UP AND FAR UP​
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MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA
What is the aspiration of home for the city-dweller?
Can an already dense
settlement re-densify and allow for more? Why?
What is the way to create a community-based, high-density high-rise housing?
How can the design adapt to changing population types and family sizes?
Can there be a way to not bulldoze over the current residents in this land speculation game?
What typology is suited for a live-work, mixed-use settlement?
Rehabilitation of "slum" housing
39000 sqm
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The story of housing is not about a home, really.
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Dharavi, once at the edge of the city, a backyard for migrants, cheap labour, waste of all sorts was an untenable land, made habitable by a host of enterprises that spurned within it due to its proximity and networks with the commercial sector. Apart from that, it is thickly enmeshed within varied communities, who have over the years formed resilient ways to deal with the unencumbered pressure from the same interests that helped it “prosper”, as it now finds itself in the midst of the state, the housing board and developers eyeing lustily at what could be a rehabilitation development programme of gargantuan proportions for Mumbai.
Working within the confines of a studio that laid down the need to develop it at a FAR/FSI of 4 (!), with a view to rehabilitate residents (‘slum dwellers’) and fill up the LIG/MIG housing lacuna (also a means to incentivise this whole affair), one starts to wonder if any of the following design strategies can really bring a sense of “housing” in this, after all.
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The housing scheme is composed of: rehab for “official” residents; cheap rental for LIG; commercial rehab for manufacturing commercial units; sale component as commercial unit in order to alleviate burgeoning density; amenities and open spaces on ground, but nearly doubled by means of the podium typology.
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The exploration started with the question:
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How, if possible, can one re-create the open, community-oriented and commercial nature of Dharavi into housing?
Part of Sector IV considered with access and hierarchy of open spaces
Given the number of people to be houses on this parcel, the open space (as per NBC density norms) shoud be the same amount as the area of the plot
Housing typology thus achieved
Part of Sector IV considered with access and hierarchy of open spaces
The design of housing was posed through the lens of economics in the studio. And the value of space or programmatic considerations was posed with respect to money. We were looking at patterns of ownership, along with design proposals that were taking into consideration this scheme called Slum Rehabilitation that put Dharavi on the pedestal as the most lucrative piece of land in Mumbai. Apart from their basic schemes to incentivise the developer, we (as a group) also looked at the quality of spaces and living in the design and formed a critical study of the same.
Group credits:Â Mihir Desai;Â Pranav Thole;Â Pramada Jagtap; Neil Jain
Group credits:Â Mihir Desai;Â Pranav Thole;Â Pramada Jagtap; Neil Jain
The "production" of this house in Dharavi seems to be a variable in an convoluted equation.
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Now, we have used mathematical presuppositions and projections, but what we aimed to achieve is a balance in density, housing, work opportunities and "optimal utilisation of land". The profit incentive is to be lapped up by commercial businesses (the area finds itself connected to three major railway networks and close to BKC Business District), thus giving the whole sector a floating population, rather than pressurising the land further. The density in Dharavi is currently 660 (including rental/"squatters"), which is already past regulatory standards. So, adding more people to pacify the void in the housing stock is not a sustainable idea at all.
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The typology is worked out with a view to create a bunch of options in Rehab and Rental housing, and chances to extend and grow bigger (in a bid to reduce density further as standards of living increase), and create a large, communal circulation space. The podium is introduced as a means to increase open space, create opportunities for commercial entities to be spatially segregated and spread out, and for parking of vehicles.
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Group credits: Revati Shah, Neil Jain, Parth Shah
Existing SRAs and Koliwada marked
Zones arranged with respect to hierarchy of roads
Group credits: Revati Shah, Neil Jain, Parth Shah
All relatively new SRA buildings are excluded from development so is the fishing village to the north. Established amenities and places of worship are left unaltered to preserve the sense of place. The major arterial roads are retained, with secondary roads connecting open spaces around community places and places of worship.
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The masterplan is an outcome of using bigger podiums so as to almost double the amount of open space available to residents and generate parking and commercially viable rehab and rental space on multiple levels as a means of not increasing the permanent population.
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The building typology is an explored to create voluminous (usable) circulation space and achieve feasibility, and simplicity, in form and structure. The podium enables a host of lively public amenities and people-friendly commercial establishments like playschools, eateries, classes, dispensaries, offices, and so on.
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Building units are of five types : residential apartments for one family; rental apartments for small and big families; a variant provided is a dormitory; bigger residences can be bought to allow for an extra room, the possibilities further reducing density as population increases in the future.
Floor area and Built-up area of different components
The site is so huge, that a single architectural gesture isn't enough. It needs to be fragmented with each point on the site claiming its own identity. A system of trails, bridges and pathways connect the entities. Also, I don't wish to make allusions to one building using an idea of a monotone, in terms of colour, material or the like. The site, like nature, grows. It is not a sweeping gesture of an architect.
More paths and buildings can be added to this layout as the farm becomes a field in the future.
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The Laboratory will function as a living, breathing prototype of sustainable means of living and sustainable architecture. It will make people connect with the Earth, with the farmers, fruits and flowers. It should be able to generate dialogue and ignite curiosity.
The buildings are apparatuses to gauge the landscape and the environment we live in. Follies and pavilions set up on the perimeter will draw people in, like gopurams in a temple. Here, their orientation wouldn’t be cardinal, rather they will follow nature’s geometry.
Programs that enable debate, discussion, learning and dissipation of the knowledge into our lifestyles.
The final scheme looked to create a vibrant underbelly of public, commercial and community-oriented activities that defines the character of Dharavi and makes it a business-heavy settlement. The podium answers to the aspiration of a city-dweller - with opportunities to rent and buy shops, participate in the thriving district that Dharavi would potentially become, enjoy a hierarchy of public spaces on the levels of ground and within the double-heighted floor space, extend their families by renting housing and find a semblance of the community network that many residents appreciate in the existing housing.
That was the short or long of the project Up & FAR Up