Projects Facts –
Project: Workshops, Unit Design, Competition Proposal
Collaborators: URBZ, Pankaj Gupta, Sir JJ College of Architecture,
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Structural Consultant: Arup India
Year: November 2014
Design Team: Diane Athiade, Shravanthi Kanekal.
The projects showed here are a result of research, workshops collaborations spanning a duration of 5 years. During this period the studio in collaboration with URBZ participated in workshops with students from Sir JJ College documented homegrown settlements while at other times worked with the knowhow of local contractors like Pankaj Gupta in building an office and home for URBZ in Shivaji Nagar. This collective resulted in a competition entry for Reimagining Dharavi. Our proposal for Dharavi questions the understanding of the so called slum as a problem of our city its rather than reimagine calls for re-positioning it as a solution, a potential model for affordable housing within the city.? We reject the idyllic,?utopian imagination of Dharavi by?the?outsider and in effect propose our intervention as one of an armature of infrastructure. A systemic construct jacketed on existing built form?that addresses?issues of sanitation and structure while reinforcing the formal incremental process of building over time. We in?principle?provide an armature for?habitation anticipating the ingenuity of incremental homegrown?strategies. Our solution is one of suturing and?reinforcing ground realities.
