Tag: Social Design GM

Durgangan: Integration of working studios and an experience centre for the craft of the Kumars

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Author: Anway Kundu
Site Location:New Town, Kolkata, West Bengal
Institute: School of Planning & Architecture
Advisor: Dr. Jatinder Kaur & Ar. Ashod Deep Raina

Descriptio Kumartuli’s traditional idol-making industry powers Bengal’s UNESCO-recognized Durga Puja economy, yet operates under severe spatial paralysis, abysmal living conditions, and supply-chain failure. Because in-situ renewal schemes routinely collapse against hyper-dense urban constraints, this project investigates whether decentralising heavy industrial production to a high-performance satellite hub can resolve logistics while restoring artisan welfare. Utilizing spatial-mapping, movement-flow analysis, and socio-cultural zoning, Durgangan establishes a 17.28-acre masterplan in Action Area 1A, New Town, Kolkata. The proposal introduces a hybrid tectonic model—integrating structural steel, concrete, and engineered bamboo—to balance structural spans with local material adaptability. Key findings prove that strict vertical bifurcation—relegating heavy fabrication, storage, and worker dormitories to a lowered -1.0 m plane while raising public concourses—eliminates tourist congestion without severing public engagement. Strategic bamboo louvres and passive cooling systems dramatically optimise the microclimate, transforming raw industrial sheds into dignified living-working environments. Ultimately, Durgangan demonstrates that heritage preservation does not require passive museumification. Instead, it offers a scalable architectural framework that modernises traditional craft supply chains into a resilient, year-round economic spine for Bengal’s artisan community.n

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Drawings

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Unfolding Access Through Foldable Habitats for Agariyas of Kutch

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Author: Kumud Balwant Shahi
Site Location: Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat
Institute: Lokmanya Tilak Institute of Architecture & Design Studies
Advisor: Ar. Niladwuti Chattopadhyay

Description

The Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) in Gujarat is home to the Agariya community, traditional salt farmers who migrate to the vast saline desert for nearly eight months each year (October-May) to harvest salt. During the monsoon (June-September), the Rann floods, forcing them to return to their native villages with their families and belongings.

Life in the Rann is defined by extreme climatic conditions and a severe lack of basic infrastructure. Temporary shelters provide minimal protection against intense heat, strong winds, and unseasonal rainfall. Women face significant challenges due to inadequate sanitation, while children’s education is frequently disrupted by seasonal migration. Although the government’s Rann Shala initiative, mobile classrooms operating from buses has improved educational access, its limited coverage leaves many children underserved. Water scarcity further intensifies these hardships, with potable water supplied by tankers only once every 30 days.

This proposal envisions a network of climate-responsive, deployable architectural interventions and permanent structure that address the community’s essential needs through adaptable housing, education, sanitation, healthcare, and shared community spaces. Designed to respond to the dynamic desert landscape, the project aims to enhance the resilience, dignity, and quality of life of the Agariya community while respecting their seasonal migration and traditional salt-farming practices.

Programmatic Objectives is to create a prototype for 26 Agariya families which includes:

Water Systems – Rainwater harvesting tanks.

Family Dwellings – Modular living units adaptable to different family sizes.

Community Space – A shaded gathering zone for social and cultural activities.

School Module – Beyond a classroom, a shared space that enables children’s education, women’s empowerment .

Clinic – Small first-aid and maternal health facility.

Dry Community Toilet –     Gender-segregated, eco-friendly toilets with waste composting.


Drawings

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From Furnace to Care: Designing Equitable Health Access for Firozabad’s Glassware Workforce

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Author: Gauri Goyal
Site Location: Firozabad
Institute: MIT Art, Design & Technology University, School of Architecture & Planning
Advisor: Dr. Neeti Trivedi

Description

Firozabad, the Glass City of India, produces the vast majority of the nation’s glass through more than 150,000 artisans — the Kanchhkars — who labour beside furnaces exceeding 50°C, breathing silica dust without protection. Burns, silicosis and failing lungs are their daily wage, yet the city has no specialised care of its own; the nearest burn centre lies 40 km away in Agra, where the critical Golden Hour is lost in transit.

From Furnace to Care is a specialised burn and respiratory hospital sited beside — and as an extension of — the Centre for Development of the Glass Industry, placing treatment within reach of the workers who need it. Its concept, the Breath of Life, turns the worker’s struggle to breathe into architecture: breathing courtyards that inhale, a filtering terracotta skin, and stepped terraces that exhale. Rooms are assigned by clinical need, not wealth; passive cooling and rooftop solar keep care affordable and self-reliant. Equity is built into location, plan and section — returning breath, and dignity, to the hands that give India’s glass.


Drawings

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A Safe Heaven for Children of Sex Workers

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Author: Swetlana Chatterjee
Site Location: Chhapna, West Bengal
Institute: National Institue of Technology, Rourkela
Advisor: Ar. Mohd Nauman Nizamuddin

Description

“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” — Matsuo Bashō

Children who grow up where their mother’s livelihood is invisible by day and exposed by night are at high risk of abuse, exclusion, and despair. These children suffer from social exclusion, constant anxiety, depression, unmet needs, and fear of being absorbed into the industry, highlighting the urgent need for geographically and culturally appropriate rehabilitation spaces (Nanjunda & Jyothi Lakshmi, 2024). Additionally, the red-light environment is fraught with substance use, violence, crime, and precarious living conditions that are profoundly harmful to a child’s physical and emotional development (Deepa & Manjula, 2020).

The project aims to design a residential rehabilitation center for children of sex workers and minors rescued from sex work, supporting their holistic development. The children of the Sonagachi (ward 18) have been targeted. The site is 22°33’39.55″N 88°30’36.85″E.

It integrates a Class 1-12 school, vocational training, one-stop center, dispensary, residences, and rehabilitation facilities. A feasibility survey included 50 sex-worker mothers, 7 NGO workers, and 206 children from Classes 1-10. Their needs and aspirations informed the design, creating a safe environment that empowers children to reintegrate into society and reclaim their stolen childhoods and futures.


Drawings

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Neurodevelopment School Centre at Andheri, Mumbai

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Author: Vaishnavi Daphal
Site Location: Andheri, Mumbai
Institute: Dr. D. Y. Patil School of Architecture
Advisor: Prof. Anish Joshi

Description

Manobodh Gurukulam is a Neurodevelopment School and Therapy Centre in
Andheri, Mumbai, designed for children with diverse learning, sensory and
communication needs. The project focuses on four user groups- children with ADHD,
Autism Spectrum Disorder, dyslexia and hearing impairment- recognizing that each
child experiences learning and their surroundings differently.
The design translates these differences into an inclusive architectural environment
through a continuous, non-linear learning loop, developed as the Synaptic Bridge.
The curved classroom spine avoids dead ends and creates a predictable circulation
system, while a protective outer layer buffers the learning spaces from external noise
and activity. Within the classroom zone, four spatial configurations respond to
movement, visual communication, structured learning, and language and focus.
Landscape becomes an extension of learning and therapy, incorporating sensory
movement circuits, outdoor classrooms, retreat spaces, water and sound therapy,
and horticulture zones. A gradual sensory gradient allows children to move between
active and calmer environments according to their needs.
The project brings architecture, landscape and learning together as one continuous
environment, offering every child opportunities to move, learn, interact and find calm.


Drawings

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Sacred narratives of water : Weaving cultural legacy into livelihood

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Author: Aditi Mahesh Kadav
Site Location: Solapur
Institute: Vidya Pratishthan’s School of Architecture
Advisor: Ar. Piyush Shah

Description

In Indian tradition, the Ganga is revered as a divine feminine—powerful like Maa Durga and serene like Maa Saraswati. Yet, today, the sacredness associated with both women and water stands in contrast to reality: women continue to face exploitation, while water remains increasingly scarce.

This thesis seeks to restore this balance through architecture. After exploring urban contexts where such an intervention could create meaningful impact, Solapur was selected—a dry, rain-shadow region where water scarcity intersects with the exploitation of women beedi workers.

The project proposes a livelihood and learning center that enables women to become financially independent through locally rooted skills such as Solapuri Chadar weaving, shenga chutney and bhakari making, alongside life and entrepreneurial skills. A kindergarten allows them to learn without worrying about their children.

Water becomes the heart of the architecture. Rainwater is harvested and stored through stepwells, while its movement shapes the campus. Local materials and alternative construction techniques are employed, with men from the surrounding community trained during construction, creating another layer of livelihood.

The project brings water, women, and architecture together—reviving the sacredness of water, strengthening the dignity of women, and transforming cultural knowledge into sustainable livelihoods.


Drawings

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The Language of: Architecture as a Spatial Narrative Beyond Vision

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Author:Rizwan Ahmed Shibargatti
Site Location: Hubballi, Karnataka
Institute:Angadi School of Architecture
Advisor: Ar. Saleem S Totad

Description

India has a large population of children with disabilities, yet there is a scarcity of comprehensive institutions that cater to multiple disabilities simultaneously. Conventional architecture often privileges vision as the primary means of understanding space. Parents often hesitate to send their children away due to emotional attachment and safety concerns, limiting access to education and skill development. This project addresses these challenges by providing a safe, inclusive, and stimulating environment where children can thrive independently.

The proposed Integrated Sensory & Cognitive Development Campus in Hubballi, Karnataka, addresses a critical gap in infrastructure for children with blindness, deaf-muteness, and intellectual challenges. While India has a large population of children with disabilities, comprehensive institutions catering to multiple disabilities simultaneously remain scarce. The project seeks to move away from conventional architecture that exclusively privileges vision, creating instead an inclusive environment where different abilities can coexist, participate, and learn independently.

The project is a multi-disciplinary educational and rehabilitation institute for blind, deaf/mute, and intellectually challenged (IC) children. It includes: Adaptive classrooms for each category of disability Therapy and counseling rooms Skill development and vocational training workshops Recreational and cultural spaces Residential facilities for students from distant region


Drawings

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Landslide Memorial and Museum, Wayanad

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Author: Ansil Aslam K.U
Site Location: Wayanad
Institute: School of Planning & Architecture, Thrissur
Advisor: Prof. Geetha. A

Description

The Landslide Memorial and Museum, Wayanad is conceived as an architectural response to the 2024 Chooralmala–Mundakkai landslide, transforming a landscape of loss into a place for remembrance, education, healing, and resilience. The project preserves the landslide terrain as a geoheritage landscape while creating spaces that communicate the geological, ecological, cultural, and human dimensions of the disaster.

Guided by the concept “From Earth to Rebirth,” the visitor journey is organized into three stages: Origin, Resilience, and Rebirth. The architecture follows the natural contours of the site, minimizing excavation and allowing the built forms to integrate with the existing terrain.

The museum combines interpretation galleries, educational spaces, and community programmes with areas for contemplation and remembrance. An elevated walkway connects the museum to the preserved landslide site, culminating at a memorial platform with a participatory gabion wall where visitors contribute stones as symbols of remembrance and collective rebuilding.

Through a restrained architectural language, controlled light, framed views, and transitions between enclosed and open spaces, the project creates an experiential journey from grief towards hope, while promoting environmental awareness, disaster preparedness, and community resilience.


Drawings

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Indian Institute of Creative Technology

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Author: Srushti Pawar
Site Location: Mumbai
Institute:G. S. Mandal’s Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
Advisor: Ar. Pranita Bokankar

Description

Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT) is envisioned as a national-level institute for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, Extended Reality, and Digital Design, responding to the growing demand for an integrated creative-technology education in India. The project proposes a campus where learning extends beyond conventional classrooms into shared, interactive, and informal spaces.

Set on a contoured site in Mumbai, the design works with the natural terrain to create a layered campus connected by a Creative Spine. The Central Plaza forms the social heart, while Creative Thinking Pods and Viewing Decks provide spaces for informal learning, collaboration, pause, and interaction. Academic spaces are interconnected through courtyards and open areas, encouraging cross-disciplinary exchange and a continuous learning environment.

Technology is integrated into the architecture through kinetic, climate-responsive façades that regulate solar exposure, glare, heat gain, and ventilation. Rotating classrooms introduce adaptability by allowing learning spaces to respond to environmental conditions and changing spatial needs.

The institute is conceived not merely as an educational building, but as a dynamic ecosystem where technology, climate, landscape, and people interact to foster creativity, collaboration, innovation, and inclusive learning.


IMPORTANT FEATURES
1.Central Plaza-
The Central Plaza forms the main gathering space of the Campus, bringing students from different departments together
2. Creative Thinking Pods
The Creative Thinking Pods provide informal spaces where students can think, discuss, sketch, and develop ideas.
3. Creative Spine
The Creative Spine forms the primary pedestrian network of the campus, connecting academic departments, the library, creative pods, and shared spaces
4. Viewing Decks
The Viewing Decks are elevated interaction spaces that allow students to pause, relax, and engage with the surrounding campus.
5. Kinetic Climate-Responsive Facades
The Kinetic Facades are designed to respond to changing climatic conditions. Their movement helps regulate solar exposure, glare, heat gain, and natural ventilation, creating a more comfortable internal environment. The facade combines environmental performance with a dynamic architectural expression.
6. Rotating Classrooms –
The Rotating Classrooms introduce adaptability into the conventional learning environment. Inspired by the concept of movable spaces such as the Sharifi-Ha House, Iran, the classrooms can change their orientation to respond to environmental conditions and create varied spatial
experiences. This makes the learning environment more flexible and dynamic.


Drawings

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Redevelopment of Rabindra Sadan Complex

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Author: Gude Abhiram
Site Location: Kolkata, West Bengal
Institute: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT KGP)
Advisor: Prof. Arup Das

Description

For more than six decades, Rabindra Sadan has been where Kolkata comes together — for a play, a film, an exhibition, a book, or simply to spend time together. But as its cultural life grew, the place grew around it without a larger plan. Institutions became fragmented, paths began to overlap, the lake edge was left behind, and the infrastructure that supported this public life could no longer keep pace.

This thesis asks a simple question: how can a place that already belongs to the city make more room for people?

The proposal reconnects the cultural institutions through a continuous public spine that leads to the lake, turning the forgotten edge into an everyday public landscape. Parking and services are consolidated to release the ground for gatherings, festivals and informal life. The limited developable land is taken upward, while three independent circulation cores allow public, institutional and event users to move without conflict.

The result is 67% more built-up area with only 3% additional ground coverage. More is built, without taking more ground.

People occupy the ground. Culture occupies the skyline.


Drawings

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Invisible Origins: Reconnecting Urban Identity with the Forgotten Systems that Shaped it

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Author: Anshika Agarwal
Site Location: Ahmedabad
Institute: Sri Venkateshwara College of Architecture
Advisor: Prof. Krishna Priya

Description

Cities are shaped not only by their visible architecture, but by the systems of labour, industry, craft, culture and technology that produce them. As these systems disappear from public memory, urban identity becomes increasingly disconnected from its origins. This thesis explores how architecture can make these invisible foundations legible again.

Ahmedabad provides a layered narrative of this transformation, evolving through Sultanate, Vernacular, Industrial, Modern and Contemporary eras. The former Calico Mills site, once central to the city’s industrial identity, now remains largely as fragments, with its chimney standing as a physical trace of its past.

However, remembering a city cannot be limited to preserving its past. If urban identity is collectively created, the spaces that represent it must also remain accessible to the communities that created it. The project therefore extends beyond the museum into a civic landscape of cultural spaces, markets, festivals, workshops and everyday gathering, creating a gradient of access between the institution and the surrounding neighbourhood.

The project asks how architecture can make forgotten systems visible while creating equitable spaces for collective life.


Drawings

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Parai, Magal-eer(+leisure)

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Author: P. Preeti
Site Location: Watrap Pudupatti, Tamil Nadu
Institute: R V College of Architecture
Advisor:Prof. Meera Vasudev Srinivasan

Description

The project explores how architecture can intervene within the caste-divided spatial landscape of Watrap Pudupatti, Tamil Nadu, through the everyday lives of Paraiyar women. Rather than attempting to erase caste difference, it creates layers of democratic space that allow different communities to coexist while gradually challenging who can occupy, access, and control space.
At its core, the project establishes ownership as a foundation for leisure and agency. Land, therefore, is not treated simply as a site for a building, but as a means of reclaiming spatial autonomy. The architecture creates a sequence of public, collective, semi-private, and intimate spaces, allowing women to move between gathering, learning, performing, producing, resting, and governing.
The five fundamental rhythms of the parai become the project’s architectural syntax. Their patterns of repetition, pause, acceleration, and release are translated into spatial operations—compression and expansion, thresholds, courtyards, movement paths, gathering grounds, and moments of pause.
Rather than a singular monument, the project becomes a porous network embedded within village life. Open grounds, shaded courts, landscape, and transitional spaces allow everyday movement to flow through the institution. Architecture thus becomes a framework for ownership, visibility, leisure, collective expression, and coexistence, creating spatial loopholes within an existing caste hierarchy.


Drawings

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Between Rising Water – Re-Imagining the Yamuna Floodplains

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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.


Drawings

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Energy Commons: Reimagining Energy Infrastructure as a Place for Civic Engagement

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Author: Radhakrishnan M S
Site Location: Kaloor, Kochi
Institute: SEED APJ Abdul Kalam School of Environmental Design
Advisor: Ar. Chinchu Kumar Sreekandan

Description

Energy Commons begins with a simple question: why should the infrastructure that powers our cities remain inaccessible to the people who depend on it? Located at Kaloor, Kochi, the project reimagines an existing substation through a second enquiry: when changes in infrastructure leave spaces underused or inaccessible, does architecture have a role in giving them back to the city? By exploring the future typological transformation of substation infrastructure, the project opens up the infrastructure and its residual spaces and reclaims them as part of the city’s commons.

The project is organised around three connected cores: Infrastructure, Awareness and Making. The Infrastructure Core houses essential energy systems, including battery storage and distribution; the Awareness Core creates spaces to see and understand energy systems; and the Making Core supports manufacturing, repair and exchange of electronic goods. Three courts connect these cores, creating spaces for gathering, neighbourhood life and engagement with the energy system, while linking the project to the existing metro network and surrounding neighbourhood.

Rooftop photovoltaics, photovoltaic fac;ades and kinetic surfaces integrate energy generation into the architecture. Energy Commons transforms inaccessible infrastructure into an accessible civic resource-giving space back to the city and bringing energy into the everyday commons.

Drawings

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Saaransh- School, Vocational and Therapy Centre

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Author: Saniya Bhargava
Site Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Institute: Institute of Architecture and Planning, Nirma University
Advisor: Dr. Chandran Rekha Jetty

Description

Saaransh is a reimagination of the educational institution as an environment that responds to neurodiversity. Designed for autistic children, the project integrates education, therapy, vocational training and caregiver support within a unified campus. In a context where autism-focused education and therapy are often accommodated within small, spatially constrained establishments, Saaransh proposes a larger institutional campus that provides a safe and expansive environment where children can move, explore, play and express themselves freely.

The campus is organized around interconnected courtyards that provide secure access to nature, daylight, ventilation and outdoor activity while supporting intuitive orientation and visual supervision. Sensory rooms, shaded verandahs and transitional spaces provide opportunities for regulation and retreat.

The architectural language is intentionally approachable, using fragmented blocks, curvilinear circulation and rounded edges to reduce institutional rigidity and improve safety. Exposed CSEB masonry, white plastered entrances and natural textures establish a calm, legible material palette, while courtyards and sensory gardens become integral to the architecture. Through the interplay of space, landscape, material and sensory control, Saaransh proposes an environment where architecture actively supports learning, emotional regulation, independence and social participation.

Drawings

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Inclusive Retirement Habitat: An integrated Environment for Senior Living in Urban Fabric

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Author: Sraddha K
Site Location: Panampilly Nagar, Kochi, Kerala
Institute: TKM School of Architecture
Advisor: Prof. Dipu George

Description

As India’s ageing population continues to grow, conventional senior living communities often remain isolated from everyday urban life, limiting opportunities for social interaction and community engagement. This project proposes an alternative approach by integrating senior living within the urban fabric of Panampilly Nagar, Kochi, Kerala.

Developed on a 3.1-acre site, the proposal combines retirement housing, commercial spaces, community amenities, healthcare facilities, and a business hotel within a single mixed-use development. The project seeks to create an environment where older adults remain connected to the rhythms of city life while maintaining comfort, dignity, and independence.

The design is organized through a layered hierarchy of public and private spaces. Active commercial and community functions occupy the lower levels, while landscaped recreational terraces, healthcare facilities, and residential spaces create opportunities for interaction and active ageing. A business hotel integrated within the development enhances economic viability and introduces a diverse user group, encouraging intergenerational engagement.

By transforming an inward-looking institutional site into a socially connected urban destination, the project reimagines senior living as an active and inclusive part of the city.


Drawings

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Habitat Continuum

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Author: Aryan Paranjape
Site Location: Saswad
Institute:IES’s College of Architecture
Advisor: Prof. Sanket Mhatre

Description

A landscape is rarely inhabited by one life alone. At Saswad, seasonal vegetation, wildlife and agricultural communities depend upon the same territory, yet each experiences and responds to it differently.

The thesis began with a simple question: Who are we designing for? Studying how people move, how wildlife adapts, how the landscape changes, and where these patterns meet revealed that the challenge was not a lack of space, but a lack of understanding.

This shifted the approach from “What should be built here?” to “What can design heal here?”

The project proposes a capacity-building centre organised around dialogue, understanding and care, bringing together a Public Interface, Research Wing, Rescue Unit, Rapid Response Garage and Dormitory. Each addresses a different need; from community support and field research to emergency response and sustained engagement. An adaptable Info Cart extends this intent beyond the centre.

The architecture follows the site’s contours, seasonal rhythms and existing patterns through clustered, permeable and minimally grounded interventions. Water systems, vegetation and open spaces become active parts of the proposal rather than residual landscape.

Inspired by the Chabutara, the project asks how architecture can make room for different lives without allowing one to overshadow another.

Ultimately, Habitat Continuum seeks to create a shared territory where different needs can find space, support and belonging.


Drawings

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Rural Development: A Holistic Approach to Healing, Learning and Creating, at AKOLE, Maharashtra

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Author: Manvi Yogesh Jondhale
Site Location: Akole, Maharashtra
Institute: D Y Patil Deemed to be University School Of Architecture
Advisor: Prof. Anita Shyam

Description

The project addresses the uneven distribution of essential services across the rural landscape of Akole by creating a shared environment where healthcare, education, and livelihood opportunities are brought together within a single integrated framework. Located in Katlapur, the proposal responds to the needs of surrounding villages by improving access to social infrastructure that is often concentrated in larger urban centres.
The design is organized around the Healing Spine, a continuous public pathway that connects a Rural Hospital, a School for Classes 1–12, skill development centres, artisan workshops, and community spaces. More than a circulation route, the spine becomes a common ground where healing, learning, and creating intersect, encouraging interaction across age groups, occupations, and social backgrounds. The project views architecture as a catalyst for equitable development by ensuring that essential resources are accessible, connected, and shared. Through a network of inclusive spaces and community-oriented infrastructure, it seeks to strengthen social well-being, create Opportunities for growth, and support a more resilient rural future. Rather than functioning as isolated institutions, the various programs work together to build a holistic ecosystem that empowers both individuals and the wider community.


Drawings

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Urban Scar to Social Common

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Author: Manu Viswam E
Site Location: Kollam
Institute: College of Architecture, Trivandrum
Advisor: Prof. Sreeram Ramesh

Description

The collapse of Kollam’s global cashew trade left behind more than derelict infrastructure. It fractured the socio-economic identity of a city built on this industry. This proposal transforms a historic industrial zone,  the historic Harrisons & Crosfield factory, along the Kollam waterfront into a civic bridge: reclaiming land once closed off by industry and returning it to the public as democratic, shared ground.

Rather than a static repository of artifacts, the museum operates as an active urban threshold honouring the working-class legacy of cashew labourers while rehabilitating the ecological edge and anchoring Kollam’s future to its maritime heritage. The strategy of “selective preservation and radical insertion” retains the memory of the industrial grid while breaking it open for pedestrian permeability, sinking and elevating programs to free the ground plane for public movement, planting, and gathering.

Equitability drives the design: livelihood training for women workers, a shaded civic edge for fishermen, learning spaces for students and youth, and heritage made accessible to visitors — without displacing local life. Heritage here becomes working infrastructure, not an object for viewing.

Drawings

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Loco Iron Cultural Park, Parel

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Author: Sanskar Khatri
Site Location: Parel, South Mumbai
Institute: Rachana Sansad’s Academy of Architecture
Advisor: Prof. Neha Panchal

Description

A jewel of Railway’s industrial heritage, the future of historic structures, the ecology, and the active industrial economy of the Parel Locomotive Workshop appears uncertain because of the Central Railway’s Parel Terminus proposal. This thesis critically analyses the idea of a terminus in an infrastructurally-exhausted locality, and attempts to make a counter-proposal: A cultural and ecological park for the people, open to all.

When the grounds of the Parel Loco Workshop become available for the public as the Loco Iron Cultural Park, they make quality recreation and cultural spaces accessible for all. This thesis sees equitability not just as designing for access and utility. Rather, it imagines equitability as designing for experience – experiences that can be garnered by the wealthy and the underprivileged; by children, adults as well as the elderly; by able-bodied and the differently-abled alike. True equity does not simply reflect through design decisions, it is lived in small everyday experiences through design thought. This project attempts to manufacture such subtle experiences, giving to each one what they demand at different scales – a space to rest, or a building to perform, or a job to sustain family.

Drawings

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