From Utopias to Heterotopias Migrant Housing: Values of Time, Density, Culture, and Energy
The course introduced the concepts of `migrant housing’ across space and time. The evolution of housing settlements through linking and stacking; their processes, determinants/generations, and resulting patterns were explored in their respective contexts identifying the balance between order and complexity. The idea, here, was to create an adaptive habitat for migrant communities associated with the very dynamic and socially interactive live-work environment. Here, “adaptability” was visualized and represented as a real space which is accommodating people from diverse cultures and traditions over a period of time. The spaces, thus created, characteristically provided the occupants with opportunities to alter such neighborhoods in certain extended patterns. Eventually, this fluctuating habitat, over time, would be able to maintain a balance between generated orders and identified contextual complexities. The students learned to analyze and identify issues with linking and stacking of modular housing units. This helped them in exploring, planning and organizing various housing cluster ensembles in response to open spaces and adjacent urban context, thus, creating an ‘interface’ by balancing the underlying orders and complexities.
