Tag: Urbanism GM

Muktangan: Reimagining Safe Spaces for Vulnerable Women

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Author: Manas Yatin Gawade
Site Location: Budhwar Peth, Pune
Institute:BMS College of Architecture, Design & Planning
Advisor: Dr. Lekha Hegde

Muktangan: Re-imagining Safe Spaces for Vulnerable Women – Case of Budhwar Peth, Pune is an architectural thesis that addresses the rehabilitation and empowerment of women and children affected by sex work, trafficking, and abuse. Moving beyond the idea of institutional sheltering, the project envisions a safe, healing, and empowering campus where architecture becomes an active partner in restoring dignity and enabling reintegration.
Designed to accommodate 100 women and 30 children, the program integrates residences, healthcare, legal aid, counseling, classrooms, vocational training, cultural spaces, and healing landscapes. A unique addition is an all-women’s residency, run by the community itself, which fosters economic empowerment while breaking stigma through positive social interaction.
The circulation of the master plan mirrors the women’s journey: entering from the chaotic main road, passing through zones of therapy and empowerment, and opening toward the serene riverfront that symbolizes liberation. Spaces are shaped through trauma-informed design principles, emphasizing privacy, autonomy, safety, and choice, with courtyards, gardens, and community spaces creating balance between protection and openness.
Rooted in the stigmatized study context of Budhwar Peth, the project aspires to transform exploitation into resilience. Muktangan offers an architectural model of safe, dignified, and community-driven rehabilitation where survivors become active agents of change.

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Drawings

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Developing Resilience Through Architecture in the Anthropocene: The Case of Gorai Koliwada

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Author: Manas Manojkumar Malpekar
Site Location: Mumbai
Institute:Dr. Baliram Hiray College of Architecture
Advisor: Ar. Samir Naik

This thesis investigates equity as an architectural framework for addressing unequal access to space, infrastructure, resources and opportunities within Gorai Koliwada. The project recognizes that these inequalities are experienced differently across the settlement, where fishermen face declining livelihood infrastructure, women have limited access to economic opportunities, children and youth experience inadequate educational environments, while elderly and economically vulnerable residents face restricted access to healthcare, sanitation, mobility and social infrastructure. The project therefore questions who architecture serves, who remains excluded and how spatial interventions can redistribute access without displacing existing communities. Rather than imposing a singular redevelopment model, the proposal works through incremental transformation of existing systems and underutilized spaces. Community infrastructure including a community center, women’s enterprise and training facilities, primary healthcare centre, school redevelopment, public sanitation, cultural streets and an upgraded fishermen’s wharf creates shared platforms for social, educational, cultural and economic participation. Equity is reinforced through accessible public spaces, livelihood infrastructure, ecological restoration and water sensitive landscapes. Tourism is integrated as a supporting economic interface without compromising community ownership or everyday functions. Architecture therefore becomes a means of redistributing spatial opportunity, strengthening community agency and enabling residents to shape the future of their settlement.

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Drawings

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Architecture of Agility: A Kit for Assembly and Disassembly

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Author: Swara Chavan
Site Location: Mumbai
Institute: School of Environment & Architecture, Mumbai
Advisor: Prasad Shetty

The demolition of informal settlements has long been a means of urban transformation used to acquire land, address environmental concerns, reorganise settlements, and pursue visions of a ‘slum-free’ city. Often, these actions occur without any rehabilitation facilities or alternative housing options, leaving communities to negotiate displacement and rebuild their lives. Bheemchhaya Nagar is a settlement on the fringes of Eastern Mumbai, beside Thane Creek Mangroves. This basti has faced demolitions three times over the last 25 years, according to records, and each time the Dalit majority community has been able to resist, claim, and rebuild on the same land again. But the act of demolitions quickly eradicates the built habitat, and along with trauma, the physical loss is certain, and each time the family has to start anew. Recognising and responding to the practical constraints of uncertain land, the project proposes a softer architecture of continuity that carries forward material memory, knowledge systems and agency. The home is imagined not as a fixed place, but as a Kit of Parts , capable of being assembled, disassembled, moved and rebuilt. The project therefore considers the home across conditions of permanence, anticipation and displacement, envisioning homes on the move when required, while holding space for the hope of permanence..

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Drawings

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Reimagining the Waterfront of Diwale

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Author: Chiara Karnik
Site Location: Navi Mumbai
Institute:Pillai University, School of Architecture & Design
Advisor: Prof. Neha Sayed

Diwale Village and Beyond reimagines the waterfront of Diwale, a historic Koli fishing settlement along Panvel Creek, Belapur, Navi Mumbai. The project responds to the village’s dense organic fabric, changing fishing livelihoods, fragmented waterfront access, cultural needs, and vulnerability to monsoon flooding.
Instead of replacing the existing settlement, the proposal introduces a flexible public layer along the creek that strengthens the relationship between the village, its community, and the water. The masterplan is organised into four interconnected precincts as the Entrance Courtyard, Temple Courtyard, Maidan, and Ganesh Ghat, each supporting different social, cultural, recreational, and livelihood activities.
At the heart of the project is the idea of temporality in architecture. Modular and movable structures allow spaces to transform according to changing needs, functioning as fish markets, community spaces, festival pavilions, workshops, libraries, and emergency refuge areas.
Through livelihood, culture, waterfront, modularity, and participation, the project proposes architecture as an adaptive system rather than a fixed object. It aims to strengthen Diwale’s existing identity while creating a resilient and replicable framework for vulnerable coastal urban villages.

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Drawings

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Hollow Ecosystems: Architectural Strategies for Avifaunal Resilience in Cities

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Author: Russell Fernandes
Site Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka
Institute: School of Architecture, CHRIST Deemed to be University
Advisor: Dr. Anitha Suseelan

Description

Ecology is often treated as an addition to architecture; however, the project positions this inter-section of architecture as an ecological interface with a focus of avifaunal resilience, i.e
the ability of the bird communities to withstand and recover from habitat loss, urbanisation and environmental change as a fundamental design parameter.
Rapid urbanisation in Bengaluru has replaced porous, biodiverse environments with sealed surfaces, fragmented green spaces and rigid built forms, resulting in the loss of natural nesting cavities, vegetation, wetlands and natural habitats essential to urban birds. As sensitive bioindicators, declining avifaunal populations reflect broader ecological instability.
The project is situated along the Hebbal–Nagavara Lake system, where wetlands, vegetation, infrastructure, and dense urban development create complex and sensitive ecological edges. The methodological analysis indicates the fragile site location at the intersection of bird flight paths crossing Bengaluru city. The project begins at a regional scale by mapping bird migratory networks and flyways, tracing movements from the North-West, North, and North-East towards Bengaluru and onwards along the Bengaluru–Mysuru corridor. The mapping reveals Bengaluru as a resting, feeding, and refuelling hub within a larger migratory network, where birds rely on continuous water and green systems as stopover habitats. This network-based analysis identifies ecological links, fragmented habitats, and potential areas requiring intervention, informing the selection of the Hebbal–Nagavara lake corridor as the project site.
In response the proposed Research Institute for Avifaunal Biodiversity and Urban Resilience integrates public education spaces, research laboratories, wetland laboratories, temporary research spaces, bird rescue and rehabilitation facilities. It acknowledges prefab-construction recycling cargo containers as a design construction strategy to lessen the environmental impacts during construction.


Drawings

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Harvesting Change

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Author: Mohammad Bilal Sheikh
Site Location: Akot APMC Market, Vidarbha
Institute: Rizvi College of Architecture
Advisor: Prof. Stuti Borwanker

Description

This thesis project proposes a transformative architectural intervention designed to mitigate the systemic agrarian crisis and farmer distress in Akot, Vidarbha. Shifting the paradigm from
temporary financial relief to long-term structural empowerment, the project envisions an integrated Agricultural Institute and Farmer Community Hub. Strategically located adjacent to the
existing APMC market, this facility serves as a vital nexus for technical education, market optimization, and community-driven resilience.
The architectural framework is engineered to address the core drivers of agricultural vulnerability, including inadequate post-harvest storage, climate volatility, and fragmented supply
chains. Central to the design are climate-resilient storage facilities, advanced training centers for precision farming, and dedicated wellness zones providing essential psychological and
social support. By centralizing agricultural resources, financial literacy programs, and transparent market linkages within a cohesive campus, the built environment serves as a catalyst for
systemic reform. Finally, the project concludes with the demonstration of how sustainable, community-based infrastructure restores professional dignity, guarantees economic stability and
provides for a self-reliant future for the farming communities of Maharashtra.


Drawings

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The Architecture of Belonging

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Author: Rishu Nilesh Pandit
Site Location: Cheeta Camp, Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Institute: L.S. Raheja School of Architecture
Advisor: Ar. Mridula Pillai

Description

Architecture of Belonging is set in Cheeta Camp, Mumbai, a settlement shaped by
repeated displacement and the continuous effort of rebuilding home, memory and
community. Belonging here is created through familiar routes, shared routines, informal
systems of care and everyday spaces where people meet, work, learn and recognise one
another.
The thesis strengthens these existing relationships by reworking civic amenities that are
present but fragmented and often disconnected from lived needs. A network of small,
people-centred interventions decentralises care, learning, sanitation, safety and public life
across the settlement. The Urban Health Care complex becomes a civic care common;
the school and its extension form a community learning anchor; the public toilet becomes
dignity infrastructure; and smaller neighbourhood nodes support rest, livelihood and
interaction.
Rather than proposing a singular landmark, the project works with what already exists,
transforming ordinary amenities into spaces of solace. Together, these precise civic repairs
create a connected landscape of privacy, comfort, participation, trust and belonging for
women, children, elderly residents, patients, students, vendors and everyday users


Drawings

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Egalitectonism Re-Imagining Democratic Instituions in the 21st Century. Re-Designing the Capitol Complex of Naya Raipur, Chattisgarh, India

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Author: Dev Thakker
Site Location: Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh
Institute: Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies
Advisor: Prof. Manoj Parmar

Description

Frustrated by architecture’s loss of its ability to act as a vessel for social reform, this thesis builds on the social ambitions of Brutalism while questioning its monumentality and hierarchical structures to develop Egalitectonism.
Egalitectonism proposes that architecture can actively produce conditions of equity rather than merely represent them. It translates the idea of social equality into spatial principles of access, movement, visibility, proximity, dignity, and shared commons. It therefore shifts architecture from an object of authority to a framework for shared participation.
The Capitol Complex, Naya Raipur, India, becomes the testing ground for this position, where the separation between democratic institutions and citizens exposes a contradiction between democratic ideals and their spatial expression. In response, the project reimagines the Institution as a Park, transforming governance from guarded territory into shared civic landscape.
The central idea the thesis proposes, “Institution as a Park”, positions institutions not as isolated objects, but as smaller interventions within accessible, lived public environments softening the edge between the institution and the individual with increased public equity. A capital should not merely represent the state; it should spatially represent the equality of its citizens.


Drawings

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The Confluence: A Multi-Modal Transport Hub in Navi Mumbai

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Author: Manali Pandya
Site Location: Navi Mumbai
Institute: The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Advisor: Ar. Vidhisha Gajjar

Description

WHEN DID TRANSPORT BECAME AN ORDEAL TO BE ENDURED INSTEAD OF A JOURNEY TO BE EXPERIENCED? India being the most populous country in the world, relies heavily on public transport for the movement of people and goods. It has always been a very important factor in shaping the nation in terms of infrastructure and development, economic growth and socio-cultural balance. Yet the transport system function as separate bodies, with limited physical, institutional as well as fare integration between roadways, railways, waterways and airways. Inadequate passenger amenities, poor accessibility, unsafe boarding and lack of maintenance make transfers inconvenient and time-consuming, contributing to congestion, pollution, and the growing dependence on private vehicles. The challenge is not just to provide more transport, but to create a connected, user-friendly system that enables seamless interchange, strengthens first- and last-mile connectivity, and act as an urban catalyst by transforming into a multifunctional node. The project addresses these challenges. It is a well-conceived integration of two key proposals by different government bodies bringing them together as a multimodal hub. This project provides a well-connected and equitable space that serves the wider community and becomes an integral part of city’s urban life.


Drawings

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Para-Sports Academy, Pune

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Author:Samiksha Sandeep Patil
Site Location: Baner, Pune
Institute: S. B. Patil College of Architecture & Design
Advisor: Ar. Ruturaj Kulkarni, Ar. Shreyasee Shinde

Description

The Para-Sports Academy at Baner, Pune is envisioned as a national-level inclusive sports and rehabilitation campus for athletes with physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities. Spread across a 47,000 sqm site, the project integrates high-performance sports training, rehabilitation, sports education, residential facilities, recreation, and community spaces within a universally accessible environment. The design is driven by Universal Design, treating accessibility as an integral part of the architectural experience rather than an added feature. Barrier-free circulation, tactile pathways, accessible facilities, and adaptable spaces promote independent and dignified movement for athletes and visitors. The academy adopts a campus-based planning approach, with interconnected zones for sports, rehabilitation, residential, administration, and public interaction. Indoor and outdoor sports facilities are supported by physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, sports medicine, counselling, and recreational spaces, creating a holistic environment for training, recovery, and wellbeing. Sustainable and climate-responsive strategies, along with landscaped and therapeutic open spaces, further strengthen the proposal. The project ultimately aims to shift accessibility from accommodation to empowerment, creating an environment where para-athletes can train, recover, connect, and excel with dignity and independence.


Drawings

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Multi-Model Transit Hub a Nexus for All

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Author: D’Souza Sean Alwyn Jennifer
Site Location: Panvel
Institute: Thakur School of Architecture & Planning
Advisor: Ar. Tushar Shetty

Description

The conception of the hub began with providing a nexus point for the ease of modal change and adhering to all the needs of commuters as well as locals. The site was chosen carefully due to the rapidly expanding transit infrastructure of Panvel and it’s close proximity to the Railway station and the State transport bus depot. The main programs classified for the hub were: ST bus depot, Local bus stops, Railways and Paratransit. Due to the overloading of the existing ST bus depot the need for a new and functional depot was a must. The newly designed bus depot held a large portion of the premium and base, inter and intra city buses as well as a fleet for airport shuttle buses due to the site’s close proximity to the newly established Navi Mumbai International Airport. The form of the hub sweeps and curves as per the direction of user travel and connects directly to the Railway platform to the north. The main feature of the form ‘The interlace’ which was designed parametrically, acts not only as a sculptural piece but also as a structural one, supporting the major load of the large span organic roof. The interlace was inspired by a Mobius strip and hence was designed in a self-twisting manner. The frontage of the site is designed as a multi lane drive way for various para transit services such as private cars, taxis and autorickshaws for pick up and drop off both. The local bus stop was shifted to the frontage due to its ease of access and better maneuvering. The site sheltered an existing public parking space which needed to be kept intact with minor changes to the layout proving better functionality for the overall parking area and site. Given its rapid growth and strong connectivity, the city of Panvel proves to be a true nexus for the future of multi-modality in transport.


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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InterVale: A Framework for In-Between Urban Experiences

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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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Banaras Hatt: Reimagining Urban Identity

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Author: Durgesh Naik
Site Location: Varanasi
Institute: Vivekanand Education Society’s College of Architecture (VESCOA)
Advisor: Ar. Abhishek Kadam

Description

Varanasi, known as the spiritual capital of India, is experiencing growing tourism and rapid urban development, which are reshaping its historic urban fabric. As new architectural typologies emerge, the city is challenged to accommodate contemporary needs while balancing the relationship between heritage and everyday life.

The project is a threshold between living heritage and contemporary architectural expression. In a city defined by sacred heritage, can contemporary architecture, through a deliberate dialogue of harmony and contrast, reinforce the relationship between people, place, and cultural identity? The design intervention is programmatic, proposing a mixed-use facility while positioning the visitor centre within the tourist network rather than an isolated location. The design responds to the dense fabric of Varanasi by easing out pressure on existing public spaces and introducing new public spaces and programs. The project establishes a new landmark that is not defined by visual dominance but rather by its social inclusivity and a new form of public space.

The project addresses equity through social inclusion, local economy, and cultural identity. It preserves and reinforces existing everyday local activities, creating collaborative spaces for local crafts, retail, and cultural activities. The project draws its architecture from Varanasi’s local material and cultural character, reinterpreting them through contemporary forms and expression to establish an identity rooted in place.


Drawings

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Aashray – Resilience Through Preparedness

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Author: Tanvi Sagar Gujar
Site Location: Nallasopara (W)
Institute: Viva School of Architecture
Advisor: Prof. Vinita K. Kolhe

Description

The proposed Community Resilience Hub with Integrated Training Centre is envisioned as a multifunctional community infrastructure responding to the environmental, social, and infrastructural vulnerabilities of the Vasai–Virar region. Located in Nalasopara, the project addresses recurring challenges such as monsoon flooding, waterlogging, limited emergency preparedness, and the lack of accessible community training and support facilities.
The project adopts a before–during–after disaster approach, allowing the built environment to remain active and useful during normal conditions while adapting rapidly during emergencies. The integrated training centre provides spaces for skill development, disaster preparedness, awareness programs, and community capacity building. Open grounds and community spaces are designed for everyday events, gatherings, and recreational activities, while their flexible nature allows them to transform into emergency shelters and relief spaces when required.
Adaptable planning strategies, deployable units, operable partitions, passive environmental systems, rainwater management, and resilient infrastructure are integrated to support this transformation. The project therefore aims to create not merely an emergency facility, but a living community resource that strengthens preparedness, supports livelihoods, and enables collective response and recovery.


Drawings

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Tea Experience Hub Munnar, Kerala

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Author:Muhammad Sadath
Site Location: Munnar
Institute: Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Dubai
Advisor: Prof. Gopika Balakrishnan Nair

Description

TeaEla Tales of Munnar is an immersive tea experience hub in the Nallathanni/Nullathanni Estate, Munnar, conceived as a journey through the landscape, culture, and people behind every cup of tea.

Munnar, whose identity is deeply rooted in its tea plantations, yet the experience of tea tourism often remains limited to viewing plantations, visiting factories, and tasting tea.

At the heart of the project is equitable participation. Rather than treating the local community as an attraction, TeaEla positions plantation workers and residents as active stakeholders. Workers can share their skills, conduct workshops and participate in cultural storytelling, while local makers gain opportunities through markets and craft sales. Visitors become participants rather than passive observers, creating an exchange of knowledge, culture and experience.

The architecture responds to Munnar’s terrain and climate through green roofs, passive ventilation, filtered daylight and rainwater harvesting, creating a sustainable relationship between built form, landscape and community.

TeaEla ultimately aims to create a shared ground where visitors, workers and residents benefit equally, strengthening Munnar’s identity while creating a more sustainable and community-centered model of tea tourism.

Drawings

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Sangam_An urban social Interface for industrial workers

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Author:Het Radheshyam Thakkar
Site Location: Panoli, Gujarat
Institute: School of Environmental Design and Architecture, Navrachana University
Advisor: Prof. Milind Mistry

Description

The design thesis looks into the social need for the industrial workers and their families. Gujarat is leading manufacturing state and has various GIDC estate with small and medium scale industries. It provides economic growth but lacks in social need and infrastructure. Can architecture be the bridge between the social need and community wellbeing for the industrial workers as well as for the nearby villagers. Can it help in changing or evolving their community wellbeing? Can it act as a catalyst between workers, their families and missing social infrastructure near the industrial belt?

The project deploys a set of programs that intent to change or upgrade the lifestyle of the industrial worker and their families. The design is created with an integrated approach towards addressing problems of the worker and their families along with the socio-cultural practices, creating employment for women while empowering communities. It balances industrial productivity with essential social support, creating a resilient, equitable environment where the working community can thrive.

Drawings

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Re-Imagining the Coastal Harborscape of Puthiyappa, Kozhikode – Reviving the Coastal Livelihoods Through Integrated Fisheries Infrastructure

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Author: Asna A S
Site Location: Puthiyappa, Kozhikode
Institute: MES College of Architecture
Advisor: Ar. Amal Mohamed Ali

Description


A harbour is more than a place where boats arrive; it is a landscape of people, labour, exchange and everyday life. Puthiyappa, one of Kozhikode’s important fishing harbours, has evolved through these rhythms for decades. Yet increasing mechanisation, spatial congestion, inadequate infrastructure and fragmented public access have created a harbour that increasingly serves its operations at the cost of the people who sustain them.
This thesis re-imagines Puthiyappa as a shared coastal commons where the fisherman, fish vendor, boat worker, migrant labourer, local resident and visitor each have a legitimate place within the harbour.
The proposal reorganises the existing harbour into an integrated network of landing, auction, processing, repair, commerce, welfare and public spaces. Heavy operational movement is separated from pedestrian life, while markets, women-centred livelihood spaces, worker amenities, community facilities and a continuous waterfront connect the working harbour back to the city.
Rather than treating infrastructure as an isolated functional requirement, the project uses it as a means to redistribute access to safer workplaces, better livelihoods, shared amenities and the waterfront itself. By building upon Puthiyappa’s existing social and economic networks, the proposal seeks not to replace the harbour, but to make more of it available to more people.

Drawings

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