LIVING STREETS : Making Flexible Dwelling Spaces | Urban Housing as Product of Types, Density & Systems

Site Context

In Surat, the poor migrants and slum dwellers contribute immensely in running the lucrative industries like diamond and power looms. The maximum slums are in the zones where these industries are located. 

Ekta Nagar is one such Informal settlement, due to its location in the city center, size of settlement, occupational structure and coexistence of mixed migrant community, It becomes an appropriate site for Intervention of a system based Affordable housing scheme that can be later on applied to the other parts of the city as well.

Settlement : Ektanagar 

Location : Ektanagar, Ankur cross road, Ak road, Surat – 395008 

Site area: 8,600 sq.metres/ 0.86 Hectares 

Total Population: Approx 2438 

Number of Dwelling: 336

Community type: Mix of migrant population from states like U.P, Orissa, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Gujarat. 

Community Profession:
The majority of the population from Ektanagar works in the following four sector: 

1. Textile Industry workers
   2. Diamond Industry workers
   3. Shopkeeper and Vegetable vendor 4. Housekeeper 

Design Process

1. SITE STUDY AND ANALYSIS 

Students were required to choose three different slums in their city, with one of them serving as the main site. Each student carefully planned the major site according to the faculty’s guidelines. The primary site was mapped in depth qualitatively and quantitatively, while the other two were documented for the purpose of testing the “system” towards the end of the design process.

2. PROGRAM BRIEF 

Based on the site analysis, each student prepared a design brief stating their vision, design concerns, and a detailed statement of house types and amenities. 

3. MATRIX OF IDEAS 

The design process of the studio is focused on three aspects: sociocultural aspects, topographical aspects, and material technological aspects. Each student prepared a “Matrix of Ideas” under these three aspects, wherein design ideas and concepts were sketched and presented in the form of a table. The key here is to think about each aspect totally in isolation while listing the ideas and concepts in the matrix. 

4. SUPERIMPOSITION OF IDEAS 

As a further step in the design process, students chose ideas from each of the Matrix’s components and began superimposing them to explore design options. At the cluster and unit level, the investigation was carried out using physical-digital models and drawings. In order to arrive at specific design decisions, performance-based analysis was done using various digital tools for wind flow and lux levels. 

Final Outcome

5. FINAL DESIGN: MAIN SITE 

After many design interactions, all of the students arrived on a final design scheme for their primary site. There were three levels to this scheme: unit types, duster type, and site plans.”

6. SYSTEM 

The next step in the design process was to evolve a system with the help of a design scheme. Students worked at various scales, ranging from architectural elements, unit and cluster types, and site plans. The ‘System’ was represented in the form of a ‘Kit of Parts’ and the rules for arranging them at all the various scales mentioned above. 

This “system” was tested at the other two sites that each student had selected at the beginning of the semester, to make them versatile for diverse conditions thrown at the “system”.