Urban Design Studio | Elements of Urban design

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The studio is structured as introduction to urban design representation and how it is used as a means of design thinking. The premise is that urban design is best understood and expressed through study and representation of the built urban environment. Hence the studio will focus on the study and representation of the key urban elements in cities and will be structured in multiple modules running through the semester, each culminating with an exhibition of the outcome. These modules will significantly focus on effectively capturing and communicating the spatial qualities of the urban built environment.

Studio Brief

Module 1 will involve perceiving and representation of the key elements

of urban design. The premise is that building types, urban blocks, streets and public open spaces form the key elements that come together to make any functional urban space. The exercises in this module will enable student with methods to study each element and how they contribute to the scale, form, character and their relationship with the larger urban context.

Module 2 will be the final exercise which will involve design of public places

The learning outcome of the studio are: to prepare design drawings to graphically communicate the key spatial characteristics of an existing urban built environment with focus on its elements and prepare a design for a given urban area in the form of a framework plan, design analysis and 3-dimentional illustration to represent the design.

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What is your City talking about ?

This exercise was designed to make students aware about the current urban issues that their cities are focused on – either excited or concerned about. The students were required to identify such urban topics that are debated by citizens or are in the media indicating evidence of interest from the city and citizens.

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Concept: Lavasa has been conceptualized on the principles of New Urbanism as an integrated township based on the 15-minute neighborhood concept that’s in harmony with nature.

Reality: Location, Connectivity & Accessibility : The location is not very accessible dur to the remoteness of the area.

Weather Conditions : Though touted as a hill station the temperature rise till 38 Degrees in summers.

Not enough opportunities for people from Mumbai and Pune to come and settle in Lavasa.

Current Scenario: Lavasa is now abandoned following years of regulatory and financial troubles.

The impact of the now ghost town is felt in nearby villages where locals continue to fight for their land that was taken for the project.

Do Theme Based Cities really work in Indian Context?

Was a hill station or city really needed at a UNESCO site?

The funds needed to build this city could’ve helped better the existing infrastructure of so many cities in Maharashtra.

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Building Types This exercise is designed to develop methods of effectively capturing various attributes of building types such as form and its relationship with ground.

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Administrative Buildings

Civic Buildings

Administrative buildings in the Indian context has a more secure and private set back as compared to the administrative blck of New york which opens up in to a park and behind to a museum.

The Civic buildings open up to the public without any restrictive boundary, a huge open space before the lincoln park humanises the space and gives the chance for people to take a pause and begin again.

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Mixed Use Buildings

Hotel Buildings

The mixed use buildings showcase an example of the Trump towers one in the USA nad another in India. The one in the USA connects directly to the street while the one in India is bound with added setbacks and boundary wall.

The hotel buildings showcase luxury hotels in a foriegn context and in Indian context. The Standard Highline hotel connects with the highline pedestrian plaza and its glass facade that opens up to the water or tot he plaza while The hotel in the Indian conext sits in a dense urban fabric with necessary setbacks.

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Residential Buildings

In terms of Residential Buildings the Amanora Fututre towers sit in a township with open spaces and monitored inflow and outflow of people within the township. The Solstice on the park is a monolithic skyscraper sitting in the urban context of Chicago adjacent to a park.

Religious Buildings

The mosque in London is loacted in a park hence it is directly connected to the open space surrounding it. The vehicular traffic is diverted away from the mosque. However, The temple in Pune is located at the river banks on one end while a busy vehicular traffic road on one side.

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Open Space This exercise is designed to develop understanding of various attributes of open spaces. To analyze the parameters that shapes their physical form.

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Tapis Rogue | Haiti

Water tanks and ground water recharge points

Central open space with stepped seating

Open gymnasium with solar lights

Tapis Rouge is one of several public spaces built under program LAMIKA, whose acronym stands for “A better life in my neighbourhood” in Haitian Creole. The program, aims to construct multifunctional spaces that facilitate and promote social cohesion through an inclusive approach.

The design itself is inherently communityoriented and understands public space as an anthropological ground from which identity and social relations grow.

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Streets This exercise is designed to develop understanding of various attributes of streets. To analyze the parameters that shapes their physical form.

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Times Square Street | Newyork The illustration captures the essence of the street character for Times Square New York during the night.

The tall glazed facades with brightly illuminated billboards, huge shopfronts with big brands, Theatres, Street plays and large number of people is what makes this the experience of Time Square unique.

The characteristic feature in this pedestrianized streets with huge built mass is the larger than life frame.

The huge billboards and glass façades with lights humanizes the streets.

The porosity of abutting-built use helps in activating the street with spillover activities coming on to the street .

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Salunke Vihar Street | Pune The illustration captures the essence of the street character for Salunke Vihar Street during the busy hours of the day. The street on one egde is designed for pedestrian activities with a plaza, eateries opeming out into the plaza with some green elements and street furniture with a continous footpath, On the contrary the othe r side has no footpath and vendors like fruit sellers spillover on to the carriage way.

The two sides to the same street gives a perspective of the current urban scenario in Indian cities.

The pedestrianized plaza helps in engaging people in street activities and creates an open space.

While the untailored part of the street offers a different lens to the chaotic urban scene both activate the street edges differently,

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Urban Blocks This exercise is designed to develop strategic understanding of various attributes regarding urban blocks and its components – Building Types, Streets and Spaces between buildings.

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Avenue Bosquet | Paris

Avenue Bosquet lies next to the Eiffel tower, The block consists of built forms which are very dense and vibrant street edges with cafes and boutiques. The built forms form vistas with boulevards of trees connecting historical monuments.

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Salunke Vihar | Pune

The Urban block consists of residential buildings like housing societies which are non porous as it is privately owned. Three distinct public space in the block the open play ground, the nala park with a vegetable market and cremetorium and a private garden of a housing society make the urban block more porous with heterogenous nature of activities.

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Synthesis Synthesis a compilation of all the learning from the Elements of urban design studio.

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Public Place Design The focus of the design exercise was to reimagine existing scenarios in the city with a fresh perspective on the opportunities in the public domain. The selected public place should spark the idea of how the place will look like after design intervention.

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Urban Voids – Revitalising the space under Anjaly Flyover | Paldi

Site Consideration

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Anjaly Flyover cross junction

Problem Identification

Abutting Landuse

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Mapping

Activity Mapping Traffic and Noise Analysis The primary roads show higher traffic movement compared to the secondary feeder streets have less traffic.

The junctions show higher rate of noise generation.

Pedestrian and Footpath Movement The footpath is not continous as they are covered with vendors or end abruptly.

Shade Map The area under the flyover is shaded throughout the day The street is more active and vibrant during the evening as compared to the day time as the vendors and food eateries open up during this time and the street shows higher inflow of people.

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What is happening on site ?

Concerns by various stakeholders

“Street Food is so good, I wish I could sit somewhere to enjoy it better”

“I want to enjoy the rides without the fear of vehicles”

There is congestion on both the footpaths on either sides. The food vendors park thier carts on the footpath and the remainig area is taken up by parking. While the area under the flyover remains under utilised.

Charachteristics of the site “I sometimes tend to lose customers because of less visibility ”

The street remains active becauseof the eateries, vendors, children play rides and traditional small gathering or seating spaces ‘oata’ arround trees.

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Master Plan

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Part Isometric Views

Integrated seating with decks for Carts to plug in Green Pockets integrated with the seating

Continuous Pedestrian Concourse Continuous Pedestrian Concourse

Cycle Stand

Raised Pedestrian Crossing

Art work/ Graffiti on the coloumns

Cycle Track

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Part Isometric Views

Signal School Children play ride Activity Area

Children Play Area

Cycle and Yulu Bike stand

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Isometric View

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Longitundinal Section

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Views from the plaza

The Design aims at giving a pedestrian friendly plaza with multiple street activities under the flyover. To make the space under the flyover equally vibrant and optimally utilised and not stay as a dull parking lot or dumping ground.

Design aims at an integrated approach where various staeholder requirements are taken into consideration.

Designated platforms for vending help in formalising the informal vending activities, the plaza is completely pedestrian friendly with a continous running concourse and seatings around different vending activities or green spaces.

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View from the plaza

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Key Learnings

The studio emphasized on developing the skills of presentation, illustrations and abstractions of Urban design elements. A thorough study of these elements- Building types, Urban Blocks, Streets and Public Open Spaces aided our understanding on how each element functions in its context in different cities.

Different scales, different landscapes and how it defines the identity of a place or character of the city. The studio progressed to how these elements can be incorporated in shaping a public place design.

The space under the Paldi flyover in Ahmedabad has been under utilised. The road stretch adjacent to it on both the sides is very vibrant and has multiple street activities that add on to the charachter of this street. An integrated approach to activate the space under the flyover along with clearing the adjacent footpath. Re- vitalisation of the space under the Anjaly flyover was taken up as a public place design exercise.

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