Studio Co-ordinators:- Anshu Chaudhary, Anuj Daga, Dipti Bhaindarkar, Vinit Nikumbh
Neha Mhadolkar
In this course, we explore the concept of “architectural detailing” as more than a technological system but also as working out the socio-spatial relationships maintained and perpetuated by the design. We aimed to move beyond the idea of standardisation, and to come up with concepts that look into the specificities of the site. We observed the practices of the people living there and their relation to the space they occupy; drew out particular spatial configurations that are produced in this process and designed keeping these observations as the central idea for the project.
Our site of study was Bimbisar Nagar, a mixed type of colony, which has both residential and small commercial units within it. There are two types of housing that are provided here - MHADA houses and transit camp houses. The site of intervention, Ganesh Maidan, is a shared open ground which is used by all the people living in the colony. The ground is adjacent and shares a common wall with a school. The ground itself has various programs like a vachnalay, vyayamshala, a shakha, a pump room, stage and a public toilet.
As the ground was like a core which allowed for a dense population to pass through, it provided us with an opportunity to design a community space within it, which raised the questions of public and private and made us think more about the idea of shared spaces, while also maintaining the openness of the site itself.
We drew out our observations, arguments and concepts from studying the area near and around the ground, which included the shops, stalls, street vendors, temple and shared common spaces within the residential area, which also helped us derive our programs that are relevant to the public here. The designs were made keeping in mind the socio-spatial relationships present on site, the environmental and financial concepts. Several designs emerged through ideas like those of extensions, thresholds, public, leisure and play.
The communal buildings become the ‘detours’- as recess spaces in the form of seatings, gathering spaces, play areas, shops and libraries. They provoke pauses, rest, conversations and leisure
The buildings act as thresholds between the road -with its rush and density- and the driftness of the ground.
Thresholds here are the spaces where one starts experiencing change, a place on the verge of two distinct systems.
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