Between Rising Water

Author: Tani Krishna
Site Location: Chilla Khadar, Delhi
Institute: Jindal School of Design & Architecture
Advisor: Dr. Ishita Chatterjee

Description

Located within the Yamuna floodplains at Chilla Khadar, this project explores how architecture and landscape can respond to the intertwined challenges of ecological degradation, seasonal flooding, and insecure habitation. Rather than treating the floodplain as a restricted or expendable territory, the proposal recognizes it as a living landscape that supports both biodiversity and vulnerable communities.
The design adopts a flood-adaptive approach that works with the site’s natural hydrological cycles through wetlands, sponge parks, permeable open spaces, and elevated, low-impact interventions. Housing clusters, community facilities, productive landscapes, and public spaces are carefully integrated within this ecological framework to strengthen existing livelihoods while improving resilience to flooding.
At its core, the project questions who cities are designed for and advocates for an approach that prioritizes those often excluded from formal planning processes. By proposing in-situ development instead of displacement, it preserves social networks, access to livelihoods, and the commons while restoring ecological systems. The project positions the floodplain as a shared landscape where environmental resilience and social equity are mutually reinforcing, demonstrating how architecture can become an agent of positive and lasting change.