Daksh Tak

UR2019

For a variety of factors, the hostel typology has always been linear and standardised. One of those reasons is that the classic design of hostels with corridors in the centre and rooms on either side makes it simple to preserve decorum for Christian missionaries. The designs were influenced by the missionaries' need to closely govern and track the students living in those quarters. For a long time, this has been the accepted method of building a hostel. Today, despite moving away from the missionary-run-institution concept, residents are still Monitored and regulated within these structures in the current hostel typology. Whether one is in one’s room or being called for dinner, the presence of authority can be sensed at every moment. This traditional way of hostel must be updated to suit modern thinking, allowing residents to be themselves in the privacy of their personal space, a space that allows people to live freely and without constant surveillance. The following design project is an attempt to explore this notion.