Introducing: Project Nivaas
Project Brief
Departing from the increasing necessity to address issues of urban marginality, structural violence, community disfranchisement, and now the global pandemic, the project invites students to explore the possibilities that urban designers -and researchers- possess to generate positive changes in contexts of scarcity.
The studio departs from the contemporary Indian context as stage for experimentation, surfacing the idea of infrastructure not necessarily as a more-than-human (one-time) solution, but a transitional set of strategies that would allow for the re-imagination of Indian urbanity. Frugal tactics of space, manifested through small-scaled urban devices that can plug into existing infrastructural systems: transportable and dismountable objects, capable of accommodating diverse productive activities, termed as "LIGHT INFRASTRUCTURES"
Project Vision
The design is intended to be based on “for the people, by the people, of the people” ideology i.e.
For the people: The design is centred to eliminate the daily problems faced by the people and to ease and improve their quality of life, thus it is for the people.
By the people: The design should not involve any complexities, thus making it viable by the people.
Of the people: The design should instil a feeling of belongingness in the heart of evicted people and they should not feel that they are transferred again to a new transit camp as they have been transferring for the last 16 years.
Thus, the vision is to develop a neighbourhood which involves community interaction at base level and provides them with all the basic essentials required for a person to sustain a livelihood in a very minimalistic way.
