In India, the term housing society refers to residential complexes that are

consisting of buildings. A housing society in India is a cluster of house owners that

reside in the same premises, apartments, or buildings forming relevant laws for

smooth functioning of amenities and utilities provided for those who are living in the

area.

Every building located in same premises must have a separate or single society.

Most of the basic housing societies in India are formed in one federation. Whereas

every housing society may run based on the charges or fees rated by the flat

owners

.

Housing In India

Issues to be considered for the Housing

Design

Density, mixed land use, (master layout) ground coverage, development

controls, social pattern

Use Urban systems, Services and their integration with the Project

Requirements (derived from surveys) in all respects

Issues in appropriate technology and costs

Issues of hierarchy, identity of space, integration of community etc

Detailing for the disabled and elderly

Local architectural responses to climate, culture, traditional values, building

elements

SITE

Ishwar Nagar

Sarai Julena

IMMEDIATE

CONTEXT

To the east of the site

is an Sarai Julena which

is a highly dense urban

village. To the west, is

Ishwar Nagar which

consists of plotted

housing.

On the north boundary

is the Maulana

Muhhamad Ali Jauhar

Marg which leads to

NH-2. Across the road

lies the New Friend’s

Colony Community

Centre. To the south

is Sukhdev Vihar.

Zakhir Hussain Corperative Housing

BACKGROUND

Client: Zakir Hussain Cooperative Society

Year of completion: 1984

Architect: Raj Rewal

History : Built for the Zakir Hussain Cooperative

Society which consisted of mostly Muslims, it

consisted of 204 apartment units and was a

great testing ground for improved concepts

later in other buildings such as high density

housing for the Asian Games Village. It was

started in 1979 but was only completed in

1984.

Some of the concepts explored through this

housing:

•Urban fabric

•Clusters

•Streets

•Gateways

•Inner courtyards

SITE ACCESS

Entry/Exit and Circulation:

There are six entries to the site.

•1,2,3.4 are used as the vehicular entries to the site.

•5 is used as pedestrian entry catering to the near bus stop at Sarai Julena.

•6 is the service entry for the site which remains closed most of the time.

Each gate is dedicated for a particular courtyard. Vehicular circulation is limited to

individual courtyards for the purpose of parking. Apart from that, the major

circulation is pedestrian.

1 2 3 4

6

5

SITE ORGANISATION

Orientation : The site is oriented east to west, casting shadows during day time to

provide relief from the sun. North-South access prevailing direction for the types up to

3 floors and also for the East-West Towers Building.

Massing and heights : Two 8 storey towers on either side of the site provide large

units of 130-160 sq. metre. There are 8 types flats in the towers. Between them are

4 storey clusters of apartments around open areas for pedestrians or vehicles. These

contain smaller apartments (50-100 sq. metres) of which there are 16 variations to

meet the specific desires.

SITE PLANNING

Area : 10198 m²

Ground coverage : 6981sqm

Green Area: 1020 m²

Parking Area: 960 m²

Byelaws applicable at the time of construction (including EWS)

Number of blocks : 24

Number of units : 204

Service available- water, sewage and electricity : there are bore-wells

present on site plus overhead tanks. There are no generators at the

society level, but there is a transformer.

People and lifestyle : mostly a Muslim society.

Climatologic measure

East to west orientation of site,

casting shadows during day time

to provide relief from the sun.

TYPE A TYPE B TYPE C TYPE D Dwelling typologies

•Two 8 storey towers were included as a means of providing large units of 130-160 sq.

metre.

•The two towers form poles at either end of the long site.

• Between them are 4 storey clusters of apartments around open areas for pedestrians

or vehicles.

•These contain smaller apartments (50-100 sq.metres) of which there are 16 variations

to meet the specific desires.

COMPOSITION OF ACCOMMODATION: There are 4 main

types with many variations, merged together and placed

symmetrically with respect to the two orthogonal principal axes.

The type studied (A) spread over 8 floors and consists of the

following environments:

- Input - Living

- Multipurpose - Veranda

- Kitchen - Terrace

- Environment Service - 3 Bedrooms

- 2 or 3 bathrooms - Storage

Access to the rooms are made through the central area

of distribution that also houses the stairwell and lift the battery

compartment.

Design principle- the planning is such that there are cubic modules enclosing a

green space on the rear side and parking area on the front side. There are two

apartments at the ends of the site. The architect is famous for his cubic volumes in his

designs. In this design of his, the influence of geometry can be seen in the patterns .

Each cluster consists of apartments facing a central courtyard.

Linear parking system

Separate parking for each cluster

Symmetric pattern as each entry takes the user into a courtyard or green space.

Open space in between cluster of building use for gathering recreations place.

No specific place for tot lots.

Specific pedestrian entrance at northern gate while other gates are used for

vehicles as well as for pedestrian.

A specific gate at northern side is used as service entrance but mostly closed.

Each apartment is facing courtyard or green space.

The other amenities are available in the radius of 200 m.

The whole community is surrounded by a green belt all along the periphery. There are

open community spaces enclosed by four blocks of buildings. the opposite blocks are u-

shaped ( circulation-wise ) .

Green spaces

•Paved pathways

•Space for

gathering

•Social

interaction

•Buffer space

•Climatology

taken into

aspect

• Paved Parking space

for each cluster

• Linear parking system

• Separate parking for

each cluster in the

middle of the clusters

The paved

walkway dividing

the building and

the courtyard

Green space

in the centre

of the cluster

Parking space

ARANYA HOUSING

INDORE

VASTU SHILPA : B.V.DOSHI

Noteworthy for its effort to integrate families within a

range of poor to modest incomes.

• MAIN AIM : Large scale low cost housing for the poor

• LOCATION : 6km form Indore

• CAPACITY : 6500 dwellings in 85 hectares

• Master plan prepared by Vastu Shilpa (B V Doshi) foundation in 1983.

• Recipient of the Aga Khan award in 1995.

• Six sectors with each sector having approximately 7000-1200 occupants.

• Designed around a central spine which acts as the business district.

• ZONING

• The residences are distributed in six sectors.

• The commercial amenities are distributed along the central spine.

• The basic amenities like schools and community centres are spread at convenient

distances.

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4

DIAGONALLY

RUNNING

LANDSCAPE

EWS

OCCUPIE

S THE

CENTRAL

PLACE.

THE WELL

OFF

FAMILIES

OCCUPY THE

PERIPHERY

OF THE

SECTOR AND

CENTRAL

SPINE.

CLUSTERS WITH

COURTYARDS AT

THE BACK OF THE

HOUSES.

COMMERCIAL

COMMUNITY &

RECREATIONAL

AMENITIES ARE

LOCATED ALONG THE

CENTRAL SPINE.

• PLANNING

• Ten houses with courtyards at the back forms a cluster.

• Clusters open into a street.

• Septic tanks are provided for a group of twenty houses.

• Internal streets and squares are paved.

• Open spaces are interlined to form a pedestrian network

to connect the whole settlement.

• The formal street network draws the vehicular traffic

outward to the perimeter road while pedestrian traffic on

informal pathways and open space network flows in the

opposite direction achieving clear and safe segregation

of slow and fast moving traffic.

• Topography of the site was an important determinant in

planning roads and other service networks to maximize use

of gravity flow and minimize cut and fill of land.

• Introduction of open slot around service core combines

twice as much toilets per manhole and cuts down pipe

lengths to half, achieving economic efficiency without

effecting its performance. The service slot has been

integrated as design element helping break the continuous

built mass and becoming useful play area for children with

platform for neighborly activities.

OCCUPANTS AND SCHEMES

•Variety of income groups.

•Payment schemes and service options reflects the financial stability.

•Houses ranging from one room shelters to relatively spacious houses.

•EWS gets a concrete plinth, a service core and a room along with the plot.

The ideological basis for planning Aranya has been the following

Vitality : development to support socio physical aspirations of the community

Image : built form to impart identity and inculcate a sense of belongingness

amongst the inhabitants.

Equity : to create equitable balanced community and satisfactory level of

opportunities for all.

Flexibility : to evolve a framework that absorbs with ease the progressive change and

growth as a part of natural development process.

MATERIALS

•Brick, stone and concrete are locally available

•Owners of plots are free to use any other material for construction.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND BEHAVIORAL ASPECTS

•To foster community feel and mutual interdependence, various income groups have

been combined and arranged in concentric rings of plots.

•Each dwelling has its own compound and territory which encourages social

interaction and supports a way of life.

•Dwellings are grouped to create small cluster spaces in a form of short streets or

cul-de-sacs or open squares like mohallas of traditional towns.

CLIMATOLOGY

•Dwellings are oriented north-south and arranged as row houses so that minimum

incident solar radiation will be absorbed by the walls.

SPACES IN THE DEWLLINGS

•An elaborate hierarchy of house extensions – spaces in front of the houses assume

semi private to private character with spill over of domestic activities. These

extensions offer variations in street form, integrates house with streets and become

climatically and culturally important spaces for daily chores.

•The dwellings are not only places of dwelling but also places for working.

• A range of house based income generated activities are undertaken.

Is Aranya housing running successfully??

•No evidence of any NGO activity concerned with community participation.

•No identifiable facility for credit and mortgage has been put in place to enable the

slum dweller to secure his place.

•No arrangement for providing gainful employment for the potential beneficiaries

have been made.

•The 80 demonstrated houses have been planned well with extreme caution and

dedication but the rest of the 4200 plots are not being used.

•15-20 % of the urban slum dwellers still own the plots while the rest of the plots

have been resold at about ten times the original rate.

•No consideration for the Muslim community . They sold their lands first due to

insecurity and unsafe surroundings after the mosque was burnt down by the Hindu

activists.

•Does not satisfy the needs to be fulfilled by the other award winning projects in

Indonesia.

KANCHANJUNGA APARTMENTS

MUMBAI

CHARLES CORREA

Thank you