Urbanism Portfolio- Akshaisankar Sabu

PORT FOLIO /AKSHAISANKAR

"What is the city but the people"

‘The Story of a BST Bus

In a lecture given at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Charles Correa, one of India’s greatest architects and urban planners narrated an interesting story from the city of Mumbai.

He recollected seeing a washerman and a moneylender, who belong to two different castes and economic classes, sitting side by side in a Mumbai BST bus. He hilariously explains: “3000 years ago, lord Budha and Mahatma Gandhi 100 years ago spent their whole life trying to abolish the caste system in India. And both seem to have failed. And here comes a stupid bus, without any political agenda. And it’s changing India” These words pretty much reveal the magical power of urbanisation to bring people together and transform the social systems. Cities are the engines of social change.

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Parramatta will be a city along the river celebrating its history, diversity and centrality

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O I N G C N D I T I ON

PARRAMATTA CITY ALONG THE RIVER #INTEGRATED PLANNING STUDIO Pennant Hills Hills Pennant

Future Sydney Metro West Station Beecroft Beecroft

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This strategic plan is developed as a comprehensive document to bring ‘city along the river’ into realisation by focusing on its strengths, characteristics, and history to evolve into a city which is globally recognised for its world-class features and also serve as the second CBD to the Greater Sydney Region. The report begins with a scrupulous analysis of site context in reference with its relative location within Greater Sydney Region, probing into the existing policies within which the site exists along with a brief snapshot on the demographics statistics. The detailed analysis of the site provides a framework for the development of an inclusive vision for ‘city along the river 2050’ comprising exhaustive structure to achieve it. The inclusive vision for the city is developed encompasses major five themes which are further elaborated in detail in the report.

Cheltenham Cheltenham

M2 M2

Train Station

A28 A28

Epping Epping

Seven Hills Hills Seven

Roads

Carlingford Carlingford

Toongabbie Toongabbie Waterway

Westmead Health and Education Super Precinct

A40 A40

Eastwood Eastwood

Dundas Dundas Valley Valley

Telopea– Telopea– Oatlands Oatlands

A6 A6 Denistone Denistone

Westmead Westmead Health Health

Pendle Hill Hill Pendle

Next Generation Living Camellia to Carlingford

North Shorts Shorts Corner Corner

M M

Rydalmere– Rydalmere– Dundas Dundas

Camellia –Rosehill

North Wentworthville Wentworthville

M4 M4

Westmead Westmead South South

A44 A44

M M

West Ryde Ryde West Melrose Melrose Park Park

Ermington Ermington

Rydalmere Rydalmere

A3 A3

CBD CBD

Meadowbank Meadowbank

Parramatta CBD

Harris Harris Park Park

Camellia –Rosehill

South South

Camellia Camellia Industrial Industrial

Wentworth Wentworth Point Point

Rhodes Rhodes

Granville Granville Silverwater Silverwater

Merrylands Merrylands

M4 M4

Clyde Clyde

Auburn Auburn

Olympic Park Sydney Sydney Olympic Olympic Lifestyle Super Precinct Park Park

Carter Carter Street Street

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Auburn Auburn

advantage of its strategic central location. The city along the river is a notion to develop the area into a vibrant and thriving place taking advantage of its essential natural asset which is the Parramatta River catering to the needs of the existing and growing population.

Concord West West Concord

Goat GoatIs. Is.

Fort FortDenison Denison

Guildford Guildford

Homebush– Homebush– North North Strathfield Strathfield

Lidcombe Lidcombe

M M

Garden GardenIs. Is.

Balmain Balmain

North Strathfield Strathfield North

Flemington Flemington

CBD CBD

Yennora Yennora Berala Berala

Villawood Villawood

Leightonfield Leightonfield

Chester Chester Hill Hill

A4 A4

Strathfield Strathfield

A6 A6 Carramar Carramar

•

Homebush Homebush

A28 A28 Fairfield Fairfield

A3 A3

Read full report: https://issuu.com/akshaisankars/docs/report_for_issuu

Burwood Burwood

Glebe Glebe

Paddington Paddington

Surry SurryHills Hills

Croydon Croydon Sefton Sefton

Regents Park Regents Park

Ashfield Ashfield

Canley Canley Vale Vale

The Greater Sydney Region has proliferated over time with increased demand for housing, jobs, a healthy environment, places to relax all which are better connected and served to result in increased pressure on the existing urban centres. Given the diminishing capacity of Sydney city to accommodate more growth and maintain its liveability, the Greater Sydney Region has come up with the ‘Metropolis of Three Cities’ to develop new centres so as to relieve pressure on the existing centres. Parramatta has emerged as a part of the Central City District Plan to be developed as the second CBD of Greater Sydney providing diverse housing, jobs, recreational areas, vital services within a healthy environment which are better connected. The site consisting of Parramatta CBD, North Parramatta and Westmead burgeoned around the Parramatta River provides an opportunity to develop an urban centre taking 1

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DIVERSITY

RIVER

CENTRALITY

-VES GENTRIFICATION

FLOOD

DISCONNECTED

CHURCH ST.

WESTMEAD

BRICKFIELD

WENTWORTHVILLE

Commercial Core Mixed Use Enterprise Corridor High Density Residential Medium Density Residential Westmead H&E Precinct Educational use Industrial Jobs Business Development Neighbourhood Centre Local Centre Adaptive Reuse

CBD PHASE 1: 2020-2027 Westmead

New T-Way connection Action 1 A

Victoria Street redevelopment

Wentworthville centre

Initiating land use change

M Commercial core

Westmead centre

Greenspace development

EX I ST I NG

Residential development

CO N

Gr

New Loop

een

Improving the pedestrain connection M

T

Mixed use development

DI

Social Infrastructure

T IO

New Metro Stations

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Initiating land use change/ Amalgamation

PHASE 2: 2028-2035

Extending Lightrail

Westmead

This strategic plan is developed to bring ‘city along the river’ into realisation by focusing on its strengths, characteristics, and history to evolve into a city which is globally recognised for its world-class features and also serve as the second CBD to the Greater Sydney Region

Action 1 A

USYD Campus

T

T

M

90722

11,2080

AM 225025

34893

139276

160168

AM 286476 53567

Commercial Space: 279.5 ha

Commercial Space: 400.8 ha

Green Space: 979 ha

Green Space: 984.7 ha

Recreational Space: 18.0 ha

Recreational Space: 34.9 ha

Community Space: 10000 sqm

2050

Community Space: 15000 sqm

2050

The current situation of pandemic has disrupted the normal functioning of the city making it crucial to incorporate associated measures for its systematic functioning today as well as in the future.

k

Adaptive Reuse

Westmead centre

Greenspace development Residential development

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Mixed use development

T Riverfront development

Social Infrastructure Initiating land use change/ Amalgamation

PHASE 3: 2036-2050

New regional Connection

Toongabbie Cr ee kA a re

x

T High Density, Residential towers

The study identified 9 character zones within the site. The BAU model was reimagined based on this.

The proposed masterplan creates a development spine along the river supported by decentralised local centres along the transporation nodes.

Commercial core

Brickfield Hill Residential estate

Green Lin

PROPOSED

Student housing

Wentworthville centre

New T-Way connection

BAU

Doyle Ground Redevelopment

Belmore Park Redevelopment

Westemead R&D

Westmead

N.Parramatta station Improved T-way connection

M

Action 1 A

Church street Enterprise Corridor

Wentworthville centre

M Victoria Rd. Enterprise Corridor

Commercial core Greenspace development Residential development

M

Mixed use development Social Infrastructure Initiating land use change/ Amalgamation

New regional Connections

MLCP

PEDESTRIAN PATH

LANDMARK BUILDINGS LANE

TEMPLE PLAZA

ARTS CENTRE

HERITAGE ITEM 1

HERITAGE ITEM 2

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CANLEY VALE LOCAL CENTRE DEVELOPMENT #URBAN PRECINCT STUDIO This project was done as a part of the urban precinct studio under the guidance of Dr. Deena Ridenour. This studio aimed to interrogate current practice defined by Government, through the lens of liveability and resilience and to propose a cohesive master plan that enhance qualities of the local centre.

The major problem identied from the morphological studies was the impermeable urban fabric of the centre. So the design process gave focus on transfiguring the pedestrian mesh by significantly altering the block divisions. The existing cul-de-sacs are extended and new streets are added to form a fine pedestrian mesh. This is done considering the location of major amenities within the site- making them the movement nodes.This eventually makes a sound network of local amenities. Open spaces are distributed along the nodes, ensuring a green public space is associated with every anchor point. Keeping this structure as basic framework the density is carefully increased within the grids giving primary considerations to sun access and human-scale.

The existing masterplan according to the DCP was significantly altered.

Instead of the high-rise model in the DCP, a medium desity urban form was proposed inorder to respond to the village character of the place.

and enhancing 1. Creating landmarks and visual axis

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Orienting buildings to open spaces

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Maintain the human scale of the place

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Inner streets to break larger blocks

5.

Creating an interlinked network of green space

3.

REDFERN

STREET UPGRADE

09.00 PM

06.00 PM

04.00 PM

02.00 PM

10.30AM

This urban revitilisation project was done as part of introduction to urban design studio under Gabriela Fernandez. This was a street level urban design intervention. The key objectives were to activate the street life, improve the safety and to respond to the rich culture and history of Redfern area

09.00AM

#UD STUDIO PROJECT

sociopfugal furnitures more spaces seating

INTERACTION

outdoor dining space

food

RESTAURANTS

STUDENTS

interaction spaces

KIDS PLAYING

CLUB

lighting music

DOGS SHOPPING

safety OUTDOOR DINING

more dining space

TRAIN USERS

free path

ARTS

The proposal was the continuation of the extensive activity analysis and user surveys. Various activities and the user behaviour was mapped. It was found that the street activities had a really short duration. The intervetions focused on catering to the high pedestrian

TRAIN PASSENGERS

COMMERCIAL

NEIGHBOURHOOD

cultural activities and encourage people to spend more time in the area. This was achieved by gradual reclaimation of parking spaces and making the area visually more open.

CURRENT ACTIVITY GRAPH

TARGETTED GRAPH

performance space

4.

VATTIYOORKAVU REDEVELOPMENT #URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Vattiyoorkavu is one of the most populated suburbs of the south Indian city of Trivandrum and is a major transportation link in connecting the city with several outer areas . It is a comparatively high-lying area of the city. Vattiyoorkavu is one of the greenest parts of the city at the same time it is also one of the fastest growing region of the city.

The project was the collaborative effort by the Government of Kerala and the local council , and Studio Commune was the urban planning and design consultant. As a team member my major role was in the planning of bus terminal complex and the overall visualisation and presentation of the project.

masterplan of the project

newspaper report about the project Mathrubhoomi Nagaram Jan 19/2018

5.

SAMVASYAKA KODUNTHIRAPILLY VILLAGE, INDIA

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TEMPLE

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AMBALAKULLAM

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Kodunthirapully Gramam , 3km west of Palakkad town limit, is a 700 year old settlement of Tamil Brahmins from Tiruchirapully. It is an example of ‘Agraharam’ settlement.

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NOT TO SCALE

shaped such structures, buildings and complexes; To understand as to how the traditional architecture is responding in contemporary times as an outcome of the process and the product; Precise documentation as a tool to understand the making and evolution of such buildings, recording on paper the important features of such examples which are the result of fusion of tangible and intangible processes The importance of preserving historic architecture and to highlight it as a worthy category of cultural heritage, in turn strengthening awareness of our cultural heritage;

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The innovative character of India’s traditional architecture and its relevance today Aspects relevant to the making and evolution of such historical building type (construction, use, function, technology, material etc.)

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VALLIYA GRAMAM

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TEMPLE

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India with its diverse population, has seen extensive settlements based on caste, culture, religion, language and ethnicity. These settlements have been occurring since ancient times, till today, beginning with the Aryan invasion and settlement, the Adivasi settlements, the Brahmin settlements, the Jewish settlements, the Muslim settlements, the Christian settlements and the more recent Tibetan settlement in Coorg. This project, done as part of undergraduate programme focused on detailed documentatin and study of a traditional settlement pattern, architecture and cultural functions of spaces.

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#TEAM LEADER, HISTORYENVIRONMENTAL-SOCIAL STUDIES

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#SETTLEMENT DOCUMENTATION AND STUDY

site plan

6.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME TACKLING MIGRANT ISSUES THROUGH URBAN DESIGN PERUMBAVOOR,INDIA

#UNDERGRADUATE THESIS *accepted paper at ASF international conference in France Kerala has now became a lucrative job market for workers hailing from various parts of the country. The rough estimates suggest that between 16 to 20 lakhs (which is about 5% of state population) are immigrants.

But the access of migrant population in the State to the local welfare system is near to nil, especially with regard to health care needs and education which remain inaccessible to them due to numerous socio-cultural, economic and linguistic barriers. ‘Marginalization’ of migrants have occurred in the state due to their insulation from mainstream culture and life. This sudden and large influx of outsiders have triggered apprehensions in the minds of the local populace (some of which may be valid) like health issues, poor sanitation and criminal activities.

There is a need to integrate the migrant communities from other parts of the country to the local cultural milieu of Kerala. Unhygienic shed-like accommodation provided to them by the local contractors and employers pose a threat to community health. This condition demands a cultural sensitive intervention to maintain a healthy inflow of migrants.

The study and design developed as part of Architecture Thesis, attempts to develop Migrant labour housing as an opportunity for their upliftment and integration thereby boost their identity.

“Migration is an asset to every country where they bring their labour. Let us give them the Dignity they deserve as human beings and the respect they deserve as workers” -Juan Somavia Director general of the International Labour organization.

View of the proposed market as part of the masterplan

AGE DISTRIBUTION

DAYS OF EMPLOYMENT

DESIGN PROPOSAL

The architectural components included housing, school and training centre, health centre, hostels, cultural spaces, theatre etc.

%

3

REMITTANCE 42.18

SECTOR OF EMPLOYMENT Agriculture Construction Hotels Manufacturing Trade Others Not reported

The DML are almost entirely male . A handful of the migrant labour report that they are below 18 years of age.

7.62

3. Strategic insertion of the built elements into the urban fabric of the city

58%

17.82

2. Convertion of the solutions into architectural language (built elements)

Below 18 18-23 30-35 24-29 30-35 36 and above not reported

3 4 5 6 7 Not reported

32.38

1. Identification of the issues and strategical solutions

11%

29

The proposal was supported by a 3 month study with the help of experts and an extensive user survey. The major consideration for the project was to avoid the creation of gated communities. Therfore the overarching concept was fragmentation and networking. Instead of creating a whole centre for migrants, the projects acts as a network of buildings and services within the city. The Design process was divided into 3 parts

1% 1%

3% 2% 18% 1

2% 8% 60%

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3

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Infographics from the user survey

7%

The project attempts to create inclusive and shared spaces within the city fabric

Concept diagram

insecurity discrimination anonymity

insulated community

fragmentatio n etworking dn an

What makes them leave their home

?

shared spaces

7.

CITIES, IDENTITIES AND MEMORIES AN ANALYSIS OF PADMATHEERTHAM #RESEARCH PAPER

*presented at international conference on theory of architectural design 2017 at Sree Matha Vaishno Devi University, Jammu and Kashmir, India. *published on International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology 2017

Identity of a place is subjective; it is rooted in the multiple narratives of the people and their associations. An essential component in evoking a sense of belonging to a place, identity is a product of several tangible and intangible elements. The image and memories play an important role in defining the identity of a place. A place is said to exist both as a physical being and a series of mental image (a resultant of peoples’ collective memory). The study analyses the relation between collective memory of a community and the place in the formation of identity The image of a place is a two-way interaction between space and observer, resulting in a heterogeneous palette that is temporal and dynamic. The resultant variations influence the continuity of collective memory difficult for the deterministic approaches to capture. Isolation of people from the city’s design processes lead to alienation and loss of identity. The exercise undertaken explores the collective memory of Padmatheertham pond in Trivandrum and its future potentials in redefining the identity of the city.

Padmatheertham, is a 13th C temple pond situated in the heritage precinct of the Padmanabhaswamy temple. An iconic structure, it lay witness to the developments in and around the fort area of Trivandrum city. Once buzzling with people and activities, the pond today is shut to the public, only visible to the eyes of a tourist camera. Through a case of Padmatheertham, the paper argues that it is possible to further city’s identity only through peoples’ participation in the place making processes.

Historic image of the precinct

8.

ULTIMOCHIPPENDALE #URBAN PRECINCT STUDY

recessed courtyard

‘Halo’

resturants and cafeterias outdoor dining space play elements and movable furnitures

art installation Landmark

water feature

Brewery yard Building’

play feature screens the noice from traffic

Turf

Heritage building Landmark

seating

lift cafe

Chippendale green

Ultimo-Chippandale region is more or less a transformation area between the suburbs and the city This morphological study focused on the forces that shaped the precinct over time with a close analysis using historic documents

iillustration showing Central park and facilities

Ultimo

Chippendale

Ethnicity Chinese

English

Irish

Scottish

Australian

22 Household Composition

Ultimo

MEDIAN AGE

The project was done as a part of the Urban form and Design paper for Masters in Urbanism program. The primary objective was to understand the structure of city and investigate how urban functions, cultural values; technological, socio-economic and political circumstances; and design theory and practice shape the form of specific cities over time.

The morphological elements of the city including: ecological systems; settlement and landownership patterns; transport, open space and street networks; urban infrastructure; open space, street and building typologies were investigated to reveal distinct local characteristics and the events that shaped them.

Chippendale The park is quite active and vibrant, I like to watch kids playing within eyesight.

Family households

The park is safe for children. It a good place for incidental meetings.

I often come here, the cafe is my favourite spot

Single (or lone) person households

This area is green and lush with birds

Group households

Occupations

Ultimo

Chippendale

families

student

Professionals Community and Personal Service Workers Managers

tourist

student

Clerical and Administrative Workers Sales Workers Technicians and Trades Workers

infographics from demographic analysis

What people think about the place infographics from human experience study

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REVIVING

YANAGAWA INFUSING NEW LIFE INTO OLD YANAGAWA-CHIKU, JAPAN

#INTERNATIONAL URBAN DESIGN STUDIO Yanagawa is a former ‘castle town’ (jokamachi) and one of over 250 such towns across Japan.Over one hundred have retained their castle sites with rebuilt replicas of destroyed castles and/orother buildings. Just a dozen have the main castle building in more or less original form, whichmakes them special items of cultural heritage. Yanagawa is unlike other castle towns: it has lost its castle but retained most of its protective waterways, which are a mix of (canalized) rivers and constructed water channels. Filled for roads and other purposes, other castle towns have lost many waterways, which makes Yanagawa’s form unique as a ‘water town’ .

The major issue addressed in the project is the loss of water town features and lifestyle. Even though the town could retain most of its canals they are disconnected and the people could no longer find association to them.

What interventions can generate a water town lifestyle appropriate to the 21st Century?

Understanding the complexity of the site, the focus of the proposal was to build a strategical base for the development of the area. Based on this, physical interventions and policies were suggested. This involved improving the network system by introducing new connections, identifying unused spaces as potential sites in the fabric and inserting activities there and developing a model for renovating existing blocks combining different building typologies, open spaces, water and street.

This model is a schematic one showcasing how different built typologies can be incorporated with open space, water channels and street to develop a synergy of activities

Storage space/ unused

Shop

Unused part

Existing typology Main street

Renovated Building block

Parallel street along water channel

Water channel

Office

Shop

Cafe

Proposed typology of buildings with entrance from canal

10.

TACTICAL

URBANISM AS A PLANNING TOOL #URBAN REPORT

“Tactical Urbanism is an approach to neighbourhood building that uses short-term, low-cost, and scalable interventions and policies to catalyze long term change�- (The Street Plans Collaborative, 2016, p. 11) This report discusses the emerging field of tactical urbanism, a relatively new trend in city-making and its scope as a planning tool.

Tactical urbanism was emerged as a grassroots level placemaking approach lead by urban activists. After gaining wide attention through popular media, these tactics are now widely being adopted by the planning agencies as an incremental development approach. In that context, employing a qualitative lens, the report critically evaluates 3 best practices of city-initiated tactical urbanism programs based on the aspects identified such as context, social capital, temporality, subversion and long-term vision. The report examines the position of tactical urbanism in the theoretical landscape and refers to conflicting views about tactical urbanism among the practitioners and urban theorists based on the existing literature. The study gives a focus on the major actors involved in each program and their roles to understand the balance between and formal and informal sectors in the practice.

The findings revealed the risks and rewards associated with each model. The report concludes with the recommendation for a potential middle-out approach.

Keywords: tactical urbanism, urban planning, post-modern urbanism

11.

URBANISM MEDIATING TIME

A CASE OF CHALA BAZAAR

#UG URBAN DESIGN STUDIO

Time, the fourth dimension, negotiates the evolution of space. Man, since the onset of civilization, has been in constant negotiation with his environment through time.

Product of time, is hence reflected in every aspect of our habitat. Urbanism from this perspective is indeed a product of time. Across the World, cities have been responding to their traditionally evolved patches through various arguments. We see examples of down towns being razed off to create a new city image, traditional squares conserved and reinvented, degenerated old patches getting revived with newer meanings and association are few of the strategies addressing them.

SPACE ADAPTATIONS how the people adapts to the space

geo

Is every space used to respond to its intended purpose only?

A closed sho

1

Chala bazaar, the central business district of Thiruvananthapuram is a classic case expressing the temporal content of a space. Chemistry of time has produced complex networks of sociocultural and spatial layers in this context. Its organic advancement has given an image of chaos to all its dimensions. Studio, Urbanism mediating time, aims to explore the dynamics of the evolution in the context and bring forward arguments concerning its future through the art of design. Here design has to transcend beyond its built boundaries to that of social, political, ecological, economical and other numerous societal scales. That is where design transforms to a democratic tool to respond and contribute to our society.

The proposal was supported by an extensive 3 months study of the area focusing on the complex spatial dynamics.

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house for haw resting place

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shop for stree

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gathering spa

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loading and u

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space for stre

A wall

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ground nut selling and lottery are highly adaptable, where the seller can relocate “shop� according to crowd shift and convenience

major research areas ; Socio-cultural and economic patterns

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display space

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space for nat

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advertisemen

?!

Visually dittached anti social activiti

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people try to walk or gather in spaes with shade. It shifts accorrding to time

narrow paths between compound walls for anti social activities

adaptation of a space is mined by the location, y and apperance of the space

10

people tend to walk away frm wet the business of shops in front of it.

destrians

ders

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11 12

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ding space

ders

all

the road in front of residences used by children to play and people iteractions 6 5

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d artworks

olated spaces gets converted to areas of

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Unused land getting converted to dump yards

*Selected among the top 50 entries gloabally

12.

LANGUAGE

CLOUD MUSEUM OF LANGUAGES

#INTERNATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITION Cave ar t to emojis, language has completed one whole circle. Communication has become vir tual, physical alienation pathological, building typologies indistinct.

Ever y ar tifact and information has been encapsulated experienced through gadgets – Museums are dead.

The ‘Language Cloud’ is devoid of ar tifacts, a repositor y of signals, sounds, gestures and symbols – the essential par ts of language and means of communication. Here, people meet and leave language traces.

Conversations are exhibits - the void between people, the medium that carries ideas.

The Language Cloud is an urban information oasis that invites humans into a physical space to interact with one another. The ‘museum’ dwells vir tually in ever y network in the world and physically exists as an urban park. The design attempts to extract the spatial code of a museum and reinterpret it as a typology that is universal and iconic simultaneously. While museum as an exclusive physical experience is dead, it is an icon of information about languages, accessible to millions around the world, visible and experiential to London

LANGUAGE CLOUD holographic icon that converse with the city

The Language Cloud app connects people through the world web, recording information about their language, gestures and verbal sounds. The research center disseminates the data thus collected to the world through a vir tual museum accessible on mobiles, laptops, VR and AR gadgets. The raw data collected from across the world is projected on the cloud that is visible from London’s landscape.

view towards river

LANGUAGE PARK LEVEL 2

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museum as a network

toilet robotic restaurant & plaza cook

LANGUAGE PARK LEVEL 1

ENTRY PLAZA

conversations as exhibit An Icon built on universality,familiarity and par ticipation. ................... ................... ................... ...................

research & discussion

LIBRARY

RESEARCH CENTRE

server

13.

WORKING WITH THE PEOPLE

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROJECTS The success of any urbanism project highly depends on the meaningful dialogue with the public. Informal community engagement practices are an efficient tool to understand community’s desire and communicate the citymaking ideas to the common people. As a member of Commune, a group of urbanists in Trivandrum, I was involved in many informal public engagement projects.

No formal participation process will be effective without the true desire from people to engage in the process. In addition to expressing strong opinions and vision, the bottom-top movements from can force the authorities to make changes in the formal participation structure. It needs creative approches to reach out to the people.

In my experience, Pop-up interventions, even though are small propjects, have been a great tool in attracting people’s attention on urban issues. They often demonstrates the solutions in a an impactful manner. My role as a designer in these multidesciplinary teams was something that enabled me to communicate with diverse public in creative ways and to understand how the city functions on ground level.

B-Organ A new low cost housing model. This movement explores the scope of recycling and reusing of building parts from construction waste to build houses for the urban poor. The first house of this manner was completed in Trivandrum https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/waste-not-rotor-and-the-practice-of-deconstr uction/10039660.article?fbclid=IwAR3oiJeMuERF5GaYZKEft7j1sGpyT1DxESNKfOnT-HOrIULcT sIvzkLebx8

Who is the City?

A series of city walks conducted every month to explore the city. The walk invites the general public to join and share their experience about the place. This movement aims to understand how the city is perceived through the eyes of different groups of people

Some of the posters prepared for the walk

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+ vegetable packing box

oil drum

jute sack

DOG - LOT POP-UP PROJECT

open tunnel

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1 weave pole

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2 tire jump

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3 weave pole 4

4 tunnel

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RT

FIN ISH

5 A-frame

Dog-lot was pop up intervention done in the city of Trivandrum with the collaboration of ‘Hands for Paws’; a collective of animal lovers, in Trivandrum, India. The key task was to address the lack of dog-friendly parks in the city at the same time building social connections through pets. With the collaboration of an animal welfare organization, we created a number of temporary dog parks throughout the city using recycled materials. These tiny parks immediately got the attention of the people. These places not just became platforms for the pet-owners to connect and interact, they also activated the public spaces. Some of these dog parks were converted to permanent ones with the support of the council. This project is an example of how humble changes to the physical environment can connect people and strengthen the community.

news paper report about the pop up Source: The Indian Express

URINE

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROJECT

news paper report about the project Source: Decan Chronicle

Moothram (Urine) was a social experiment conducted with the aim to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the citizens. More than a protest against the lack of public urinals in city, it was an attempt to understand urination and urinals as a cultural phenomenon in urban landscape. The project was structured into two parts. The first one was a direct citizen engagement process through a roleplay event conducted in a street.

This allowed citizens to engage in conversation, ask questions and share thoughts about what they do and what they lack. The second part was a micro pop up artthe yellow urinal which was left on the street after the first performance to understand how people relate to that. The program invited people from all spectrum of the community to work together and come up with innovative solutions. The project was received wide local media attention

P E P

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