Rethinking Housing in Mumbai

To summarise the discussion for rethinking redevelopment housing in Mumbai:

1. One needs to think through conceptual diagrams and the anatomy of the built form which includes circulation, different elements that come together to make a building.

2. What kind of life does the built form afford and how does it respond to the street and the city?

3. Open spaces- everyone may not be comfortable to share spaces among others and they would require their own private spaces. Hence, one needs to design these open shared spaces keeping in mind the sensibility of the people. How does shared space change with its user profile?

4. The façade of the built form should be designed and thought of and should create thresholds for chance encounters. The built form should be able to scale down the density.

5. After studying the existing built form, how has it affected your way of thinking for design? Does it allow to hold density through its form?

6. A kitchen is always thought of just efficiency and not as a space which is used by women for most of the time throughout the day. It is the most crucial part of the design and now a days it's not only women who work in kitchen but other family members also help them. The design of the kitchen is such that it has two parallel platforms with gas stove, sink and fridge on one side and on the other it has space to store things. There is no thought behind how the space is naturally lit and well ventilated.

7. The idea of having stepped terraces in a building should allow range of activities from 4 kids playing to 50 people gathering. These stepped terraces can be double height, single height, semi shaded and open. The way you design the ground you should design the terraces.

8. How can the aspiration of common man be realigned? What are the new commons?

9. In a site plan, what gesture is made by the built form? How does the one move on the site? How does circulation of vehicles and their parking happen? Activities and gesture on ground floor invites people form the city and street to the site.

10. Imaginations of household reflect on built form. eg.: joint family/ friendships in chawl and nuclear family- apartment type

11. What is the interaction that a splintered fragmented household require?

12. Logics of household configurations- What does permutation and combination allow for different households such as joint family, rental, students etc.?

13. Is there a scope of incrementality in the designed building? How does the building grow with its inhabitants?

14. In a high rise building, there is no connection with the ground. So, new grounds should be designed on multiple floors which help people to come together and have connection to what is happening.

15. How can the scale be reduced in high rise so that every house has a connection to the ground and creates thresholds for people?