Toor Simran Kaur Gurnek Singh

LA4010

SOAK (Smart Option Adaptive Kit)

Faced by the adversities of climate extremes, sponge developments are gaining favour to make cities more resilient and flood resistant. The sponge response to slow down the water movement by capture, delay, and release mechanism have gained traction, especially in areas where city stops regular functioning due to urban flooding, multiple times over the monsoon months. While these problems are witnessed in areas with high rainfall, the problem with urban water is twofold – the surface (seen) and sub-surface (unseen) water. With a focus on Ahmedabad, a semi-arid city in Western India, the project argues the need of sponge development to address the unseen water. Borrowing the framework from Chennai Sponge City model, the project develops a scale-based methodology with neighborhood level (L), block level (L), and plot level (S) guidelines that protects the natural stream corridors, retains the critical urban open spaces, and yet achieves the required density and amenities of proposed DP and TP schemes. The guidelines ensure certain non-negotiable grounds based on local topography and hydrology, while allowing a choice-based guideline to give autonomy to the local government bodies, developer, and private citizens at L, M, and S scale to pick and choose a solution. The project outcome of the framework named SOAK (Smart Option Adaptive Kit) is theoretically tested on a site in peri-urban Ahmedabad to demonstrate the value of designing with water in the arid context. 


Report Content

Mapping the quality of urban sponges across kharicut and a sponge test to understand the types of urban sponges .

Quantitative Analysis of wetness across Kharicut.mapping the stream orders,watershed . The site is divided into diffrent zones to understand the quantity of wetness in every zone . Zone 4 has maxmimum potential for recharge as it has maxmimum open land parcels (potential urban sponges)

Qualitative Analysis of Zone 4 . Zone 4 has 3 major industrial zones sandwiched with dense residential areas . Hence the quality of water is really bad . as the stream order is passing through dense industrial areas . The vision challenges the proposed development ,the project aims at reclamation of contaminated urban sponges around proposed residential areas,and preserving the critical ones as grounds for water retention and clean recharge.

Scaled based Sponge development Guidelines for residential plot development (S,M,L Scale). Guidelines for 1. 3-4th order stream , 2. 6th-7th order stream ( as the quantity of water increases as the stream order increases) and 3. plots adjacent to Industrial plots .

Site Analysis based on proposed DP for residential development in peri-urban areas.

Comparitive Analysis between residential development keeping the site area and population density constant. If development happens as per TP it will lead to urban flooding as stream corridors are not preserved as opposed to Sponge development a scale-based methodology with neighbourhood level (L), block level (L), and plot level (S) guidelines that protects the natural stream corridors, retains the critical urban open spaces, and yet achieves the required density and amenities of proposed DP and TP schemes.

Building of masterplan w.r.t. sponge guidelines. Block level guidelines w.r.t. stream corridors . Programming of Public -Private plots for a sponge neighborhood.

Masterplan as per Soak (Smart option Adaptive kit) guidelines.

Detailed plan at Public/Private interface

Resilience and Flux . testing the sponge development from drought to flood .