03 RECONFIGURING CITY NETWORKS- DESIGN DISSERTATION

MENTOR : AR. ATREY CHHAYA

SITE : LOWER PAREL

PROGRAM : HYBRID

In the last decade the city has seen a drastic reduction in open public spaces along with an unprecedented boom in construction. Along with not being able to match universal guidelines of required open space per capita, the exisiting urban fabric is already pressurised and unable to cope with the rate of urbanization and provide quality life for the residents of the city.

High rises and skyscrapers that create the illusion of a progressing city have suffocated the city, and replaced smaller, integrated and complex settlements, leaving the city with very little relief space that can actually foster interactions, connections and exchange amongst the public disrupting the areas.

This thesis aims to study extensivley the evolution of ever-present streets and squares over the years and how their transformation has changed the character of the urban fabric. Taking this study forward my thesis aims to redefine urbanism and create a potential way for the city to grow which not only reintroduces these public spaces into the urban fabric but also reintegrates them cohesively.

MENTOR : AR.ATREY CHHAYA, AR.PRACHI DONDE, AR.PRAKRITI MEHTA, AR.NISHANT MODI

GROUP: AHAN DASGUPTA, ROZAL MEHTA, AMMAR RASSAI, AYUSHI PRITAMANI, KAIRA BHALLA

Matunga, although being Mumbai’s first planned suburb, the infrastructure was never built to support its burgeoning population. Crowded with cars, flanked by hawkers and diminishing in trees- has resulted in a problem that has accompanied gentrifiction around the world.

The addition of the infamous flyover dissected the neighbourhoods encompassing King’s Circle and simultaneously snatched away prime public space breaking the centrality of the radial planning and engendering a slew of dark, vehicle dominated spaces, perilous for the pedestrian.

Through our urban insert we aim bring back the centrality of the neighbourhood and harness the variety of surrounding programs to activate the urban space.

Our strategy was to interject a multi-level public space between the road and the flyover as well as to push the park in the main circle below the ground in order to preserve the the generous headroom of a truly space for the people.

MENTOR : AR. PRIYANK MEHTA

SITE : MUMBAI UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, KALINA

PROGRAM : EDU- CULTURAL CENTRE

The main aim of the project was to revitalise and revive Kalina Campus- the largest campus of Mumbai and bring back to it a certain sense of identity as a landmark institute. The project aimed to not only bring in more visitors and reactivate the campus but also increase the efficiency of the functioning of it.

The state of the campus today is rather desolate and has large abandoned spaces that could be harnessed to add substantial value to the campus.

The project began with the idea of a redesigned masterplan that would help resolve the issues the campus is facing and then detailing out a specific module within the proposed master plan that could become a way for the future growth of the campus and could be duplicated across the campus to develop a whole network.

For the same, nodes were identified and designed around and then used as the basis for creation of axes that could enable a growth module design. The module can hence be replicated to populate the campus with a change of functions that are best suited for the location of the site and as per user requirements.

EXHIBITION HALL INTERIOR VIEW

MENTOR : AR. ATREY CHHAYA, AR.MAHEK LALAN, AR DISHA SAIGAL, AR. HARSH SHAH GOWANI

GROUP : NIDHI SANGHRAJKA, NIKHIL KISHNANI, RUHI RATHO

DESIGN CONCEPT : Emergence in nature was used as a base framework to study the movements of a spiny lobsters that are social anthropods who move together in large, complex, co-ordinated groups such as queues, phalanxes and rosettes. These formations serve the primary function of anti predation. The muscle flexors and extensors of the spiny lobsters contract and relax enabling such pattern formations in the sea while migration which they can create as a group that they ideally would not be able to individually.

DESIGN EXECUTION: The execution of the installation was carried out by testing out a 1:1 scale prototype of one unit for experimenting with different materials and sizes. The prototype represented one spiny lobster and consisted of 6mm thick main frame steel rods with 3mm thick steel rings that acted as the fragments of the lobsters connected to the frame via custom designed wooden joineries. Each of these units was assembled on the ground and propped up using custom fabricated wooden supports. The final threading that repreented the muscle fibres was done once the installation was propped in place and enabled the dynamism of the installation.

07

2020 Semi- Finalists

PROGRAM : COMMUNITY RESILIENCE CENTRE

TEAM PHOENIX : TEAM OF 10 ARCHITECTS + 3 ENGINEERS + CONSULTANTS AND MENTORS

The main objective of the competition was to design and calculate a building that is net zero energy, water and resources while still serving community resilience functions.

The proposed project must dual as not only an emergency shelter but also generate a sense of community and vitalise the diversity of the existing local communities (the Kolis and the local migrants).

The main aims to be achieved via the design include creating a multifunctional structure supported via an open plan along with the incorporation of thermal comfort and flood protection and prevention strategies to deal with climatic conditions such as heat gain and flooding.

India as a country has many housing related issues which were further highlighted during the cuurent pandemic. During these uncertain times, a large group of people, the urban poor usually suffer the most. As a group, we wanted to take effort to design a sustainable community resilient shelter to carter to the needs of the urban poor during such times.