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Defining The Identity of Technocentric Transformations In An Urban Edge – A Case of Kazhakuttom, Trivandrum
Get PDFTechnocentric developments often result in creating a socio-spatial duality in different contexts, forming a place identity with contesting nature of the global and local settlements. The location of technocentric campuses in the urban periphery results in a haphazard development with little response to the context, also resulting in social strife and generating possibilities of marginalisation and gentriication of the local communities in near future. This will affect the urban life due to a discontinuity in the urban realm. The current transformations include functional change of existing residential units into mixed-use commercial and lodging facilities and, conversion of vacant plots into high density residential and commercial functions.The transformations seen at the site of the case study also include the conversion of the earlier dead bypass stretch into a highly active corridor with restaurants, informal eateries, and hang out areas targeting the techie population which adds to the changing urban identity of Kazhakuttom. This paper attempts to envision the future development and urban identity of Kazhakuttom as the new economic district of Trivandrum city as a favourable work-live-entertainment environment with support facilities, while also incorporating local aspirations to ensure social and spatial continuity.The methodology involved a detailed macro and micro level primary study and analysis of Kazhakuttom so as to identify the issues. The methodology included correlating the primary study with literature study on concepts and theories of identity, glocalization, and hybridization. The design cues from related technocentric contexts in Silicon Valley, Gurgaon and Bengaluru allowed developmemnt of design strategies for integrating the technocentric campuses with the local context and culture of the place
Principles of Ecological Riverfront Design Redefined
Get PDFChannelization of rivers, along with beautiication and structured designated landscape design along the riverbanks, are parts of the development that occur in the urban centres around the world. Such developments are often taken up toprevent natural catastrophes such as loods, without considering the nature of the river itself. Realizing this mistake and its adverse effects towards the environment, many developed countries, such as the U.S.A., U.K., Japan, China and, many more, have started to ecologically reorganize riverfront designs to ensure that rivers are restored to their natural condition. Various principles of ecological riverfront design are available, but the information is patchy and in different documents. Hence, this research aimed at redeining the principles of ecological riverfront design. A qualitative method, using comprehensive content analysis of journals and reports on ecological riverfront designs and ecological riverfront design guidelines from selected countries, was employed to redeine such principles. In summary, these principles could become a reference for architects, planners, engineers and other related professional bodies to reconsider the ecological aspect of riverfronts while planning and creating the urban spaces along the Riverfront Designriverbanks, thereby indirectly promoting urban sustainability within the urban cities
Energy Optimisation in Office Buildings Through Daylighting Design for Climatic Conditions of Central India
Get PDFThis paper is based on the premise that energy optimisation is possible in office buildings through design of daylighting. The motivation for the study was born of the fact that in India, among all building typologies, commercial buildings consume the maximum energy. This energy consumption is mainly for cooling of the building and lighting the interior spaces. Cooling and lighting up spaces generates heat in and around the building, which again increases the cooling load. Out of the total electrical energy required in the building, around 20-40% is used for lighting purposes. Despite availability of daylight during the working hours, artificial lighting is used in offices that have huge internal spaces with large spans. This paper aims at understanding the factors related to daylight penetration into office building in different situations and developing guidelines for achieving maximum daylight penetration in large spaces
‘Beltola Lilies’ – A Solution of Housing for Lower Income People and Introduction of A Module for Flooded Areas
Get PDFThe paper analyses the issues faced by a minuscule area of a slum habitat in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. The area of the slum worked upon, the “Beltola Bostee”1, faces major problems of frequent flooding when the households of the area become unfit to live in. Hence, the inhabitants of this area shift to share other households, overcrowding the already cramped living quarters. The idea of “Beltola Lilies” emerges as an attempt to resolve the problem and provide the best possible solution. The “Beltola Lilies” is conceived as a modular accommodation that stands on ground during the dry season, but floats on water during floods, providing the inhabitants a healthy, organised, productive and cost-effective solution for housing. Built with inexpensive and indigenous materials, requiring minimum effort in construction and maintenance, having low energy needs and being sufficiently livable, it promises to address and eradicate some of the current dwelling problems in the slums that exist all over the country
Regenerating Historic Urban Areas Through Sustainable Livelihoods - Problematizing Economy Within Historic Urban Areas
Get PDFIn the historic core of Ahmedabad, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) reported major encroachments, leading to destruction of the tomb of Darya Khan [5]. The encroachments were undertaken by the local community for residential purposes and by the informal sector for commercial purpose, for which the local administration as well as the community were blamed. Urban conservation, as the example indicates, is not limited to the preservation of buildings. It considers architecture of the built heritage as one of the elements of the overall urban setting that includes living expressions such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festivals, and traditional skills implicitly embedded in the community. Heritage is, thus not only a legacy to be preserved for future generations, but also something for and abou,t the existing communities. This paper is based on the premise that today, the sustainability of historic areas rests on dueconsideration being given to the role of the communities and improvement of their quality of life through economic augmentation. There is a major shift in focus on the economic value of cultural heritage. But, merely considering the economic value of a historic site and its revenue options will not lead to a comprehensive solution for urban conservation. The aim of this paper is to understand the signiicance of traditional economy in historic urban areas, the current processes of transformation in this sector, and also its potential contribution for managing urban heritage and aiming towards larger goal of sustainability
Increasing Life Span of Government Housings of Chandigarh – A Need-Based Approach to Retrofit Through Prototype Study of E-Type Housing
Get PDFThis paper describes a project undertaken by the authors during their post-graduate studies at the University of Shefield. The intent of the project was to identify building(s) that need up-gradation/retroit, establish why retroit is required, what kind of retroit is needed and which techniques to employ, using a case-sensitive approach. However, the scope of this paper is limited to the irst two objectives of the project and the recognition of retroit techniques is left open-ended so as to leave room for future debates and deliberations.The city of Chandigarh has always been highlight prominently on India’s architectural heritage map. Various buildings designed by Le Corbusier and his team (comprising Pierre Jeanerette, Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry) are like jewels (to be treasured) on this map. Still, ever since these buildings, especially the government housings, came into existence, no systematic procedures have been undertaken to analyse and assess their deterioration with time and usage. Passing down the streets of Chandigarh, one would observe how drastically the housings have been modiied, and in some cases, have lost their original appeal.The paper is essentially drafted in three parts. The irst part illustrates the conditions and political background in which these buildings were designed, so as to better understand the essence of this architecture. The second part tries to comprehend the current state of one of the many types of the Government Housings present in Chandigarh – the ‘House Type E1’ in Panjab University. Lastly, the authors use various scales, like present seismic byelaws and Computer Aided simulation tools, to evaluate how the given housing now fares in terms of structural stability and thermal & visual comfort
Application of Fractal Growth Patterns in Housing Layout Design
Get PDFIn early phases of design, during the process of form-exploration, architects -- knowingly or unknowingly -- have used mathematics as their guiding tool to evolve a formal methodology of design. Fundamental compositional principles such as symmetry, rhythm and proportion are based on specific mathematical underpinnings. However, very often the designer comes across a situation where these underlying mathematical principles need to be overlapped or interfaced. Applying fractal concepts to the order can accommodate this complex diversity. Fractals allow us to provide a combination of order and surprise in a rhythmic composition using a specific mathematical geometry. Fractals are typically unit-based and, can thus allow exploration in architectural designs which have a ‘unit’ as a fundamental issue or necessity. The design of housing layout stands out prominently among such architectural problems and, can thus be one such instance in which fractals may be used as a design tool. Commonly seen organisational patterns in housing layout designs create rigidity and monotony, while others like clustered groups are too inconsistent and can create disorder. The research tries applying fractal ordering principles to strike a balance between these extremes by creating an orderly arrangement of houses with an underlying variation in the pattern. The traditional processes of creating housing layouts is quite cumbersome. With the mathematical power of computers, fractal ordering principles are used as Iterative functions to generate multiple design options. The research investigates the potential of the emergent patterns of fractals as an organisational principle in designing housing layouts, while limiting it based on site constraints, size and the transforming rules. In doing so, the objective is to explore the computational and mathematical basis of repetitive patterns in architectural order and compositions. The study also aims at developing a computer application, based on algorithms using fractals, which offers capabilities as a conceptual and organisational tool for a housing layout. The application is implemented, tested and its results are demonstrated using a live terrain data.
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Modernity: A Way of Urbanism -- Banaras in Indigenous Trans-Formations
Get PDFTradition of tomorrow is the modernity of today andToday’s tradition was the modernity of yesterday.
Modernity, as a process and not as an output, is a derivative of transformation. Transformations are different for diverse aspirations of its producers. Aspirations are negotiations between the needs and desires, and what can actually be achieved.Traditional beliefs and practices coexist, transform and sometimes depart from the original, as a result of aspirations of modernization and inspirations from the idea of modernity, to become modern. Since, a traditional urban community is deeply grounded in native tradition while becoming globally modern, an enquiry about how we are changing internally will lead us to the process of how we interpret and change modernity, thereby exploring various indigenous ways of becoming modern. Indigenous Modernity varies with different contexts and is a harmonious adaptation to contextual contemporary life. The cause for such transformations can be global but the effects will always be a derivative of indigenous reactions to modernity. In the city of Varanasi, the agents of modernity are spread across different periods, transforming the economic, social, and built fabric of the city. One can stretch the strands of transformations from the sacred core of the city (transformative layer of modernity, Kashi), to the outer periphery of the core (additive layer of modernity, Varanasi) and, sometimes to the trans-urban areas that grapple with global aspirations and new economic opportunities. This paper is based on a research aimed at discovering the transformations that have occurred under the forces of modernization within the physical fabric of Varanasi as well as within its society. Further, the study also looks at how sacred cities, the identity and intrinsic value of which are grounded in unassailable tradition, derive their ‘indigenous modernity’ to create a unique urbanism. An understanding will, thus, be made on modernity as something both deeply traditional and being constantlyreinvented through contemporary practices and of the signiicant link between modernity and transformation as a key to understand the phenomenon of ‘indigenous modernity’. The study spans from typological level, to the Mohalla level and, to the city level, and inally recommends ways of sustainable indigenous modernization
Perceived Thermal Environment of NaturallyVentilated Classrooms in India
Get PDFA ield study of thermal environment in naturally ventilated classrooms was conducted in the Department of Architecture at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. The study included 176 architecture students and was conducted over ive days during the comparatively cool months of December and January. The results show that 82% of participants voted for ‘comfortable’ on the thermal sensation scale. Cross tabulation of thermal sensation and thermal preference shows that 50% of those who voted within the ‘neutral’ thermal sensation range preferred cooler temperatures and 43% wanted no change. Classroom temperature was acceptable to 85% of students and unacceptable to 15% of students. Perceived thermal sensation tends toward the cool side (mean -0.26). Regression analysis yielded a comfort zone (voting within -1 and +1) of 26.9–30.8 °C, with neutral temperature of 29.0 °C. Standard adaptive comfort models yielded lower temperature than ield indings
Transformation of Urban Wetlands As An Effect of Urban Development: An Analysis of Deepor Beel in Guwahati, Assam
Get PDFDeepor Beel is a Ramsar Site and a wetland of great biodiversity, which is situated towards the South-western part of Guwahati. The Rani and Garbhanga Reserved Forests are adjacent to the wetland, which altogether stands as a complete ecosystem providing environmental solutions, food security and different types of biodiversity to the city. The forest serves as an abode to the Northeastern region’s Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus), which is an endangered species. But with various recent urban developments, the wetland and the whole ecosystem has been under threat of diminishing area of the wetland, extinction of biodiversity, as well as transformation of land use pattern of the entire area and its surroundings. The Indian Railways constructed the southern railway track in 2001, an action which gradually divided the Deepor Beel into segments and, thus, affected the wetland in particular and the ecosystem as a whole. Illegal settlements, setting up of factories, construction of highways, etc. have also hampered the wetland in many ways while also posing a threat to the urban areas. This paper shall analyse the various developments affecting the wetland and shall ind strategies to regulate further developments around the wetland