Zahra Bagasrawala - Typology, Spatial Patterns & Material Phenomenology

Typology, Spatial Patterns & Material Phenomenology

Rupali Gupte, Milind Mahale, Anand Sonecha, Samir Raut

School of Environment & Architecture

13th September to 28th October 2021

This course focused on the understanding of Typology in Design and its intrinsic relationship to Spatial Patterns of Life and Living and Material Phenomenology's. The sites chosen for field study included historic settlements, which have evolved from settled social, cultural and climatic forces over years and have a coherence in architectural form. The objective of the studio was attuned to equipping ourselves with tools to understand settlements and intervene in them through an

understanding of type, spatial patterns, material assemblies and phenomenological readings. The design involved an interpretation of the idea of home and inhabitation leading to an insert in the neighborhood, ranging from rebuilding a house for contemporary inhabitation to the facilitation of home through an extended program. It involved intensive field studies to understand the relationships between built - form and life and to identify the type and its patterns.

SITE ANALYSIS

Name of Settlement - Khotachiwadi

Place - Girgaon, Mumbai

Khotachiwadi is a heritage village in Girgaon, Mumbai. Houses conform to the old-Portuguese style architecture. It was founded in the late 18th century. Majority of the residents are Maharashtrian Christians. There used to be 65 houses, now reduced to 28 as old buildings are being pulled down to make way for new skyscrapers. The houses are made of wood, with a large open front verandah, a back courtyard and an external staircase to access the top bedroom.

PHOTO DOCUMENTATION

SITE MORPHOLOGY

Cobbled streets, pastel coloured bungalows with sloping roofs, balconies, wooden doors, narrow external staircase made out of teak imported from Burma is what largely makes up the landscape of Khotachiwadi. Each house is vibrantly coloured, shadowed by palm trees. A little chapel is situated right at the beginning of the village which is crucial to the community.

Khotachiwadi is a heritage village in Girgaon, Mumbai, India. Houses generally conform to the old-Portuguese style architecture. It was founded in the late 18th century by Khot, a Pathare prabhu, who sold plots of land to local East Indian families. There used to be 65 of these houses, now reduced to 28 as old buildings are being pulled down to make way for new skyscrapers.

Most of the residents now descend from the original inhabitants of Mumbai. Recently Gujaratis, Marwadis have moved in but majority are Maharashtrian Christians.

CLUSTER MORPHOLOGY

In the adjoining cluster the street measures 2.5 m to 1.5 m which does not allow cars to enter this zone. Next to the Ferreira house is the Ideal wafer house and opposite to it is house number 35 which was demolished to make way for building construction. The area is surrounded by palm trees teakwood balconies, verandahs, teakwood external staircases which can be directly accessed from the street, porches. Houses across the street are two storeyed with mangalore tile sloping roofs, with a distance of nearly 0.6 m to 1 m between two bungalows.

FERREIRA HOUSE

Bungalow number 38 is the Ferreira house located in Khotachiwadi owned by Valerian and Mariya Ferreira. It is a two storey bungalow with a front porch and verandah, mangalore tile roof and teakwood staircase and furniture. The characteristic of the house is defined by its stone walls and wooden interior with low hanging chandeliers and lamps.

HOUSE TYPE

Name of owner : Valerian Ferreira

Tenancy/Occupancy : 2 people

Type of construction : Load bearing structure

Building typology - Bungalow

Special features meriting conservation : Significant external staircase forming main feature in elevation

The bungalow has two floors with a linear type plot layout. It has two verandahs at the front and back accompanied by two entrances. In the beginning is the living room followed by the dining and adjoining two bedrooms. Then come the kitchen with an extension of the bathroom added followed by the back verandah and staircase.

ANALYSIS - DIAGRAM OF NEIGHBOURHOOD / CLUSTER MORPHOLOGY + DIAGRAM OF HOUSE TYPE

The street network in the wadi is the interface between the wadi and the rest of the city. The dense network of streets connects the entire neighborhood. Some streets as 2.5 m thick while others run as narrow as 1.5 m. In most of them cars cannot enter and only one person can walk in some of them. This sometimes causes traffic but also this means the place is very quiet due to absence of honking. The porches and verandahs open out on the street. Also the external staircase to the house can be accessed directly from the streets making the bungalow a part of the street and neighborhood.

DIAGRAM OF HOUSE TYPE

Material Analysis:

The house is a load bearing structure with 400 mm thick sandstone walls. Wooden flooring and beams, mangalore tile roof, stone plinth and foundation.

Volumetric analysis :

The house is a linear type house with two entrances on the North and the south facade of the house. It also has two sit outs and staircase on either side of the house. The washroom is at the back end of the house which was previously outside the house but now has been taken inside the area of the house.

DIAGRAM OF HOUSE TYPE

Ferreira house has two storeys and each floor has an assembly of common and private spaces that make up the house. Each floor has a dining, living, kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 2 sit outs and a washroom. It has an external staircase on both ends of the house contributing to circulation. Overall the house is a linear type plot.

ANALYSIS - SPATIAL PATTERNS PHENOMENOLOGICAL READINGS

ALTERNATING AREAS OF LIGHT AND DARK

Ferreira house has many chandeliers and kerosene lamps fitted onto the ceiling which create concentrated pools of light allowing certain areas of activity to be illuminated. The chandelier suspended above the dinner table in the dining room, a lamp suspended above a reading table in the living room and the kitchen table

create comfortable and intimate spots which form individual spaces set in a larger room. The contrast of darker places between the areas concentrated with a dim yellow light makes the area more private rather than uniformly lighted rooms. Soft lights hung low and apart help define the character and usage of the focal point.

ANALYSIS - SPATIAL PATTERNS PHENOMENOLOGICAL READINGS

CROSS VENTILATION

All the doors and windows in the house are aligned one after the other to make the phenomenon of cross ventilation possible. This allows light and air to enter and exit the chain of rooms. The openings are strategically aligned to allow air flow across the house and keep it cool and bright. Also the ceiling is high making the room spacious and airy. The house mostly depended in older times on these

natural methods of ventilation and today is hindered due to high rise buildings in the area blocking flow of air and light. The windows on the periphery of the house are aligned not only vertically but also diagonally towards the south west direction. Each window is 900 mm wide and 2100 mm in height with a glass panel at the top to allow light to enter.

Ground Floor

10 am 2 pm 6 pm

ANALYSIS - SPATIAL PATTERNS PHENOMENOLOGICAL READINGS

The adjoining plan of the GROUND FLOOR of the Ferreira house shows the gradient of light quality received by each and every space in the house. The light quality through each room was observed and recorded at different intervals of time to analyze the problem areas during the day. The ground floor seems to be receiving lesser amount of light as compared to the first floor. Dining room, bedrooms and living room receive lesser light as compared to other rooms.

First Floor

10 am 2 pm 6 pm

ANALYSIS - SPATIAL PATTERNS PHENOMENOLOGICAL READINGS

The adjoining plan of the FIRST FLOOR of the Ferreira house shows the gradient of light received by each room in the house. The light through each room was observed and recorded at different intervals of time to analyze the problem areas during the day. The first floor seems to be receiving more amount of light as compared to the ground floor. Dining room, bedrooms and living room receive lesser light as compared to other rooms.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

DESIGN INTENTION

After looking at the existing patterns and features of the house the program decided was improving the existing light and ventilation conditions across the house.

For the design the first part of the intervention was adding skylights to bring in top light since the house was blocked from other directions.

Ground Floor

First Floor

The second part was chamfering the walls borrowing from the previous diagram of the openings orienting the chamfers in the wind direction i.e. south west to improve ventilation. Thirdly the washroom was blocking wind and light in the south west so it was instead moved to the south east to allow air and light inside the kitchen.

Design in Plan

Living Room

Light Gradient in the Living Room

The wafer house blocks the light coming in from the west due to it being higher than Ferreira House. The house on the east does not block the window in the living room due to it being a little behind than Ferreira house.

Hence the first skylight was placed in the western part of the living behind the window which penetrated through the first floor to bring in light on the first and the ground floor. It was chamfered on both ends and tilted to increase the surface area to bring in more amount of light

Skylight through Living Room

Altered light Quality due to skylight

Dining Room

Light Gradient in the Dining Room

The slope of the house on the east increases blocking the Eastern window completely and the west window is blocked by the wafer house.

Hence the next skylight is added in the western part of the dining room on the first floor as it is a social space used throughout the day and needs good amount of light to maintain the social fabric of the house.

But since the dining room on the ground floor is on the east and the bedrooms do not require light as they are only used at night to sleep in, oval shaped skylights were added cutting through the first floor, opening on the ground, to increase surface area without occupying much space but still being effective since the bedrooms are smaller.

Skylights through Dining Room

Altered light Quality due to skylights

Another skylight is added in the dining room since the ground floor is darker than the first floor and a social space requires good amount of light so that it does not seem dull. Also since the diameter of the skylights added are thinner there was a requirement of another skylight felt.

Skylight through Dining Room

Altered light Quality due to skylight

Study Room

Light Gradient in the Study Room and Kitchen

Last skylight was added in the study room since the washroom was shifted to the east near the study room blocking the natural light entering the room. Also the study room is used during the day to read and a good amount of natural light is required for comfort.

Skylights through Study Room

Altered light Quality due to skylight