Academia struggles with mainstream urban housing studios; either they end up being utopian and whimsical or abjectly surrender to economic and regulatory pressures. This studio situates itself between these two extremes and hopes to nudge mainstream housing design into creating meaningful spaces.
The studio is structured in two parts- the first twelve weeks consist of a series of exercises geared towards the final design project that is four weeks long. The first twelve weeks consist of a series of 6 one day time problems that privilege decisive action, book readings culminating in a student seminar that provide the theoretical grounding, and an exercise on memories of housing questions the meaning of home.
This studio addresses two critical challenges in housing design:
Achieving rapid yet effective design execution; and
striking a meaningful balance between design quality, profitability, and regulatory compliance.
Students tackle these challenges by designing a mainstream housing project within an intensive 4-week timeframe. Despite the time constraints and the demands of regulatory and profitability requirements, students are encouraged to push boundaries and propose innovative solutions that transcend conventional norms.
The first 12 weeks of the studio focus on rigorous preparation for this final project. During this phase, students engage in in-depth research, multiple design explorations, and strategy development, integrating complex systems and services into housing projects.
How much preparation can be done before starting a design project? This question shaped the preparatory exercises. These activities included:
Studying the GDCR to understand regulatory frameworks.
Creating templates for quick calculations of quantitative requirements and profitability.
Designing essential components like security cabins and meter rooms.
Developing tailored guidelines and datasets for systems such as landscape design, parking layouts, and rainwater harvesting.
Exploring the meaning of "home" through dwelling histories and personal memories.
Conducting design studies on the role of conceptual thinking in housing projects.
These exercises helped students build a robust foundation for tackling the final project.
The studio incorporated five "time problems," each lasting 24 hours. Students were given a plot in Ahmedabad and tasked with developing a meaningful, workable solution within the time limit. Remarkably, the first time problem was introduced on the very first day of the studio!
These time problems served as checkpoints to test students’ preparations. After each exercise, students refined their strategies and tools, improving their readiness for the final project.
The seminar component deepened students' research into housing design and anchored their projects in established theories and practices. Students could choose to align their seminar topics with their design projects, fostering continuity and depth in their work.
The ultimate test of learning culminated in the final project—a 4-week endeavor, distinct from the longer timelines typical in academia.
The site, spanning approximately 1.4 hectares, was located in Gota, a locality in northwestern Ahmedabad. Although the site was hypothetical, the context of Gota informed the larger design directions.
Students were tasked with navigating the often conflicting demands of spatial quality, profitability, and regulatory compliance. The outcome is a testament to their ability to innovate under pressure, balancing creativity with practical constraints.
