Author: Sara A
Site Location: Kakkanad, Kochi, Kerala
Institute: KMEA College of Architecture
Advisor: Asst. Prof. Megha Anil Kumar

Description

Kakkanad has emerged as a major urban corridor shaped by workplaces, institutions, housing and rapidly expanding transit infrastructure. Yet its growth has prioritised destinations and movement over the spaces between them. Roads, fragmented edges, residual land and discontinuous pedestrian networks create a city that is physically connected but unevenly experienced. For commuters, students, workers, residents and visitors, access to shade, pause, nature, interaction and public life remains dependent on where they move and what they can access along the way. The inequity therefore lies not only in reaching the city, but in who gets to experience it comfortably and meaningfully.
INTERVALE positions the in-between as the foundation of a liveable, walkable transit-oriented neighbourhood. Along the emerging Kochi Metro corridor, fragmented edges are transformed into a continuous public realm where transit, commerce, social life, nature and dwelling overlap. Walkable connections extend beyond movement to create opportunities to pause, encounter and participate, while the mixed-use layers support everyday needs within reach of one another.
Here, transit becomes more than a means of efficient movement; it becomes a catalyst for equitable urban life. By turning residual spaces into shared places and connecting destinations through a continuous network of everyday experiences, the project shifts TOD from a model of accessibility towards one of liveability, belonging and shared urban opportunity.

Drawings

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