared spaces required for the ‘start-up’ enterprises to operate and thrive. The research tries to speculate future possibilities of workform in the city by comparing the shifts from conventional idea of work to the emerging idea of work
(Read More)
> Persistence of Guilds in Pune’s inner city : Old work forms, new contexts - Divya Gyanchandani
How has the work form and its organisational structure of craft and merchant communities in Pune’s inner city shaped their built environment? This question emerges in the backdrop of the ongoing urban regeneration in the inner city
that manifests spatially into projects such as road widening, new apartments, supermarkets, malls, and retail stores.
I explore this question in the neighbourhoods of Kumbharwada, Tambat Aali and Bohri Aali approaching each neighbourhood through three different scales: settlement, cluster and unit. At the settlement scale, I map the elements that
shape the urban morphology and typology. At the cluster scale, I establish the link
between the work form and the organisational structure of the guild to its spatial manifestation. At the unit scale, I focus on the transformations taking place in the built form and link them to the emerging contexts of urbanisation. The central argument advanced through this dissertation is that the guilds have continued to persist in the inner city of Pune. The fieldwork helps advance four sub arguments, first being that there is a dialectic relationship between the work forms and the organisation of the guild. Second, economic contexts, technological changes, state policy and plans and community aspirations have come to mediate the nature of the work form and the economic role of guilds. Third, recent changes in the above factors are shaping new contexts for the work form of craft and merchant communities, and their guilds. And lastly, guilds need not bear the entire burden of innovation; it would be mutually beneficial to Pune’s city government to create a supporting environment for such work forms in the face of their urban regeneration plans for generating an economy through heritage and cultural tourism.
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between the work form and the organisational structure of the guild to its spatial manifestation. At the unit scale, I focus on the transformations taking place in the built form and link them to the emerging contexts of urbanisation. The central argument advanced through this dissertation is that the guilds have continued to persist in the inner city of Pune. The fieldwork helps advance four sub arguments, first being that there is a dialectic relationship between the work forms and the organisation of the guild. Second, economic contexts, technological changes, state policy and plans and community aspirations have come to mediate the nature of the work form and the economic role of guilds. Third, recent changes in the above factors are shaping new contexts for the work form of craft and merchant communities, and their guilds. And lastly, guilds need not bear the entire burden of innovation; it would be mutually beneficial to Pune’s city government to create a supporting environment for such work forms in the face of their urban regeneration plans for generating an economy through heritage and cultural tourism.
(Read More)
07 /
Skins and Thresholds
> Building Skins - Priya Jalan
Human skin acts as an outer covering for the body which is responsible to protect the internal organs from
the outside. It is an adaptive membrane which allows the body to survive in this environment. The second form of covering is experienced by human bodies is through clothes and building shelters are the third form
of covering. The façade of the building is considered as one of the most prominent features of the building because it forms the first image in the mind of the viewer and also generates an engagement of the building
with people.
The building skin has been shaped by several parameters such as material exploration, technological advancement, cultural responses, economical responses or context of geographic location.
This thesis is based on research of evolution of designing a building skin and what are the parameters that affected the process. In current scenario what is the architecture of building skin? Can building skin and structure be separated in design process and the execution of it anymore? What will be the ornamentation of new age? What are the textures of building skin that has been generated to shape spaces. Human skin adapts according to the geographical location and its context for example color of skin differs from one place to another, similarly can a particular building type become adaptive to its context? Will the next generation skin be based on artificial intelligence technologies or will it be integrated or it will be a representative face or combinations of these?
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The building skin has been shaped by several parameters such as material exploration, technological advancement, cultural responses, economical responses or context of geographic location.
This thesis is based on research of evolution of designing a building skin and what are the parameters that affected the process. In current scenario what is the architecture of building skin? Can building skin and structure be separated in design process and the execution of it anymore? What will be the ornamentation of new age? What are the textures of building skin that has been generated to shape spaces. Human skin adapts according to the geographical location and its context for example color of skin differs from one place to another, similarly can a particular building type become adaptive to its context? Will the next generation skin be based on artificial intelligence technologies or will it be integrated or it will be a representative face or combinations of these?
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> Threshold Stories - Kaushal Vadake
In our towns / cities and other settlements, the “Threshold Spaces” (spaces that form edge between two distinct
activities/ spaces.) are changing. This change is towards the threshold spaces becoming a hard edge.
Because of this hardening, the thresholds do not allow the adjacent activities to take place. This study is about the threshold spaces in urban fabric. it aims to understand the relationship between the threshold space and adjacent activities. We aim to provide or develop such edges to soften the threshold spaces.
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> A Routine of Happiness : The In-Between Realm and the Spaces of respite - Yash Vadher
Cities are made up of people. Cities take more and more number of people into their fold everyday. Wherever one looks, there are people;
people who are sometimes squatting, resting, meeting or working. Cities allow for such life forms to happen. The whole city behaves as if it is a home for everyone. Homes are sometimes places for just storing
strange objects, sometimes functional and sometimes not. These are spaces where duties are reminded to have the opportunities to go for
a joyride.
Duties wear the mask of strange desires that keep the everyday routine going. Cities at the same time allow for each ones desire to take form. Desires of various things, such as taking a particular train, catching up with a friend at 2am, taking that particular route home for hoping one bumps into specific people, maintaining fitness, becoming heath conscious, keeping track of everyone, drinking, using abusive language and many more things. All such absurd desires go on to becoming a part of everyday life.
By doing this, strangers become friends, friends meet new friends, friends become enemies, enemies become family, etc. In this process of jumbling and settling, cities come to terms with themselves, of making
space for everyone. In the everyday routine and maneuvering of the city and during their times of respite, one finds that people inhabit spaces that are not claimed. They are often not the designated open spaces or public
spaces such as a jogger’s park, garden, malls, and etc. but those that are ‘In-Between’ spaces like pan-shops, chai tapris, train, bus-stops, bars, balconies, terraces, etc. People spend a lot of their free time in such spaces.
The objective of this study is to develop an understanding of the spatiality related to such spaces of respite. This hypothesis alludes to a different model for public spaces beyond the conventional ideas one finds in the development plan, viz. playgrounds, recreational grounds and various other public amenities.
As people move out of the boundaries of their homes and reach their multiple places of work, a large system of commuting network facilitates this activity. Because of this, a distinct urbanity in the form of infrastructures, buildings with mixed-use typologies and spaces in between them emerge. If we look closely at these infrastructures, services and other leftover spaces, then one finds many conditions that allow people in the city to spend their time of respite during their breaks and journeys that gives them life support, energy and happiness.
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Duties wear the mask of strange desires that keep the everyday routine going. Cities at the same time allow for each ones desire to take form. Desires of various things, such as taking a particular train, catching up with a friend at 2am, taking that particular route home for hoping one bumps into specific people, maintaining fitness, becoming heath conscious, keeping track of everyone, drinking, using abusive language and many more things. All such absurd desires go on to becoming a part of everyday life.
By doing this, strangers become friends, friends meet new friends, friends become enemies, enemies become family, etc. In this process of jumbling and settling, cities come to terms with themselves, of making
space for everyone. In the everyday routine and maneuvering of the city and during their times of respite, one finds that people inhabit spaces that are not claimed. They are often not the designated open spaces or public
spaces such as a jogger’s park, garden, malls, and etc. but those that are ‘In-Between’ spaces like pan-shops, chai tapris, train, bus-stops, bars, balconies, terraces, etc. People spend a lot of their free time in such spaces.
The objective of this study is to develop an understanding of the spatiality related to such spaces of respite. This hypothesis alludes to a different model for public spaces beyond the conventional ideas one finds in the development plan, viz. playgrounds, recreational grounds and various other public amenities.
As people move out of the boundaries of their homes and reach their multiple places of work, a large system of commuting network facilitates this activity. Because of this, a distinct urbanity in the form of infrastructures, buildings with mixed-use typologies and spaces in between them emerge. If we look closely at these infrastructures, services and other leftover spaces, then one finds many conditions that allow people in the city to spend their time of respite during their breaks and journeys that gives them life support, energy and happiness.
(Read More)