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The need for micro apartments in densely populated cities of India and the various methods adopted to achieve maximum space utilization in a given area. Gokul B Nair D.Y Patil School of Architecture Email ID- gokulbnair602@gmail.com Ar. Veena Shenvi, Design Chair (Guide) D.Y Patil School of Architecture
ABSTRACT Housing is the pinnacle of architectural construction and accounts for being the core infrastructure of a city. However, in the light of recent years’ cities all round the world are facing serious accommodation shortages due to various reasons such as population explosion. Micro housing is the immediate solution developed by architects to tackle the acute housing crisis faced by densely populated cities. Micro housing has had a substantial impact on the American and the European market over the last couple of years. India is the second most populous country with a population of 1.3 billion people, all these people at some point in their life migrate to big cities like Mumbai in search for employment and education. This leads to the rise in housing demands in these cities, which in turn causes the exponential rise in prices of pre-existing residential spaces. The rising demand along with the changing price tipped the balance of living conditions in such cities. This space crunch has led to people opting for smaller, space efficient and low maintenance homes i.e. Micro Apartments. Micro apartments have been proven useful to a wide spectrum of people as they cater to the basic needs of a resident without wasting any space on lavish features. To understand the concept and need for micro apartments in densely populated cosmopolitans and to segregate the users as per their need is the primary purpose of this research paper and this is achieved by means of surveys and in depth study of research papers and articles.
Keywords: micro apartments and necessity, Housing crisis, design of micro housing complexes, schemes for affordable micro apartments
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INTRODUCTION Architecture has always been an ever-changing area of study. A wide range of methods and techniques are introduced on a daily basis which assists the gradual enhancement of this field. However, it is not just confined to designing appealing buildings it also involves tackling the current crisis faced by a large number of individuals. Housing shortage is one such crisis and in a country like India which has succumbed to population explosion over the past couple of years, this crisis needs immediate solution. From the various methods that were tabled to tackle this crisis micro housing rose to prominence Micro apartments in simple terms is defined as a small studio apartment typically less than 350 square feet, with a fully functionally and accessibility compliant kitchen and bathroom. The appeal of a micro apartments is largely about economics but place privacy are all part of the equations. The research paper aims at segregating the target market/users as per their need and use. The concept of micro housing encourages making the innovation of maximum functional area in a minimum footprint, thus redefining the process of sustainability in urban dwellings. The plans implemented in the micro units have optimum space utilization, neglects luxurious space wasted in apartments. It talks about the generation of communication in the projects by means of amenities space and recreational spaces keeping in mind urban anthropology. This paper aims to study the shift in demographics that have occurred rapidly over the past decade and the nature/type of demographics that also have changed. This paper aims at highlighting the need of micro apartments in cities like Mumbai. It focuses on the type of customers who prefer to reside in micro apartments over the other residential projects and also sheds light on the various planning techniques implemented to achieve maximum space utilization.
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METHODOLOGY The research paper aims at understanding the need for micro housing in the densely populated cities of India and the target buyer market for such types of housing which is achieved by means of a culmination of existing research paper, article studies and surveys conducted to understand the need and issues of the residents of one such densely populated City-Pune.
METHOD
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LITERATURE REVIEW The research paper took means of literature review to get a better understanding of micro apartments, there functionality and their importance by means of careful analyzation of articles written by various authors .
RESEARCH PAPER -I
AUTHOR: Kathleen Carey John Mclwain Alison Johnson James A. Mulligan David James Rose Betsy Van Buskirk YEAR: Published: 2015 RESEARCH TOPIC: Micro View of Micro Units TYPE OF RESEARCH: Qualitative Research RELEVANCE: The paper aims at understanding the meaning of micro housing and aspects that the designer keeps in mind while designing an individual as well as the various elements added in common spaces of the project. RESEARCH PAPER -II AUTHOR: Zachary Shore YEAR: Published: 2014 RESEARCH TOPIC: Micro Apartments-Need for micro apartments TYPE OF RESEARCH: Quantitative Research RELEVANCE: The research paper addresses the un- met housing needs of urban single- person households and how it can be rectified by the introduction of micro apartments
5 RESEARCH PAPER-III
AUTHOR: Zachary Shore YEAR: Published: 2014 RESEARCH TOPIC: Micro Apartments: Optimum space Usage TYPE OF RESEARCH: Quantitative Research RELEVANCE: The article sheds light on the growing housing crisis of this world.
THE HOUSING CRISIS OF INDIA In the last couple of decades India has succumbed to a severe housing crisis. There were various factors/reasons that led to the country’s housing market falling short of the expectation. The first issue was a result of the changing occupation of citizens. India’s urban population has grown at a CAGR of 2.8 percent over 2001-2011, resulting in an increase in the urbanization rate from 27.8 percent to 31.2 percent. Out of India’s 1.21 billion population, 377 million people are urban dwellers.6 The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) estimates that by 2050, the country’s cities would witness a net increase of 900 million people. Furthermore, over 20122050, the pace of urbanization is likely to increase at a CAGR of 2.1 percent – double than that of China. With the country’s agriculture sector having a limited absorption capacity, majority of the growth in urbanization is expected to be a consequence of rural-to-urban migration. Post economic liberalization, India’s manufacturing and services sector has seen an influx in employment from the rural youth. With the country expected to witness rapid industrialization, the trend of migration from rural to urban areas is likely to continue.
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Figure 1 Urbanization growth as per census 2011
The second factor that governs the looming housing crisis is the economic collapse post 2008 recession. The whole recession was a result of the collapse of the American housing market.
The bursting of the
housing bubble in the US made investors realize that the exponential growth of housing prices cannot continue indefinitely. With house prices not rising fast enough compared to other investment instruments and in fact falling over time, investors as well as homebuyers became cautious of buying homes. It did not help the case when builders were unable to complete their projects. After all, who would want to invest when there is no guarantee that they would get the possession even 10 years after making the investment. Demonetization and the implementation of the GST made things worse in the already struggling sector. In late 2019 it was noted that there is a huge shortage of 11 million houses in India. To meet this requirement, the Government launched various ambitious initiative “Housing for all by 2022” which is nothing Availability of affordable housing in adequate numbers is one of the greatest necessities of urban India today. Indian cities fall short of planned housing for low income and economically weaker households, resulting in a perennial and an ever growing housing shortage, alongside compromised living conditions. The current housing system does not cater to the needs of all age groups. They are designed and segregated on the basis of luxury and space which will not function at all times. Whilst this is detrimental to the planned growth of cities, it also gives birth to demography of ‘less-than-equal citizens’ forced to live in substandard clusters of slums.
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MICRO HOUSING AND ITS NEED IN THE HOUSING MARKET Micro housing is defined by its space. Micro-apartments are smaller-than-average studios intended for a single or double resident accommodation. Ultra-efficient design packs a kitchen, bathroom, and other necessities into a unit of 200 to 350 square feet, while high ceilings and large windows create the illusion of space. Unlike micro housing affordable housing does not have the space constraint, a single residential unit can range from 250 sq. ft. to 1200 sq. ft. It is used by all age groups of people whereas micro apartments are mainly found useful to the unmarried working class and students on one side of the spectrum and the elderly on the other side of the age spectrum.
Figure 2 Interior of a standard Micro apartment
Many micro-unit buildings provide common areas where residents can relax and socialize. Some are designed for co-living, in which your bedroom is private, but all other amenities are shared with other residents. Thriving communities, appealing amenities, and prime locations balance out micro-apartments’ small size. With the building as their living room and the city as their backyard, residents often only return to their rooms at night. However, the major disadvantage of existing micro apartments built in Europe and western world is the pricing If we were to charge on a similar basis it would not solve the issues that are plaguing our nation, a country where economic imbalance is still an issue. This is where our country needs to implement the pricing and schemes implemented in affordable housing.
8 Pune city is growing exponentially in terms of increasing population, and soon enough it will face the acute housing shortage like the ones existing in cities like Mumbai. Most of the prime locations in the city such as Viman Nagar, Pune old city and Koregaon park have already started to face issues such as overcrowding, traffic issues, exorbitant prices and housing shortages. These regions accommodate a large number of the young generation- workforce who are not looking for any long term residential commitment. On the other hand, they also have the older generation of people, who after retirement aren't looking for luxurious apartments or large spaced units because maintenance becomes a tedious job at that age and they do not need the high end amenities/ spaces provided in normal residential units. To understand the target audience for micro housing and to get a better idea of the preexisting issues faced by the residents (target audience) of congested areas and survey was conducted in the city of Pune.
Figure 3 Congested region of Pune City
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SURVEY ANALYSIS The questionnaire prepared was aimed at understanding the target market for Micro housing in our country. The interviews were conducted on three different age groups of people. By means of this questionnaire various issues and necessities had come to light.
The first category (CATEGORY 1) being the college students of symbiosis, Viman Nagar. These student’s primary purpose is short term accommodation with low rent fees. In the current case scenario, the major issue faced by the students is the rent charges and the lack of amenities despite the exorbitant prices that they are charged. When asked, the majority of them liked the idea of community living, which is the border line differentiating micro housing and low cost development plans. The community based living implemented in micro housing is particularly beneficial for single residents such as the college students or bachelors coming into cosmopolitan cities in search of work. The need to belong to a community is a driving factor in socialist such as ourselves and micro housing fulfills that need.
They should provide amenities such as confectionaries, medical stores and small food joints within the apartment building itself and should have subsidized charges for its residents. These schemes will attract more number of These were suggestions given by the students of the college and working class bachelors.
Figure 4 Main Street, Camp, Pune
10 The second category (CATEGORY 2) of people interviewed were the elderly people residing in the houses of the congested area of kasba peth. Both age groups had common needs when it came to low rent and amenities. The older age group of people preferred small resident units to reside in as it would be difficult to maintain large homes and deemed it unnecessary when a smaller unit fulfills all their needs. The third age group (CATEGORY 3) were the middle aged people with children, when questioned they did not favor the idea of micro housing, as these individuals need more space to accommodate family which makes micro apartments unfit for this category of people. During the interviews a concern was brought to notice by all the age groups. They stated that despite the benefits of micro apartments in our country, there is a reason why it hasn't had large scale implementations as compared to its impact on the global market elsewhere. It was because just designing of apartments is not sufficient, schemes and plans that force people to consider buying micro apartments over normal residential units should be implemented. The survey statistcs shown below is the amalgamation of collected data.(Figure 6.A, Figure 6.B, Figure 6.C)
Figure 5 Poor living conditions of residents in Congested area
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SURVEY STATISTICS
Figure 6.A
Figure 6.B
Figure 6.C
LEGENDTYPE 1- IN FAVOUR OF MICRO APARTMENTS TYPE 2- IN FAVOUR OF CONVENTIONAL APARTMENTS
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A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF MICRO HOUSING: CASE STUDY To understand the functional efficiency and the working of a micro apartment three case studies have been taken into view which would shed light on some of the key features that make micro housing the apt choice to tackle the housing crisis.
Towers within a Tower: Lap Chi Kwong, Alison Von Glinow, Kevin Lamyuktseung The TOWER WITHIN A TOWER project were the winning recipients of the Hong Kong Pixel Homes Competition. Rather than typical stacked apartments, individual units are staggered vertically, establishing a repetitive module for adapted use across Hong Kong. A stepped faรงade between floors allows for more exposure to natural light, whilst also incorporating circulation and courtyards (Figure 7).
Figure 7 Tower within Tower in congested street of Hong Kong
Titled Tower within a Tower, the scheme tries to solve an issue that is typical in traditional "pancake stacks" of apartments as the liberty of horizontal planning is impossible in a congested city like Hong Kong.
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Figure 8 Transformation of Horizontal apartments into vertical apartments
Each customizable apartment would be assembled off-site from a selection of modules, chosen according to the needs of future inhabitants. These units would then be brought to the site and stacked on top of each other to form an apartment building (Figure 8 and Figure 9).
Figure 9 Apartment Modules
14 Each successive floor of every unit would have a smaller footprint, causing the vertical apartments to take on a pyramid-like appearance and opening up space between the upper floors of the homes (Figure 9). Alison Von Glinow, co-founder of the studio alongside Lap Chi Kwong, emphasizes that the spaces between units have been opened up to foster community amongst the building's residents. After analyzing existing residential complexes, the designers realized corridors are a waste of space as it only serves the purpose of movement instead they came up with multipurpose corridor spaces that serve more than one function (Figure 10).
Figure 70 Corridor spaces generated due to staggered planning
15 The pyramid-like arrangement of rooms in each living unit would create an internal network of corridors and landings between the homes.
Figure 11 Floor Plans of Apartment Units
The modular proposal has been designed to offer residents of the buildings flexibility in the design of their homes. The units would be assembled and brought to the site, and then more or less stacked on top of each other. The interior could be manufactured level-by-level off site, almost like a custom kind of container box. The interiors are very simple fit-outs that allow the resident to customize their space in their own way (Figure 10).
Figure 12 View of Single Tower
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Carmel Place New York Carmel Place New York is the winner of the ADAPT NYC competition; the design optimizes modular construction to provide the city with housing solutions for the expanding small household population. Exterior and interior spaces were designed with the goal of creating a systemic new paradigm for housing in NYC and other cities with similar demographic and affordability challenges.
Figure 13 The Caramel Place. New York
The ADAPT NYC competition was created as part of the administration’s New Housing Marketplace Plan to introduce additional choices within NYC’s housing market and accommodate the city’s growing small household population. With 1.8 million small households and only 1 million suitable apartments, many New Yorkers are left without proper housing options. Carmel Place proposes micro-unit living units, that are smaller than the currently allowed 400 SQ FT for new construction,
17 The design team’s biggest challenge was to create a potentially new housing paradigm that could on the one hand be systemically replicated, and that on the other would produce a big social impact, within a very tight set of regulatory and economic constraints. Understanding that residents of small apartments necessarily live across different scales, the design of the building’s exterior form, distribution of amenities, and interiors of the units, followed a logic of nested scales (Figure 14 and Figure 15). The Design Team selected modular construction as a construction method, in keeping with the visionary social and urban goals of the project and its nature as a prototype for new housing approaches for the city. Modular construction offered the design and developer team advantages in simultaneous construction of foundations on site and modules in the factory, as well as a fast erection (4 weeks). The modules were pre-fabricated locally in the Brooklyn Navy Yard while foundation work occurred on site, and then transported over the Brooklyn Bridge for stacking. Splitting the construction process greatly reduced onsite construction noise and neighborhood disruption.
Figure 14 Ground Floor Plan
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Figure 15 Floor plan of Residential Unit
In addition, the project benefited from a higher level of quality of interior finish and a precision of 1/8” tolerance, necessary due to the site’s very small footprint (45’x105’) and a need to fit 8 units per typical floor. Various unit types were possible to build and transport, producing a range of options for the varying needs of small households. The interior of the units was designed to create a sense of spaciousness, comfort, and flexibility. Within a compact footprint, the architect and developer team prioritized providing residents with as much volume, light, air and views out to the neighborhoods as possible. High ceilings over 9’-6”, large exterior sliding doors, and balconies maximize the perceived volume of space, and provide a strong connection to activity on the street and park below. Additional large storage space is located in the added height above the bathrooms, which, combined with an efficiently designed kitchen, provides residents with a highly functional and flexible interior. 40% of the 55 micro-units, ranging from 250 to 370 square feet net, are affordable for low and middle income households (Figure 16 and Figure 17).
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Figure 16 Micro Apartment Unit
Figure 17 Micro Apartment Unit
20 Various unit types are included, producing a range of options for the varying needs of small households. In addition, half (16) of the market rate units (32) and all of the Section 8 units for formerly homeless veterans (8) will be provided with transformable furniture to accommodate flexible uses and optimize the efficiency of the apartments.
Figure 18 GYM (Amenity space provided for residents)
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Figure 19 Amenity Space Provisions in the complex
Shared amenities will include a gym at ground floor level (Figure 18), a small lounge, den, community room and public roof terrace, bicycle storage, tenant storage room and separate storage lockers dispersed throughout the building, and a small garden. Placement of the various shared amenities throughout the building strategically encourages residents to interact with their neighbors throughout their daily routine – micro-living means living beyond the four walls of your apartment (Figure 19).
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THE SINGAPORE HOUSING SCHEME: The designing of micro apartments is not alone sufficient to resolve the housing crisis of our country. The reason why it didn’t impact our market like the European market is the pricing. In a country where still a large number of people live in slums, the money becomes a driving factor. Getting the citizens to buy, or rent these apartments would involve strategies that the government would have to implement.
Figure 20 Public Housing Singapore
The ideal example of government implemented housing strategies is the Singapore public housing scheme implemented by the HDB (Housing Development Board). (Figure 20) In 1959 the Singapore faced severe housing crisis where majority of the apartments remained unoccupied and its citizens living in poor conditions. It is then the prime minister launched the public housing scheme where the HDB constructed apartments in mass scale for the citizens. The difference between public housing of other countries and Singapore was the ethnic and social diversity that they tried to bring in by means of integrated housing. Along with that the government cut out a portion from the taxes payed by the citizens for their housing. This scheme enabled the citizens to buy these residential units at a price 30-40% less than privately owned apartments. Apart from that the housing complexes accommodates amenities such as healthcare, commercial stores and units, green regions and spaces that enabled social gatherings thus promoting community living (Figure 21).
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Figure 21 Community garden spaces for social gatherings
This scheme was a huge success, in 1960 only 9% of citizens stayed in government built homes meanwhile in 2016, 82% of the population stays in the government provided residences. Not every aspect of the Singapore Housing Policy can be implemented in our country, but even by implementing few strategies such as: 1) The subsidized amenity charges 2) Creating spaces to enable community living 3) Tax cut out to construct and maintain these micro apartments which lead to subsidized charges on rent or sales charges of the micro units.
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CONCLUSION As we step into a new decade, the housing crisis takes the center stage amidst the rising global issues. Globally, there is increasing demand for micro-living, these small unit apartments have made a substantial impact on the markets of Europe, America and central Asia however it's yet to make its mark on the Indian market. The primary reason for this delay was the pricing of these apartments, this too can be resolved by implementing the affordable housing schemes initiatives introduced by the government. The need for a solution is imminent and micro housing can help relieve especially in densely populated cities of this country. Furthermore, this research paper sheds light of the fact that micro housing is proved to be more efficient and useful as compared to standard housing for a certain age group of people. It is environmentally friendly and more social, since people will interact more if they are forced to leave their apartments. Many of the buildings come equipped with communal kitchens, lounges, and balconies, and most are near urban amenities such as restaurants and cafes that residents couldn’t afford to live close to if they were renting a traditionally sized apartment. But despite the potential lifestyle perks, the spread of micro-housing will show a substantial benefit in economic growth. With the right pricing scheme from the government micro apartments can be the ideal accommodation for college students, immediately graduated, working class bachelors and retired individuals who are unable to maintain large houses and at the same time need community support (a primary aspect lacking in the lives of those after retirement). Micro Apartments is an unforeseen necessity. The housing crisis issue is not going to restrict its damage to that particular field, the country is bound to succumb to collateral damage because that's how the world functions. Every occupation, every field is closely knit to one another and impact on one ripples through the others. If the housing crisis issue is not resolved, a large number of individuals from our population will end up on the streets and out of that, a substantial number belong to the working class/ drive force of our country’s economy. Apart from the population aspect, there is a large number of residential units left unsold which is yet again causing the economy to crumble. Housing is one of the primary pillars of every country’s economy and if those issues are not dealt with the damage it causes would be colossal and Micro housing is the most apt and effective method to handle this crisis.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ar. Veena Shenvi and Ar. Nikita Pawar for all the support and guidance through the course of this research paper. Their insights and assistance have helped me cover all the necessary aspects of the research paper. Apart from imparting knowledge, it was also their interest which served as a driving force towards the proper completion of my research paper.
REFERNCES 1) Eric Baldwin: The Great Tiny House Debate: What it Means to Downsize the Dream https://www.archdaily.com/tag/micro-housing 2) Holly Giermann; Tiny-House Villages: Safe Havens for the Homeless https://www.archdaily.com/tag/micro-housing 3) Valerie smith: Micro Apartments - Capstone Research Book https://issuu.com/valeriebsmith/docs/final_capstone_book_-_single 4) Kathleen Carey, John Mclwain, Alison Johnson, James A. Mulligan, David James Rose, Betsy Van Buskirk: Macro view of Micro Apartments https://uli.org/wp-content/uploads/ULIDocuments/MicroUnit_full_rev_2015.pdf 5) John Hill: Carmel Place: Case Study https://www.world-architects.com/en/architecturenews/reviews/carmel-place-1 6) Erik S. Mustonen: From slums to sky garden- Sinagpore’s public housing succeshttps://thefield.asla.org/2018/09/06/from-slums-to-sky-gardens-singapores-public-housing-success/ 7) Katrina Nicholas and Joyce Koh: Singapore Unveils Changes to Make Public Housing More Affordable https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-10/singapore-unveils-changes-to-makepublic-housing-more-affordable 8) Are micro-units the future of city living? https://www.jll.co.in/en/trends-and-insights/cities/aremicro-units-the-future-of-city-living
26 9)Calum Lindsay: Tower within Tower- A conceptual Design for Hong Kong https://www.dezeen.com/2018/12/04/video-kwong-von-glinow-tower-within-tower-hong-konghousing-movie/ 10) kwong von glinowhttp://www.kwongvonglinow.com/Project%20Page/27_Tower_within_a_Tower.html 11)Patricia Martinez: Modular Micro Apartments https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Modular_Micro_Apartments.html?id=STBXuAEACAAJ&redir_e sc=y 12) Floretin Rack: Micro-Apartments as an Emerging Real Estate Market: Does the “Small Space, Big City” Trade-off Work in Europe? https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Micro_Apartments_as_an_Emerging_Real_Est.html?id=W_9QDg AAQBAJ&redir_esc=y