THE SOCIAL PLUGIN – As a railway connection | Architecture Thesis on Transit-Oriented Development

Site Context

Nalasopara is one of the busiest railway stations in Mumbai. Trains that pass through this station travel north along Dahanu Road and south towards Churchgate. After Andheri, Nalasopara is the second busiest railway platform, surrounded by markets and chaotic nodes at the station. Precincts, in contrast to other stations, still have the chance to make minor adjustments that could have an impact on people’s daily activities and promote wellbeing. Understanding the possibility of reducing current urban stress could be aided by the study.

Nalasopara has seen a huge increase in residential space due to its low house rates, which has also increased overall foot traffic. The station’s outdated layout makes it unable to handle such heavy traffic, and as a result, the neighbourhood around it has become cluttered.

Problems such as pedestrian-vehicle collisions, narrow foot over bridges, illegal hawkers blocking walkways, and the lack of use of designated pedestrian pathways (skywalks) can be resolved by implementing policies, enhancing placemaking, walkability, and ephemeral urbanism planning. To comprehend ephemeral urbanism, one must first recognise that cities are always changing. People typically respond to this concept of change by striving for permanence, but in reality, they should be more concerned with creating dynamic structures that can adjust to the changing social and cultural norms of their surroundings.

Design Process

The idea of osmosis, in which water molecules move from one place to another with the help of a semipermeable membrane, can be used to move people both vertically and horizontally by substituting architecture for the semipermeable membrane.

Having a flow of people from point A to point B: By proposing a skywalk that connects to all of the foot over bridges, the idea is to have rickshaw stands and parking as an attraction point and retail stores, art galleries, markets, and sitting areas to the adjacent site. By redirecting pedestrian traffic from the street towards the site, it will be less likely for vehicles and pedestrians to clash, which will reduce the chaotic areas surrounding the station.

The first step in this project was to locate various urban voids close to the train station. There hasn’t been enough use made of these “Urban Voids” to improve public spaces, public life, etc. There isn’t much room for people to interact in the Nalasopara area, despite its large population. The concept of creating a social plug-in into these urban voids and offering various amenity spaces so that people can both create income and have a place to relax. The goal of this project is to design a module that can be used as a prototype for other stations, specifically for one urban void close to Nalasopara.

Final Outcome

Three main plug-ins comprise the overall topic. The first is the Shop Plug-in, which will extend the skywalks so that customers can make purchases on the way home. The shop plug-in can also serve as an extension for open markets and structures (such as Fashion Street, Crawford Street Market, Colaba Market, etc.) that have residential units above and shops on the ground floor.

The second is the Play Plug-in, which is essentially an addition to the skywalk that offers interactive areas for people to sit and unwind. The Social Plug-in, on the other hand, will fill in the gaps left by urban areas close to the station, encouraging social interaction and raising the quality of life for both the city and its residents. These plug-ins help to lessen congestion between vehicles and pedestrians, which helps to clear the area around the station.

The parking lot and the railway station are connected by a central passage, and to enhance the visual connectivity of the area, horizontal bridges connect the bus and rickshaw stands, which are separated by pockets of greenery between the passageways. Kinetic roofing, which can adjust to the climate, covers the central courtyard and passage. Active climate mitigation, like water mists, and passive climate mitigation, like incorporating landscape pockets with the aid of art walls and social connecting spaces, continue to follow.

The central passage is always open and designed with people’s movement in mind. It is operational throughout the day. It facilitates the continuous flow of people through the building while preserving small areas where individuals can unwind and enjoy their day without interfering with the flow of traffic.

Conclusion: By using architecture as a tool to reroute the flow of vehicular and pedestrian movement while creating interactive areas to sit and relax, the thesis collectively achieves its goal of fostering positive well-being in the everyday experiences of urban commuters. The project serves as a prototype for ephemeral urbanism that can be implemented in urban areas close to different stations.

[This Academic Project has been published with text submitted by the student]