TRADITIONAL COMMUNITY REIMAGINED

Spring 2021, Visiting Critique Studio

Instructor: Liang Wang

Partner: Meejan Patel

Location: Ahmedabad, India

The project focuses on reinventing the traditional pol house typology of Ahmedabad, India into temporal housing for student living. With the increase of technology and online classes, we are interested in the ways in which we can provide temporal housing for the younger generation in response to such technological change. Therefore, while maintaining traditional elements essential to the pol typology, the proposed housing reimagines the pol as a more flexible and open community dwelling for students in Ahmedabad.

We envision the block as a populated and vibrant community where residents can interact amongst themselves, but also with the surrounding community and informal economies that circulate onto the site.

Traditional Pol House Community Reimagined Community for College Students

Site Context

Traditional Pol House Typology

Type 1 Module Aggregation

Type 1I Module Aggregation

Mode of Aggregation

Updating the Modules

The project proposes two types of modules in order to fit both residential and commercial needs. One of the main differences between type 1 (residential) and type 2 (commercial) is the inner "garden" space. This concept of an inner garden originally came from the traditional pol house typology where the garden serves as an air tunnel to release hot air inside the house. This space is also regarded as an in-between space, which loosely connects public and private spaces within the house. While the inner garden is situated in each module of type 1, the garden seen in type 2 is generated by combining modules. In order to respond to the collective character of the type 2 modules, we decided to create a larger inner garden, rather than having small gardens inside of each module.

The main material of the project is wood since it is light and suitable for humid climates. While the traditional pol house uses walls as a spatial guide to separate units or programs, in our project, we used frames, which consist of wooden columns and beams, to create more spatial flexibility.

An Axonometric View of the Community

With the development of (digital) technologies, the importance We further argue that programs are now not defined by architectural of the space they are at/in. In other words, multi-purpose is Although the modules we designed to have only two types, for various purposes.

importance of physical existence has been getting less and less. architectural spaces, rather, users define temporal programs a keyword for responding to a rapid-changing society. by changing elements of the interior, modules can function