India: Work in Progress: Specifications for Design and Construction by Harsh Jain

INDIA : work in progress

SPECIFICATIONS FOR DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

HARSH VARDHAN JAIN Master of Architecture Thesis University of Virginia Advisors Peter D. Waldman Matthew Jull In達ki Alday

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Presented herein is an offering of gratitude from one generation to another. The Master of Architecture Thesis prepared at the University of Virginia, 2011-2013, of Harsh Varhdan Jain is a comprehensive and critically relevant Design Research project resulting from a deep pragmatism borne from sensibilities rooted in a myriad of India’s Spatial Tales of Origin. I have worked with Harsh for two years, introduced to me first by his mentor Delhi architect Pankaj Vir Gupta whom I have known as my former student for two decades. We offer this generational context to appreciate the depth and endurance of this offering as we return to India the summer of 2013.

Antonin Raymond and George Nakashima were called to India in 1937 by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, to design and construct in collaboration the Golconde Ashram, a place of re-engagement with the World in the French Colony of Pondicherry oriented east to the Bay of Bengal. These four individuals came from the four continents of the world to acknowledge the bridges between design, construction and well-being enacted out in the rituals of everyday life, some call maintenance.

The published research work on Golconde, (2009) by University of Virginia alumnus Pankaj Vir Gupta and Christine Mueller, came to the attention of University of Virginia Dean Kim Tanzer who then invited Mr. Gupta to lecture on his exhibit Golconde: Introduction to Modernism in India in the Emaleh Gallery of the University of Virginia, in 2011. On the basis of the didactic themes revealed in that paradigmatic project in reinforced concrete, hand hewn teak, and recycled metals, the resulting India Initiative helped in identifying and framing the argument of a temporal strategy for construction across scales of the emerging mega-city and the enduring village o Mr. Jain’s Thesis.

We acknowledge the collaboration of Pankaj in introducing us to Doshi and the School of Architecture in Ahmedabad, as well as the Sabarmati River Project of Bimal Patel and Academic Furniture Assemblages of Ismet Khambatta in Ahmedabad, to Mona Doctor in Auroville, to the Alliance Francaise Headquarters in Delhi by Stefan Paumier, the Wolkem India Limited Headquarters in Udaipur, and especially to the Golconde Ashram community in Pondicherry.

Finally, we acknowledge herein Harsh Vardhan Jain who genuinely served not only as our in- country guru, first among equals, during our first summer semester 2012, and for the resultant didactic design process of his thesis project for Safdarjung Airport: India: work in progress: specifications for design and construction.

golconde ashram pondicherry image - vir.mueller architects

Peter D. Waldman William R. Kenan Professor of Architecture University of Virginia Summer 2013

PREFACE The title, a work in progress posits a temporal agenda, considers building as a verb, acknowledges those who bring resources to the site, as well as those who construct diligently even hidden foundations and others who envision structures in support of celestial soffits.

We have discovered in India that the humility of acts of daily maintenance provides an essential link between aesthetics and ethics.

Mr. Jain’s thesis research presents India as the contemporary economic condition first in global terms, and then reframes Delhi as successive cities occupying the Aravelli hills beneath a former vast terrain of Forest Canopies, with one mighty Yamuna River in alliance with innumerable tanks.

The Safdarjung site is awash, and channeled, recently flown over, and now early on vast plantations of teak, ashoka, peeple, neem and mighty Banyan trees commence the restoration of legendary canopies.

It is projected that generations will build and simultaneously dwell here, first on the ground working with the endurance of masonry, then framed by reinforced concrete and finally reaching higher densities with an advancing steel frame industry and future technologies.

Jain’s workforce is both enduring and innovative. This is a city of health and well being, of education and resourcefulness, coming from the powers within this fecund cultural condition.

Infrastructure uses resources always at hand from geothermal cisterns to solar panels; infrastructure is modeled in the depths of the earth as well as rooftop transformers for the Sun and the Wind. Earth and Water are clearly evident below, Fire and Wind are seduced to descend from the heavens; and Ether manifested as aesthetics and ethics is everywhere in this thesis.

Harsh Jain has mastered architecture in his design process at ease commandingly in a sequence of material based models, in the graphic notational systems of hidden infrastructural systems and flows, and in his digital renderings of the life within his enduring village by day and by night.

This slim but dense offering has inspired our School’s students and faculty in Virginia, and is offered to frame the possibilities of an evolving architecture of continuity for India as a leader in an emerging global order founded on ethics and resourcefulness.

Peter D. Waldman William R. Kenan Professor of Architecture University of Virginia Summer 2013

THESIS SUMMARY

INDIA, part of the BRIC nations is constantly in world focus as it is projected to be one of the leading world economies by 2050.

In comparison to China (also a BRIC nation), the country is lagging behind by at least 15 years in terms of economic development.

This may prove to be advantageous to the country as it can carefully tread the path of progress and avoid making the same mistakes made by already developed nations and learn from China’s economic progress.

The Mckinsey report projects that by 2030, the urban population in India will increase to 590 million (almost twice the present population of the United States). This means a rapid growth in infrastructure development and unprecedented housing demand, putting tremendous pressure on the construction sector. Currently the construction sector contributes 8% towards India’s GDP, employing 30 million people. The planning commission report for the 12th Five Year Plan, suggests that the numbers employed in this sector should rise to 92 million by 2022, to meet the rising demands. Of this number more than half the employed fall in the unskilled and minimally educated category. The manufacturing industries tied to the construction sector are primarily cottage scale with the exception of steel and cement. According to the planning commission, the manufacturing sector will also develop (mostly through foreign imports of machinery or import substitution through self developed units).

This raises a critical concern regarding the future of the large unskilled population employed in the construction sector once the industry gets mechanized. Imminent mechanization will substitute manual labour. The displaced population rendered unemployed may not have enough avenues to find work (also influenced by an increasing population and lack of education).

A second concern that emerges is the social divide that will widen further due to increase in revenue generation, which will essentially land in the hands of the few. Thus making the rich richer and the poor - poorer.

Lastly, the question is of maintaining skill and values that identifies a community in an ever-increasing global society. The value we place in the way we do work, the continuity of skill involved as it is passed down through generations, family values, health care and education that ties into generations that reside together etc.

This research and design thesis aims at finding a balance between the methods of construction (labour and capital intensive) through exploring different and appropriate forms of urbanism, inherently tied to construction methodologies and respond to the context. In turn establish a model for development, which can satisfy the growing demands of rapid urbanization as well as bring about social integration.

defence colony residence, 2009 vir.mueller architects

The site considered for exploring and demonstrating this research is a 250-acre parcel of land in the heart of the city of New Delhi. A former airport built by the British during their occupation now serves only a flying school and private helicopter landings.

With an astronomical land value, the site is perfect to serve as a model for future development of more banal conditions at the periphery of the city.

GDP growth

2.7%

SITUATING INDIA

6.6%

BRAZIL

unemployment

6.0% 20.6%

investment / GDP

18.4%

savings / GDP

In September 2012, the ‘Economist’ published a 14 page special report on the current socio-economic situation of India. They also have made projections about India’s future growth if the country’s leaders tread the right path. In April 2010, McKinsey and Company filed in their report for India’s urban awakening projections for 2030.This report foreshortened Goldman Sachs estimates for 2050 published in July 2007. This keen interest shown by global economic think tanks and journals puts India in a pivotal role in the world economy. Part of the BRIC nations, a word coined by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs, the focus is steadily shifting from China to India.

4.3% 8.4%

RUSSIA

6.5% 23.2%

India’s economic trajectory can be drawn similar to that of china, but with a phase difference of almost 15 years. Though at one point both economies were at par. China took to economic reforms in 1978 thanks to Deng Xiao Ping (Meghnad Desai, India and China: An Essay in Comparative Political Economy). It took an economic crisis in 1991 for India to partially liberalize its economy. Both countries part of the BRIC nations are receiving unprecedented world attention as a result of the economic growth in the past 20 years. India, in the 19th century was a land surplus economy with 1/5th is current population. Now with a steady growing population of 1.2 billion (national census 2011), it is a nation of labour surplus. Like China, it has the potential to amplify its manufacturing sector, which was completely disintegrated under the almost 200 year British rule (Meghnad Desai, India and China: An Essay in Comparative Political Economy).

28.6% 7.2% 8.6%

INDIA

9.8% 34.4%

Being at least 15 years behind China in terms of development and having a comparable population, may open up opportunities to learn from the others mistakes. It may be the right time to draw guidelines defining the approach towards development, namely in the construction sector.

31.6% 9.2% 5.4%

CHINA

1913

4.0%

7.5

48.3%

1950 4.2

8.9

1998 7.7

4.5

2010 5.5

11.5

1913 17.0

13.6

26.4

1950 14.2

1998 16.5

21.1

21.0

2010 17.2 19.2

51.0%

INDIA

SHARE OF WORLD GDP (%) COMPARING THE BRIC NATIONS

source - IMF, Economist Intelligence Unit

SHARE OF WORLD POPULATION (%)

CHINA

source - Maddison 2001, CIA world fact book

agriculture 17.2%

REAL ESTATE

INFRASTRUCTURE

industry 26.4%

services 56.4%

construction sector 9%

real estate segment 30%

SEZ

infrastructure segment 70%

CONTRIBUTION TO THE GDP BY SECTOR

source - CIA, world fact book, report on the 12th five year plan

VARIOUS SECTORS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

source - working group report on the 12th five year plan

1995

822,000

2005 2022

3,720,000 359,000

TECHNICIANS

573,000 4,320,000 646,000

SUPPORT STAFF

RURAL / SEASONAL LABOUR

738,000

UNSKILLED WORKERS

ENGINEERS

687,000

3,650,000 2,241,000 3,267,000

SEASONAL INCOME

SKILLED WORKERS

23,560,000 10,670,000

UNSKILLED WORKERS

25,600,000 56,960,000 14,600,000

TOTAL

31,000,000

WOMEN WORKERS

92,000,000

Sources : Working Group Report - 11th Plan; Approach - 12th Plan

PROJECTED GROWTH OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR

BACKWARD LINKAGES OF THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR

defence colony residence, 2009 vir.mueller architects

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS, MANUFACTURING AND FDI

CEMENT

ALUMINUM

STEEL

MINERAL

BRICK FITTINGS

AGGREGATE / SAND

TIMBER

PAINTS PETRO-CHEM

EQUIPMENT

INDUSTRIES SUPPLEMENTING THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR

The building materials manufacturing industry apart from Cement and Steel is mostly small scale or cottage scale, thus leaving room for expansion and inducting pre-fabricated components. The cost of materials in the constructing a building almost amounts to 2/3rd of the cost of construction. Constuction primarily being a labour intensive process, employs large number of workers at minimum wages or lower. As more and more materials are made available, the cost of building is going up. The opening up of Indian Market to Foreign Direct Investment – as observed through the Indian Government’s proposal for FDI in the retail sector (September 22nd article in the economist), will allow foreign corporations to retain ownership. This, the government hopes, will provide a higher market share to the local manufacturers and farmers at costs lower to consumers.

This also means design and construction of several retail outlets / warehouses / manufacturing units to matching the standards set by the coporations across the globe to retain brand identity. The opening of markets, (partially in 1991 and more now) will bring in a plethora of pre-fabricated construction materials ranging from extruded aluminium glazing frames to panel wall systems or composite flooring etc., replacing the prevalent on-site labour oriented methods for manufacturing the same. In the Working Group Report on the 11th Plan, it is suggested that typical time to construct a floor is about 30 days in India.

This will reduce by a third if not less, if the floor slabs are prefabricated as steel girder and deck system as opposed to cast in place R.C.C. slabs. Thus increasing efficiency and reducing the unskilled labour component. Steel is not only one of the most expensive materials to build out of, but also warrants highly skilled workmen and facility for fabrication. Introduction of prefabricated materials / mechanized process of construction have a potential of replacing existing building components, which are often associated with labour oriented fabrication and craft skills. Replacing those components will have an obvious effect on the employment numbers involved in the construction sector.

INDIA FUTURE ?

10 million

70% 22

91 As projected by the McKinsey and Company report, the scenario presented for India in 2030, which provides opportunities for the for growth if the right steps taken to achieve a developed state. The report suggests the following –

$ 1,200,000,000,000

PROJECTED GROWTH FOR INDIA 2030

McKinsey and Company report - April 2010

5 times the number by which the GDP will have multiplied 590 million people will live in cities, nearly twice the population of United States today 270 million people net increase in working age population 70 % of net new employment will be generated in cities 91 million urban households will be middle class, up from 22 million today 68 cities will have population of 1 million plus, up from 42 today; Europe has 35 today $1.2 trillion capital investment is necessary to meet projected demand in India’s cities 700-900 million square meters of commercial and residential space needs to be built or a new Chicago every year 2.5 billion square meters of roads will have to be paved, 20 times the capacity added in the past decade 7,400 kilometers of metros and subways will need to be built – 20 times the capacity added in the past decade

THE WAY FORWARD ?

The past 20 years of construction in China can teach us many lessons in choosing the right track for progression. Though a large component of Chinese labour is engaged in the manufacturing sector (their construction sector is now highly mechanized). In India, there is still a degree of ambiguity in categorizing construction, which bounces between manufacturing and service. Even though the Indian manufacturing industry is in the process of getting on its feet, there will still remain a large labour component engaged in the construction sector.

Recognizing the fact that it is important to improve the quality of materials for better and efficient construction and building performance, but in the impetus of modernization, the large population should not be rendered unemployed.

shanghai

SHANGHAI / GURGAON COMPARISON

gurgaon

source - google search: shanghai and gurgaon cityscape

China has already taken decisions in forming an attitude towards the urban and infrastructure development under the pretext of progress, India is following suit. The satellite town of Gurgaon (neighboring Delhi) can be taken up as a case example where there has been rampant growth and construction taking place at least since the past 10 years. Agricultural lands are bought cheap and are built upon to create housing and commercial complexes. In this frenzy of constructing, the essential understanding of context is bypassed with imagery of the west and Shanghai serving as models. The city of Gurgaon is stifled by inconsistent power and water supply, inadequate road and sewerage networks and an incompetent master plan, drawn as a knee jerk reaction to development, favoring private developers who at this point of time maybe the largest employment generator in this region.

DILEMMA / QUESTION / DILEMMA

The construction Industry is also fraught with all sorts of dilemmas, which range from lack of efficiency in building to diminishing skill of labour and craftsmen. From the above the following can be highlighted – AN INCREASED REQUIREMENT FOR BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE AND HOUSING AT AN EXPEDITED PACE APPROPRIATE FORM OF URBANISM CAREFULLY CALIBRATED FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT LACK OF SKILL AND INCREASING NUMBER OF UNSKILLED LABOURERS / MECHANICAL MEANS OF CONSTRUCTION (PRE-FABRICATED OR MECHANIZED) REPLACING THE LABOUR COMPONENT – THUS RESULTING IN REDUCED EMPLOYMENT.

‘how can architecture attain a central position in informing the direction which the nation adopts as it progresses rather than being a manifestation of the image of development?’

The above dilemma poses an essential question of -

rajsamand stone quarry, rajasthan

SURPLUS UNEMPLOYED LABOUR

2030

urban population - 590 million (approx) McKinsey and Company report

2022

MAIN CONCERN - HOUSING shortage - 25 million houses 11th plan report

The National Housing Bank data as per the 2001 census shows the enormous demand for housing which has been steeply increasing.The working group report on the 11th plan states that the country needs to provide for 4.8 million houses per year and that during the specified plan year it failed to meet the demand of 25 million additional houses.

2012 urban population - 360 million (approx)

(67 million houses as of 2007-11th plan report)

11th plan report

developed manufacturing industry 2012

current labour supply - 30 million 12th plan report

housing demand 10 million - 18 million 6 million - 10 million 3 million - 6 million 1 million - 3 million 100,000 - 1 million 5000 - 100,000

source - National Housing Bank census 2001

2022

current labour shortage

2030

estimate labour required - 90 million assuming fulfilled

MAIN CONCERN UNEMPLOYMENT

12th plan report

Upon analyzing the data collected by various reports such as the 11th and 12th Planning Commission report or the McKinsey and Company projection lays bare the dilemma of shortage of labour, humongous housing demand and inefficient construction.

As mentioned earlier, the building materials industry is still at a cottage scale and will take time to mature and fully support the construction sector. As an interim measure, it is suggested (by the planning commission), that the excessively large population of India should be tapped to provide for the shortage in labour to meet the demands.This means tripling the current employed labour from 30 million to 90 million by 2022., which at that point will sufficiently be supported by the manufacturing industry with pre-fabricated building components. As the economy progresses, the number of people residing in urban areas will almost double to 590 million in 2030 (McKinsey report) compared to what exists today. It is natural that the manufacturing industry will advance further taking on a greater role in the construction sector. The number of employed labour will also keep increasing (agriculture is becoming a less attractive as a source of income). Thus eventually leading to a labour surplus, resulting in large-scale unemployment (similar to what agriculture is facing today). Now, it is understood that not all labour will be employed in housing projects, but many in infrastructure development and rural development, but the housing market becomes and essential indicator of construction trends as that’s where most labour has been employed. It is also argued that the same number of people will be employed in more sites, that is, less number of workers per site, hence many sites running simultaneously. This condition appears to be probable, only if the country’s population is under control or there are other avenues that can take up unskilled work force in such numbers. As the population increases, education is becoming an even more difficult proposition, hence limiting the scope for surplus workers in other avenues.

MAIN CONCERN - URBANISM

Moghul planning and architecture 16th - 19th century A.D. fatehpur sikri

Colonial planning and architecture 19th century -1940s A.D. new delhi

Modernist planning and architecture 1950 - 1970s A.D. chandigarh

Critical Regionalists planning and architecture 1970 - 2000s A.D. housing tower and complex

?

HYPOTHESIS

a contextually sensitive design has the potential to balance manual and mechanized components in construction that in turn attain an ethical dimension transcending the physical act of building.

vasant vihar residence, 2010 - 2012 vir.mueller architects

SITE

river yamuna

safdarjung airport

Delhi, India

100m Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi

0m

500m 200m

SITE CONNECTIONS

URBAN CONNECTIONS

SITE AXIS

TRANSPORT NETWORKS

WATER NETWORKS

PROJECTED EXISTING URBAN FABRICS TO SITE

bearing wall system

4500mm

Considering the site to be completely forested, we can suggest to following - oxygen production per year and the quantity of lumber generated say if planted with teak. The lumber generated will be enough to supply to 1000, 250 sq.m. residences. The notion is to allow the site provide its own building materials.

concrete frame system

22500mm

average oxygen generated per sq.m. plant per year - 0.5 kg total area of site - 1,011,714 sq. m. total oxygen production from site per year - 505,857 kg average plants per acre (teak) - 640 average yeild per acre - 4 cubic meter total yeild for site - 1000 cubic meter average quantity of wood consumed for 1000 sq.m. residence - 4 cubic meter average price of teak per cubic meter - Rs. 70,000 or $1400.0 total revenue generated for site - Rs. 70,000,000 or $1,400,000.0

9000mm

4500mm

9000mm

4500mm

modules for various systems

SITE ANALYSIS - FORESTATION

steel frame system

SITE ANALYSIS - CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS

Working with the topography of the site, we can locate low lying areas for water collection and thus setting up an infrastructure that may employ the beast of burden to produce manual labour and pump water. Through this system we can generate spaces around the collected water which act as social condensers. This kind of social infrastructure is ubiquitous and traditional in the Indian society.

715ft

A typical “150 watt� solar panel is about a square meter in size. Such a panel may be expected to produce 0.75 kWh every day, on average, after taking into account the weather and the latitude, for an insolation of 5 sun hours/day.

705ft

average solar power generated per sq. m.- 0.75 kWh total area of site - 1,011,714 sq. m. total solar power generation from site - 758,785 kWh

0ft

1900ft

section A 723ft 692ft 0ft

section B

2578ft

726ft 702ft

A

0ft

B

section C

0.52mi

721ft

C

D

E

696ft 0ft

section D

0.56mi

714ft

677ft 0ft

section E

SITE ANALYSIS - POWER GENERATION

0.53mi

site sections - exaggerated in vertical axis

SITE ANALYSIS - WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS PUBLIC SPACE

SOCIAL SYSTEMS PUBLIC SPACE

INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS wind turbines

steel frame

solar collectors

RESIDENTIAL 10-20 years

INSTITUTIONAL 3-15 years

urban agriculture

vertical circulation service conduits

concrete frame PUBLIC SPACE

PUBLIC SPACE

COMERCIAL + MIXED USE 1-5 years

forestry - lumber prod. water harvesting / re-use earth air tubes + other infrastructuer

brick masonry

SECTIONAL PLANNING AND INTEGRATION OF VARIOUS SYSTEMS

CONCEPTUAL BUILT UP OF SITE BASED ON CONSTRUCTIONS SYSTEMS

SITE BUILT UP SEQUENCE OVER TIME

STEP 1 - SITE EXCAVATION / WATER TANK / FOUNDATIONS / PERIPHERY BUILT

STEP 4 - 1ST PHASE STEEL FRAME / URBAN AGRICULTURE STEP 5 - 2ND PHASE INFRASTRUCTURE / URBAN / FORESTATION AGRICULTURE / FORESTATION

STEP 2 - UNDER GROUND INFRASTRUCTURE / BASEMENTS / BRICKS

STEP 3 - BEARING MASONRY AND CONCRETE FRAME CONSTRUCTS / PLANTING

STEP 6 - 2ND CONSTRUCTION / ROOF TOP URBAN STEP 7 - FINAL CONSTRUCT / URBAN AGRICULTURE / AGRICULTURE / FORESTATION DE-FORESTATION

commercial residential institutional public space

PROGRAMMING

solar collectors water network brick manufacturing geo-thermal agriculture / lumber

INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS

brick concrete steel

CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS

SYSTEMS MODEL

100m

SITE MODEL

0m

500m 200m

SITE PLAN

MODULE PLAN FOR CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS

AXONOMETRIC PROJECTION OF THE MODULE PLAN

GROUND FLOOR PLAN - COMMERCIAL

FIRST FLOOR PLAN - HOUSING

ELEVATED STREET LEVEL PLAN

HOUSING LEVEL PLAN

NORTH - SOUTH SECTION

EAST - WEST SECTION

STREET VIEW - MASONRY CONSTRUCTION WITH STEEL CORE FOR VERTICLE CIRCULATION

STREET VIEW - CONCRETE FRAME CONSTRUCTION

CIRCULATION CORE - STEEL FRAME CONSTRUCTION

ENTERING THE SITE

WASHING GHATS WITH WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

MASONRY CONSTRUCTION DWELLING

ELEVATED STREET

STEEL FRAME CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSING BLOCKS

STREET LEVEL VIEW OF THE COMPLEX

INTER-RELATIONSHIP OF THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS

VIEW FROM THE FEILDS WITH BRICK PRODUCTION