The COVID-19 outbreak came out of nowhere and caught us at a time when we were unprepared for the changes. People learnt to continue there practices by maintaining social distancing and cater to them according to the new norms. When I started looking at these revised practices in my neighbourhood (Jaipur, Rajsthan) I came across this Kirana shop & home which happened together. The shop was forced to be shut because of covid. In order to continue functioning even in the lockdown restrictions it allowed its customers to enter there house which was adjoined to the shop cabin. Expansion of the shop within there living area resulted in there shop racks to be located in the living space extending from the house entry till there courtyard which in turn restricted the movement within the living quarters so that they did not come in the gaze of the customers entering the house. The shift in the shop configuration happened from the shop cabin to the living room.

The programmes which I introduced were of Coexistence of work and living independent on one another, Incremental spaces and Covid assistance. My design syntax emerged to become a system of walls and furniture to re-orchestrate the gaze within the house and the shop ,to allow the commercial and living activities to coexist ,without any hinderance. The furniture is an impermanent flexible element unlike walls which are permanent.

This new type which I designed is like an “ H” wherein the living happens on both the sides with the shop in the front. Here the front façade is the commercial urban interface (encompasses program of the shop and the covid assistance) so by replacing the walls by the furniture here allows for more flexibility. The house becomes more permanent along the length towards the back. Within the house the furniture became the partition walls between the house and the shop, shelving units, windows and door. The pavement in front of the shop also got extended beyond the initial threshold of the house front providing for more space in front for the customers to shop. It takes form of hinged furniture at places creating smaller pockets within the same space during different time intervals which allow multiple activities to happen for example the living space gets expanded during the daytime followed by the private rooms reclaimed at night.

In a pandemic-free future, the covid assistance facility can be rethought as a part of the house by changing the orientation of the impermanent furniture which built that space. Also incremental growth can be expected and the void space of the courtyard can be infilled as the family grows.