Type , Spatial Patterns And Phenomenologies

Navapada is a settlement located in Sanjay Gandhi National Park around 150-200 years old(8 generations). It is 1.6 kms from the main gate and has a river flowing behind the settlement.Based on a public interest litigation filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group in 1995, which cited a forest department survey to say that around 400,000 people were living within the park’s boundaries, the court ruled that those who could prove they had lived here before 1995 qualified for resettlement after they paid a ‘fine’ of Rs. 7.000. The rest were to be evicted and their electricity and water connections cut off.11,380 families who qualified for resettlement have been given houses in Chandivali, and 13,698 are on a waitlist. there were a total of 67,000 huts in the encroached park area in 1997, and by the year 2000, 49,000 of these huts had been removed.

SITE MORPHOLOGY

The settlement is connected to the main road of the national park by a huge open patch or ‘maidan.’Most of the houses there are made up of karvi that is a kind of wood found in the forest. Other materials used are bricks corrugated metal sheets and rcc. Most houses are arranged in a similar pattern where they have a common courtyard between them. All houses are of a very similar type having one huge verandah that is used for multiple purposes and a huge common room divided into smaller ones as per the necessity of the people in the house

WHOLE SETTLEMENT AS ONE HOUSE

The idea of door was not clearly visible in this settlement. People move freely from one house to another without anyone's interference thus creating a pathway.

WHOLE SETTLEMENT AS ONE HOUSE

The idea of door was not clearly visible in this settlement. People move freely from one house to another without anyone's interference thus creating a pathway. The white path here shows the free movement of humans through the settlement. The different patterns are indicating several other details of the particular house contributing to form a larger single house.

Diagram showing houses in the settlement made of different materials

Diagram showing different spatial configurations of houses

this settlement was a community of warli painters. But due to more job opportunities Dinesh is the only one doing warli painting in the whole settlement.So it is a dying art and needs to be continued by the people of that settlement. In order to promote this artform I thought of providing a space for him to work and inspire other people to follow.

Program:

-Ground floor as public space which includes a space for work, socialise, conduct workshop, celebrate festivals and for sleeping.

-First floor as private space for dinesh and his mother for cooking and sleeping.

Intentions:

-Non compartmentalised fluid space

-Blurred boundaries between the outside and inside

-Multifunctional space

-Transformable space

I reconfigured it in such a way that it does not have a stereotypical rectangular boundary and has some ins and outs dissolving it with the landscape.

To blur the boundaries between the inside and the outside i added bushes and trees around it to the pockets which were formed while reconfiguring the plinth

This is the final reconfigured plan of the house showing all the vegetation the plinth and the stairs

This shows the space utilized by the people working and socializing. In the center there is a workspace for dinesh and people passing by could look at his works and get inspired. Other people in the surrounding can also work, socialize, children can play etc

My second program was to transform this same space for dinesh to conduct workshops to outsiders and tourists also.Dinesh could teach in the center and people could learn surrounding him.

The workshop here is also extended to the open space created by removing the dilapidated house.

People of the pada usually celebrate festivals at Dinesh house and they usually have idols and they perform their traditional dance. This inside space could be occupied when there would be less people.

More number of people could occupy the open space to perform their rituals and traditions

3 or 4 families of the pada used to come to Dinesh’s house for sleeping since his house has electricity. So at night time the pockets formed could be utilized for sleeping, maintaining the privac

.This is the first floor plan which is a private room for Dinesh and his mother. It has a kitchen ,2 beds and 3 openings. When he does some intricate work on expensive sarees and would prefer not to get disturb by people, he could use this room for working as well.

This is the model with the roof . i particularly chose mangalore tiles as the roof material as i not only wanted to reconfigure the space and make it look better but also match the intervention to the aesthetic of navapada.The roofs also have cuts in them which allows vegetation to grow without any obstructions.