Tag: Neighbourhood GM

Housing for the Urban Poor: A Landpooling Approach to Revitalize Vathuruthy Colony

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Author: Fathima P.V
Site Location: Willingdon Island, Kochi, Kerala
Institute: MES College of Architecture
Advisor: Ar. Vijaya Nhaloor

Description

‘Rooted in Reality, Responsive by Future’ is a design philosophy that begins by acknowledging the truths of an existing place, its people, building patterns, and lifestyle while shaping interventions that can adapt to future needs. It is about respecting the identity of a community while equipping it for resilience and growth.
In this rapidly urbanizing society, the chance of eviction for underprivileged settlement like Vathuruthy colony is high, often in the name of ‘development.’ This thesis challenges that approach, proposing an inclusive alternative for the Tamil migrant community on Willingdon Island. Established in the 1960s to support naval base construction, the colony has grown organically, developing strong social ties but also facing congestion, poor infrastructure, and flood vulnerability.
Through a land pooling strategy, the design reorganizes the fabric into cluster-based layouts that retain familiar spaces while introducing improved housing, shared public areas, and climate- resilient infrastructure. The approach ensures equitable access to resources, prevents displacement, and strengthens community identity, transforming Vathuruthy in a way that evolves from its past while preparing it for the future.

Drawings

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Rethinking Urban Housing Density – Enhancing Community Integration in Hyderabad’s Housing

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Author: Sivani Dirisala
Site Location: Hyderabad, Telangana
Institute: Wadiyar Centre for Architecture
Advisor: Nelson Pais

Description

In contemporary urban environments, particularly in cities like Hyderabad, the adoption of standardized construction technologies, combined with bylaws such as an uncapped FSI, has fueled a surge in high-rise developments dominated by typical 3BHK and 4BHK layouts, regardless of actual demand. While these practices streamline construction and reduce timelines, they have also led to a homogenization of housing—prioritizing profit and maximizing returns. This market-driven approach creates a monopoly over centrally located land, making housing in the city center inaccessible to the working class and other family structures.

This project positions itself as a counterpoint to existing housing models in the city’s core. Instead of vertically repeating a single layout and multiplying it across the site, it introduces varied layouts that respond to diverse family structures. The design takes a different approach where the smallest parts also dictate how the overall project turns out. The relationships between these units are explored to create shared spaces and commonalities across multiple scales, reimagining density as a network of connected communities. The proposal aims for a context-sensitive density model—one that prioritizes livability and long-term community well-being over short-term commercial gain.

Drawings

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Revitalization of Benarasi Karigari

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Author: Priyal Patel
Site Location: Vishwanath Gaali, Varanasi
Institute: MIT School of Architecture, Pune
Advisor: Dr. Neeti Tirvedi

Description

The handloom industry of Benaras has served the livelihoods of over 75% of the population, predominantly comprised of Muslim weavers, for more than 400 years. The craft is developed as a legacy of their ancestors, continued by successive generations. However, the lackadaisical view towards the weavers in Benaras have forced them to live in a sub- human environment, creating an adverse impact on the craft of handloom weaving, leading to migration of weaver’s community to the periphery. The craft is facing the threat of extinction due to the exploitation of weavers by Gaddidars (traders), and growing usage of power looms, which enable faster and more cost-effective production.
Housing Conditions: Due to insufficient income, multi-weaver families live in overcrowded and uninhabitable conditions, sharing the same limited space for both domestic activities and weaving production. According to the research and documentation of existing dwelling units in Vishwanath Gaali, we observed the need for a space which would incorporate the weaving activity separately along with the domestic work.
The Aim of the Project: The aim of the project is to commercialize hand loom weaving by bridging the gap between the weavers and the local community in the old town of Varanasi. The intent is to create tangible spaces for intangible interactive experiences that engages both residents and weavers, bringing the craft into the public realm by showcasing it on the streets of the city. By integrating tangible aspects of urban design with the intangible cultural heritage of weaving, the initiative seeks to safeguard the weaver community within the old town, thereby preserving the essence of traditional hand loom craftsmanship.
The Site Plan: The design of the site plan is inspired from the process which is involved in pre and post weaving activities. The project aims at creating a weavers walk which would involve the experience of viewing the processes of weaving by the tourists. The weavers would also be provided with stalls at the end of the walk where they can display their art and sell their products together. The design of the site plan is done in a way to encourage the weavers to carry out activities such as washing of threads and dying work done together in the central area of the site. This would ultimately connect the local weavers to their potential clients simply without an interference of the traders. This also involves an additional source of income for the women to run food stalls along with their weaving studios. This would inculcate in them, a sense of inclusivity and security within the community of the old town of Varanasi and ultimately preserve the age-old craft of handloom weaving.

Drawings

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The Metamorphosis of Worli Koliwada

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Author: Srilekha Malladi
Site Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Institute: Dr. D.Y. Patil School of Architecture
Advisor: Amit Shirke

Description

The Metamorphosis of Worli Koliwada reimagines one of Mumbai’s oldest fishing villages as a resilient, community-driven waterfront. Caught between the pressures of redevelopment and the weight of heritage, the project proposes an alternative future, one that protects cultural memory while enabling growth.
The design unfolds through co-creation with the Koli community, embedding their lived routines, rituals, and occupations into spatial strategies. Instead of erasing the dense gullies, the project strengthens them through phased development: incremental housing upgrades, flexible public spaces, and resilient infrastructure. The seafront transforms into an amphitheatre and marketplace, where daily livelihood meets collective leisure. A folded plate roof inspired by fishing nets symbolises the dialogue between tradition and contemporary construction.
At its core, the thesis argues that urban design is not about replacing communities but amplifying them. By merging heritage, resilience, and equity, the project sets out a model for how Mumbai’s indigenous settlements can thrive amidst rapid urban change.

Drawings

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Parivartan: Re-imagining Slum Living of Bandra

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Author: Adburrab Ansari
Site Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Institute: Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Design, Integral University
Advisor: Zeba Nisar

Description

Parivartan: Re-imagining Slum Living is a people-centric redevelopment proposal for the dense informal settlements of Bandra West, Mumbai. Rooted in the philosophy of People-Centric Urbanism and guided by the framework of Regenerative Urbanism, the project envisions a future where slum redevelopment is not merely about housing provision but about enhancing quality of life, preserving community identity, and fostering socio-economic growth.

Through inclusive planning, the design integrates mixed-use vertical housing, accessible public amenities, and vibrant green spaces at both ground and podium levels, ensuring a balance between private comfort and shared community life. Cultural values and lifestyle patterns of residents are retained through flexible housing layouts and active open spaces that encourage interaction.

Sustainability is embedded through modular construction, climate-responsive design, and integrated landscape planning. By addressing housing, livelihood, and ecology together, Parivartan becomes a replicable model for equitable and resilient urban transformation—demonstrating how architecture can be a tool for social upliftment while shaping a more inclusive urban future.

Drawings

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Colony to Community: Redevelopment of Antulenagar Leprosy Colony

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Author: Bhavya Shah
Site Location: Pune, Maharashtra
Institute: IDPT, Sarvajanik College of Engineering and Technology (SCET)
Advisor: Niraj Naik

Description

Leprosy is one of the oldest known diseases to mankind, which has forced thousands of cured individuals into isolation, giving rise to colonies like Antulenagar, Pune. The cure has been established half a decade ago, but the stigma persists, leaving these individuals and their family members excluded from the city’s social and urban fabric.

The thesis takes Antulenagar as a site of redevelopment and reintegration. The master plan envisions an accessible housing premise addressing the special needs of the residents, focusing on accessibility and adaptability.

Shared facilities, including a communal kitchen and dining, are designed to encourage interaction and support amongst the community, while barrier-free access ensures every resident is included in every space. The surroundings are proposed to be liminal spaces for the neighbourhood, serving as social buffers, reconnecting Antulenagar with its neighbours, slowly dissolving decades of stigma. Antulenagar is more than just the built form. It is an effort to promote dignity, belonging, and equality. Antulenagar aspires to stand as a replicable model for India, aiding in the redevelopment of other marginalised colonies into inclusive neighbourhoods.

Drawings

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Housing and Landscape Urbanisation: A Case in Kolhapur’s Extents

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Author: Aditya Mahajan
Site Location: Kolhapur, Maharashtra
Institute: School of Environment and Architecture (SEA)
Advisor: Prasad Shetty

Description

Complexities of land, caste-based segregation, people’s agency, agriculture, and industries give rise to a distinct urban and house form within city extents. These forces led to questions about life and space, intervening through diverse socio-political and environmental logics. The architectural inquiry is therefore about thinking of inhabitation forms where space emerges through fragmentation, accretion, and the ideas of permanence and impermanence.
Based on a thorough analysis of the biographies of resident families, the design imagines a housing and landscape urbanisation project driven by the community. It intervenes through planning, rethinking builtforms, and inserting infrastructural landscapes. By understanding ways of homemaking, it derives a proportioning system and stratifies the terrain into habitations.
Analysing land conditions, affordances, transformations, and intensification of homes, the project suggests a strategy for planning and rebuilding, estimated over the next 15 years, to improve living conditions. The proportioning system is developed into household modules, which can be permutated, appropriated, and grown over time by arranging them in various ways. Made with steel, reinforced fiber panels, and patra, they are meticulously designed with proportional sizes, proper ventilation, play of spatial syntax and volumes, ensuring costeffectiveness. Furthermore, the site systems can be configured to create varying degrees of publicness.

Drawings

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A Model for Spatial and Urban Regeneration of Lodging for Healthcare: The Case of CMC Vellore

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Author: Sakthi Jeeva S
Site Location: Vellore, Tamil Nadu
Institute: CARE School of Architecture
Advisor: Kartikeya Chhaya

Description

Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore has been a key driver of the city’s growth and transformation. As one of India’s most prominent medical tourism hubs, it now serves more than 9,000 patients daily. Unlike most hospitals, the majority of users are not locals but people arriving from distant states such as West Bengal, Bihar, as well as countries like Nigeria and Bangladesh. Many of them stay in the city for extended periods—often three to four months—until their treatment is completed.
To meet this rising demand, the neighbourhood directly opposite the hospital has undergone a remarkable yet unplanned transformation. Almost every building has been converted into a lodge, with the ground floors packed with eateries, pharmacies, and travel agencies. The Bengali community, making up nearly 95% of visitors, has also left a strong cultural imprint on food and language.
While this ecosystem is highly adaptive and vibrant, it suffers from poor spatial quality, inadequate infrastructure, and issues of hygiene and comfort. These lodges, shaped by urgent needs and quick fixes, follow a consistent but fragile ownership and functional pattern.
This thesis takes the position that equitability should not only be considered for patients and their families as users, but also for owners whose buildings embody fragmented forms of investment and livelihood. Rather than pursuing demolition and wholesale redevelopment, the project adopts Patrick Geddes’ idea of “conservative surgery”—preserving existing cultural and ownership patterns while carefully introducing architectural upgrades, programmatic changes, and spatial guidelines. By reimagining both built and unbuilt environments, the project aims to evolve fragmented lodges into a resilient, equitable, and supportive urban system around the hospital.

Drawings

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Young India Integrated School: Designing a Least Restrictive Campus in Hyderabad

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Author: Tushita Thumati
Site Location: Hyderabad, Telangana
Institute: School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal
Advisor: Rachna Khare

Description

In India, the promise of inclusive education often remains limited by invisible barriers, whether architectural, social, or cultural. Schools, instead of becoming sanctuaries of growth, frequently turn into restrictive spaces that separate children with disabilities from their peers. The challenge lies not only in physical access but in creating environments that affirm dignity, belonging, and participation for every child.
The Young India Integrated School is envisioned as a prototype for the Least Restrictive Environment in education. Here, architecture becomes a mediator of relationships; between children and nature, between community and institution, and between learning and play.
The design employs curvilinear forms, interconnected courtyards, and sensory alcoves to create spaces for both engagement and retreat. Textured walls, fluid transitions, and nature-infused commons guide navigation while supporting well-being. Spaces respond to varied sensory and social needs, allowing inclusion to be lived as an everyday experience.
This school is more than an institution. It is an evolving framework of equity and resilience, an architecture that dissolves boundaries and becomes a living pedagogy of inclusion.

Drawings

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Beyond the Box: Apdapting IKEA’s Design Language to Gurugram’s Cultural Heritage

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Author: Nazni Yoonus V
Site Location: Gurugram, Haryana
Institute: DG College of Architecture
Advisor: Indu Sreenivasan

Description

Beyond the Box: Adapting IKEA’s Design Language to Gurugram’s Cultural Heritage explores how a global retail giant can evolve to reflect local identity. IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, is known for its standardized, functional, and cost-effective store design. While this model ensures brand consistency, it often leads to placeless architecture. Gurugram—a rapidly urbanizing, planned city dominated by high-rises and modern glass facades—presents an opportunity to question this approach and reintroduce cultural depth into retail architecture.

In recent years, IKEA itself has begun to move away from the “one-size-fits-all” model. IKEA Vienna, completed in 2022, is a prime example, designed as a compact, urban-friendly store with terraces and green facades—demonstrating how the brand is evolving to respond to its context Inspired by this evolution, the project proposes an IKEA for Sector 47, Gurugram, on a 9-acre site with a built-up area of 45,651 m². The design integrates Mughal architectural principles—arches, symmetry, domes, and courtyard-like pause areas—enhancing cultural resonance and enriching user experience.

The design addresses common challenges in IKEA stores—long circulation paths, wayfinding issues, and limited cultural connection—by introducing clear navigation, pause zones, and social spaces. The outcome envisions an IKEA that is not just a retail destination but also a cultural landmark: one that balances efficiency with rootedness, global identity with local heritage, and commerce with community.

Drawings

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Generative Design for Traditional Communities: From Roots to Resilience

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Author: Vidulla Ghodekar
Site Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Institute: Pillai College of Architecture
Advisor: Neha Sayed

Description

Chimbai is a quaint coastal village nestled in Bandra, Mumbai, home to diverse fishing communities, including Hindu, Kathiawadi and East Indian families. Once characterised by low-rise Koli houses and a close-knit fishing community, it has gradually transformed from single-storey dwellings to a mix of contemporary structures. This shift has altered the traditional fabric of the community and attracted a more diverse population.
In the recent years, the community has begun rebuilding their houses, resulting in haphazard development that lacks any character or identity. Such conditions may draw the attention of the authorities and risk rehabilitation of the community due to high land value.
The generatives design process empowers the community by letting them decide the development process. It supports them in rebuilding their homes through design guidelines that address existing issues while preserving the socio-cultural identity of the village. This process allows residents to develop their houses at their own pace, enabling Chimbai to evolve organically over time. It will also invite people from all walks of life to explore the seafront, its cuisine and culture, thereby boosting the local economy.
This approach presents a model for community-led regeneration in rapidly urbanising cities, where architecture is rooted in people, place and purpose.

Drawings

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Aasara: Threads of Shelter — Weaving Waste into Urban Renewal

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Author: S. Aishwarrya Shre
Site Location: Deonar, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Institute: Acharya’s NRV School of Architecture
Advisor: Gracy H David

Description

Aasara is a human-centric design proposal that rethinks slum redevelopment beyond the conventional high-rise resettlements. Rooted in empathy and lived experience, the project draws from the social, cultural, and economic rhythms of informal communities—where the idea of home extends beyond shelter to livelihood, identity, and belonging.
Set within the dense fabric of Mumbai’s informal settlements, Aasara adopts a bottom-up, participatory approach that places people at the heart of the process. It addresses two pressing urban challenges—housing insecurity and solid waste—by upcycling materials like plastic-sand composites and construction debris into resilient, low-cost building components.
The design proposes modular housing clusters built around shaded courtyards to foster community interaction, safety, and microeconomics. Passive climate strategies and shared infrastructure promote comfort and inclusivity. Every detail—material, form, and spatial relationship—emerges from local context and need.
Aasara is not merely a housing solution but a call for systemic change—where architecture becomes a tool of empowerment. It envisions cities where waste is reimagined as opportunity, and the most marginalized are uplifted through dignified, climate-responsive design. Aasara stands as an assertion that true sustainability begins with compassion and context.

Drawings

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Yelahanka Mixed-use Transit Hub, Bangalore

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Author: Akshita Jain
Site Location: Bangalore, Karnataka
Institute: School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
Advisor: Dr. Arun Ramani Grover and B.K Tanuja

Description

Public transit in India is becoming increasingly one-dimensional, failing to take into its fold the functions, economics and diversity of our cities.
This proposal for a mixed-use metro transit hub in a Tier 2 locality (Yelahanka) within a Tier 1 city (Bangalore) aims to embed economic and social sustainability into transit developments by extending the idea of air rights and designing them as integrated mixed-use developments that perform as active urban hubs for the locality while encouraging decongestion within the city center. This hub combines profitable (offices, retail) and subsidized (EWS/LIG housing, metro) components within a single building complex creating a financially self-sustaining model of development that serves a socially diverse population.
Secondary objectives are to prioritize public and shared transit (private vehicles are diverted from prime sightlines), to reposition the transit stop from being a node to a destination in itself (functions as a hub of activities instead of a passing through point) and to preserve and enhance existing city-level systems for environmental well-being (Bangalore’s historic system of stormwater drainage is a critical zoning consideration).
The outcome is a transit hub that pays for itself, houses diverse communities and transforms public transit into a catalyst for self-sustaining urban growth.

Drawings

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Beyond Transactions: Reimagining Dadar Phool Market as an Olfactory Marker

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Author: Tulsi Jilla
Site Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Institute: CTES College of Architecture
Advisor: Tanvee Joshi

Description

This thesis symbolizes the idea of taking the temporary essence of flowers (their beauty, fragrance, and rituals) and embedding them into a lasting identity through architectural interventions—reimaging Dadar Phoolmarket as a permanent symbol of culture, community, commerce, and sustainability.
It envisions the market as an ecosystem—where flower trading, environmental sustainability, and cultural exchange coexist—bringing together culture, commerce, and community in a seamless flow. Olfactory design plays a key role by enhancing the user experience through curated as smellscape within the market space, transforming the movement to the market. Waste management will evolve beyond mere disposal into flower recycling industries, producing commodities, fostering new economic activities within the market’s framework.
This thesis also proposes streetscape interventions to unify the market and its surroundings, creating a pedestrian-friendly public space that addresses congestion and enhances community interaction. By leveraging the market’s cultural roots and transforming it into a self-sustaining hub, the project aims to give Dadar a distinct identity, redefining the role of markets in urban environments. This reimagined space aims for the Phoolmarket to stand as a model of sustainable urban transformation, blending tradition with modern urban sensibilities and offering a solution to the challenges faced by public markets today.

Drawings

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In The Search of Light: A Case of Subhash Nagar, Andheri, Mumbai

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Author: Akash Kamble
Site Location: Andheri, Mumbai
Institute: IES’s College of Architecture
Advisor: Manasi Chokshi

Description

This approach begins with a simple belief: architecture must serve those who have long been left out of the design conversation. In cities like Mumbai, where nearly half the population lives in informal settlements, these places are often reduced to symbols of neglect or urban disorder. Yet what is often overlooked is the social fabric, resilience, and cultural identity that hold these communities together.
The proposal reimagines redevelopment as an inclusive and respectful process that values people and the strength of their relationships. At its heart is the idea of equity, where every resident receives equal consideration in terms of housing, infrastructure, and shared spaces. Rather than fragmenting the settlement or isolating families, the design seeks to nurture connection within the community and with the wider city.
The process is guided by the ideas of listening, educating, and empowering. By engaging with residents, documenting their lives, and learning from their stories, the design responds to their needs and aspirations while also setting up long-term strategies for self-sustainability.

Drawings

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School of Thought: Architecting Dharavi’s Future Through Civic Design

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Author: Agatha Mary Mohan Ponraj
Site Location: Dharavi, Mumbai
Institute: Avani Institute of Design
Advisor: Ar. Niraj Pillai

Description

The origins of the project lie in observing the everyday as architectural. Drawing from Pauline Gallacher’s question in Everyday Spaces: “Is there still potential in the forming of neighborhoods for little spaces of contradiction, which stand aside from the transience of the here and now and testify to the past of a place and its future possibility?”

I grew up in Dharavi. Not in the map of it, but in the texture of it—the closeness, the choreography, the constant negotiation of space. As I entered architectural education, a dissonance appeared: the city I knew and the city the discipline wanted to draw were not the same. One was fluid, porous, shared. The other was enclosed, programmed, rendered. This thesis comes from the need to reconcile those two visions.

Cities like Dharavi are rarely short of architecture; they are full of it—walls that become blackboards, staircases that double as markets, courtyards that host festivals and funerals alike. What they lack is recognition. Conventional design frameworks call these conditions “informal,” but in reality, they are civic systems—messy, adaptive, and profoundly intelligent.

This thesis begins by taking those overlooked logics critically. It does not read incidental spaces as leftovers, but as urban instruments that shape collective life. Through mapping, observation, and critical inquiry, the project transforms these cues into architectural propositions that resist closure and invite appropriation. The aim is not to solve Dharavi, but to listen to it—and in doing so, to reframe architecture as an act of equity: a structure that acknowledges multiplicity, amplifies everyday practices, and opens itself to use far beyond what is drawn.

Drawings

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Assumptions to Inclusion: Rethinking the Social Datum

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Author: Prathamesh Mahajan
Site Location: Mumbai
Institute: L.S.Raheja School of Architecture
Advisor: Ar. Mridula Pillai

Description

Architecture is often described as a reflection of society. But what happens when that reflection is incomplete, shaped by assumptions of who belongs and who does not? This dissertation, Assumptions to Inclusion: Rethinking the Social Datum, explored how architecture can move beyond these presumptions to embrace equity and inclusion.

The study began with the idea of datum as a physical reference, but soon revealed its parallel in society: the social datum, invisible norms that dictate who is prioritized and who is overlooked. These norms often exclude the differently abled, neurodiverse individuals, non-normative identities, the elderly, and the economically marginalized. Seen users are typically accounted for in design, while unseen users remain unconsidered.

To confront this, the research used comics to narrate everyday struggles of diverse individuals in the city, grounding design in lived stories rather than abstractions. The chosen site, Watson’s Hotel and Kala Ghoda Chowk in Mumbai, was both symbolic and practical. Once marked by exclusion, it is reimagined as a civic space rooted in participation, memory, and belonging.

Design interventions, such as a stramp for equitable mobility, calm zones, un-gendered restrooms, and multi-sensory navigation, are not add-ons but embedded principles. Together, they form the Urban Living Room, a space that challenges assumptions and shifts the social datum toward equity.

Drawings

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The Post-Modern Acropolis

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Author: Syed Affan
Site Location: Hyderabad
Institute: BMS School of Architecture
Advisor: Ar. Anjan Kumar

Description

The Post-Modern Acropolis proposes a two-strata city that relinquishes the ground to vehicular movement and the podium to people. At grade, vehicles run in a de-conflicted network of roundabouts, lay-bys, and separated lanes, improving flow with fewer stops while keeping service, emergency, and deliveries efficient. Above, a continuous, car-free podium becomes the neighborhood’s living room—step-free, universally accessible, and richly programmed with markets, schools, play courts, gardens, and civic spaces stitched by open terracing and active frontages.
“Mandi” terraces anchor local livelihoods, giving micro-retail and fresh-produce trading a dignified space that is visible, safe, and walkably close to homes. The topography enables direct emergency access to the podium without long ramps, while discrete cores handle waste, loading, and back-of-house services without crossing pedestrian desire lines.
Climate comfort is designed in: tree canopies, high-albedo paving, and bio-receptive moss concrete temper heat, absorb noise, and clean the air; terrace gardens and permeable soils manage stormwater. The result is an urban equity uplift—more public space, safer streets, and everyday amenities within a 10-minute walk—delivered alongside smoother, more predictable traffic below.

Drawings

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PRAVEXUS – South Bengaluru Metropolitan Transit Hive

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Author: Yadav Krishnan U
Site Location: Bengaluru
Institute: V-SPARC, Vellore Institute of Technology
Advisor: Rituparna Das

Description

Rapid urbanisation in Indian metropolitan regions has exposed critical inequities within transport infrastructure. Public transit nodes, which should function as central points of accessibility and interaction, frequently remain overcrowded, directionless, and non-engaging. These deficiencies generate a domino effect of challenges, including reduced efficiency, social exclusion, and compromised safety, ultimately undermining the equitability of urban mobility.

The thesis project PRAVEXUS, located in South Bengaluru, proposes a multi-modal metropolitan transit hive that redefines the role of transport hubs within the city. The design positions equitability as a core principle, ensuring affordability, inclusivity, and accessibility across age, gender, and working class. Anchored in the conceptual framework of arches as symbols of movement and rebirth, the project integrates transit with commercial and civic functions to create a dynamic urban interface. Through contextual analysis and circulation-driven spatial strategies, PRAVEXUS addresses systemic inefficiencies while promoting mutualism between public infrastructure and socio-economic activity. The project demonstrates how multi-modal hubs can extend beyond transit efficiency to act as catalysts for equity, engagement, and urban identity within rapidly transforming metropolitan contexts.

Drawings

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Building a Bridging Community: Re-imagining the Lives of the Sexworkers and Children of Sonagachi Redlight Area

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Author: B Vishnu Priya
Site Location: Sonagachi, Kolkata
Institute: Department of Architecture and Planning, College of Engineering, Trivandrum
Advisor: Arun Cherian

Description

Going into Sonagachi and identifying the real issues inside is one of the most challenging tasks known to India. Over the years, It has formed impenetrable layers of security within itself making it difficult to leave once trapped inside. A sexworker’s  desire to escape from the cycle of prostitution, abuse and illness is overshadowed by fear and a lack of sufficient support systems.

This project aims to provide the sexworkers and children the freedom of choice by providing all required facilities to leave the profession and transition back into society as strong independent citizens. Once a sexworker has chosen to leave Sonagachi behind, this project welcomes them to join the process of reintegration.

The design program involves a newly curated administrative and architectural self-sustaining ecosystem to provide housing, opportunities for upskilling, assistance with child care and access to education, leisure and sense of belonging.

Exclusion can only be addressed by involving the public in the sustenance of this project. Hence the project forms 3 layers of privacy on site. The site level zoning forms a market area where the people of Howrah and Kolkata can freely move about. The second level stacks the housing of the women on top of the commercial zone creating a secondary street network exclusively accessible to the tenants. The third layer addresses the need for institutional facilities required for liberation.

The future of Sonagachi is not written in stigma, but in the strength of its women. A city that no longer defines them by the walls they were once confined within, but by the possibilities they are free to pursue. This project is a step toward an urban fabric that chooses inclusion over exclusion, dignity over neglect, and liberation over silence. In reimagining the lives of the women and children of Sonagachi, we are reminded that architecture is not just about structures—it is about lives, choices, and the collective courage to create change.

Drawings

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