TA: Nihal GalathiaMassing the Houses for Housing the Masses
With the housing shortage figure at nearly 25 million, quantity takes precedence
over quality in government policies and market responses. As against such an
occurence, living environments are meant to be symbols of comfort, reverie and
family’s identity. Within the demands of density, can we conjure built
environments that are socio-culturally appropriate, environmentally sustainable
and aesthetically timeless? As a single largest landuse type Housing largely
shapes city’s image. This studio is exploratory in nature to evolve humane and
interactive neighbourhood with student’s chosen area of research, development
approach, and design exploration. The different approaches on design decisions
of builtform type, unbuilt spaces, movement networks, houseform variations etc.
pursued by each student derives diverse understanding of critical aspects of
living environments such as integration of nature, neighbourly interactivity,
flexibility for personalisation and growth, humanising vertical living, reinterpreting
the vernacular, etc. The studio explores design and research tools like book
reviews, seminars, site visits, mind mapping, collage / installations, sketches,
models and drawings. The proposed learning outcome is that students shall be
enabled to organize living environments at multiple scales appropriate to a
challenging and realistic Indian Urban context.
