Mass Housing

Considering the fact that this population would require to be embedded in a larger network of assistance and care, the premise of this development model is to shift the configuration of people and community spaces in order to develop new social relationships that are more reliable to sustain retired life.  

It emphasizes on the following key aspects:

1)Opening up space to the city

2)Promoting mixed use by introducing residential rental housing for students since there are several education institutions around

3)Scaled common spaces for the everyday activities of people beyond the house

South West  is lowered and North East is raised to ensure light and ventilation through the central courtyard. The corners adjacent to the main road are opened up to allow the city to access the space(shops, offices) and make the edge porous. This makes the courtyard an inclusive and shared space where the flux diverse groups (children, grandparents, shop owners, visitors, office goers) would ensure security.

Clusters of houses for rehab and student rental are configured on the same floor level such that it maintains the visual connectivity while the disconnected corridors ensure that both forms of living are undisturbed and they interact via bridges at specific places. 

As opposed to thinking of the built form as an old age home  where the old people might not be able to look after each other, the idea is to involve the elderly population in a larger intrinsic network wherein children, students, visitors, office goers are imagined as nodes such that if one fails the other nodes are able to hold the dynamics together and mobilize care.

The bridges are imagined as extensions of the corridor that overlook the central courtyard and enable vertical interactions which would otherwise be restricted to the horizontality of the floor level. Double height community spaces adjacent to one end of each bridge helps to release the density of mass along an access corridor and increases connectivity among levels.

The built form staggers on the west and south facade to form a series of connected terraces that serve as common spaces for everyday activities and conversation to occur beyond the boundaries of a house.

Semi open and open to sky terraces of different scales that overlook spaces afford a variety of public and intimate activities to hold the density.

The kitchen is an open space with no partitions such that it merges with the living space and remains connected with the outside via corridor since it is used throughout the day. Although it is the most efficient space in the house , it is often dark and dingy with meager consideration for leisure, comfort etc and hence the intent is to blur the space of cooking and living to make it much more habitable and fluid. 

Wider corridor space to smaller houses for  life and living to unfold beyond the house.