This is the latest update to the New Transit Camp Social Club project in Dharavi. We have worked mainly on the interior space and on the exterior walls. The newly designed interior space now functions like a huge staircase, with different shelves (3×4 meters)  built with plywood, which goes up and up, creating many different  spaces in the same building.

It was really difficult to keep the existing structure so we decided to create  a “free” pallet racks structure. We added an “experimental cube”, which is a part of the building. It serves to investigate the use of different materials. This will help in finding new ways of using pallet racks system for houses construction. It’s like an independent cube, where each of the three floors has 24 sqm area. That’s a enough surface for housing units.

For the exterior walls we propose to recycle plastic sheets from street advertisements and trucks. That allows us to create a space open to daylight and air. It gives  the feeling of being outside even from inside  the building.

We are now working on bioclimatic issues by finding new solutions for keeping the interior as cool as possible.

Images of the improved design:

Buena Vista Tower seen from the Dharavi URBZ office. Click to enlarge.

When we moved to Dharavi, we hoped that some projects would come to us from its residents. There is nothing more exciting than the idea of doing architectural and planning projects in Dharavi and other improvised settlements in Mumbai (and the rest of the world). After all, if Mike Davis is right, this is the new urban condition for an increasing number of people everywhere. We never believed that wholesale clearing and redeveloping was the way ahead for improving the life of people living in so-called slums. Instead incremental development, informed by the way people live and relate to space seemed to be more sensible, less costly, sustainable and respectful of the neighborhoods and their history.

We didn’t have to wait for long before an architectural project came to us from within Dharavi. Paul Zacharia, our landlord and a local leader in New Transit Camp, where the office is located, was given management of a charitable trust which has a plot in need of development. The plot is 30 meters away from our office. He asked us to help with design, construction and financing and added that everything needs to be done really fast because if the land remained empty for too long, some sharks would just take it over. Paul wants to build a social club for street children and elderly residents that will be run by the trust.

The plot with the structure built by Paul in gray.

This happened just as Francesco Strocchio and Alberto Bottero, came to work with us for a month. They are final year architecture students at the Politecnico di Torino, Italy who started a research group called Hindustry. We immediately put them on the project. All construction you see here happened within the space of a week, but a week is a lot of time in Dharavi. Paul had already cleaned up the ground (sort of) and built a sturdy brick structure on it. He told us that if we find money to do better we can destroy it and do whatever we wanted. We thought it would be more practical to incorporate what is there into our design. We are still looking for financing, while the design is going on.

The structure was built by Paul in less than a week.

The building will be a symbol of how Dharavi could be redeveloped in a different way: no high-rise building, no masterplans coming from above our heads, but projects that can improve the quality of life in Dharavi. To us, developing Dharavi means taking into consideration what is already there. This must be done in a way that is economically sustainable. So the basic concept of the project is: 1) Develop don’t destroy, 2) make a small architectural landmark that will act as a statement showing that an alternative model of development in possible, 3) make it work within the economic dynamic of Dharavi.

Base map of the plot. Click here to download a large PDF version.

Dharavi is not a junkyard that can be bulldozed.  The tabula rasa approach is not an option. As we know people live here, they work and play like everywhere in Mumbai. This is a normal neighborhood confronted with special challenges. Several parts of Dharavi don’t look different from so many other areas of Mumbai, which are not referred as slums. Any (re)development project should start by evaluating the strength and the potential of Dharavi and consider the people living there as the main users and stakeholders.

Francesco and Alberto want to call the tower “Buena Vista.” The idea is to let people go up to see the view of Dharavi from above. The tower could also broadcast free wireless Internet for Dharavi residents.

The building we designed should be a new facility for the community. In the initial phase we are considering the use of  pallet racks system, which is a relatively cheap, fast, adaptable and modern way of building inside Dharavi.

The preliminary project proposes two different spaces: a large space on the ground floor for elderly residents (using the structure that has just been built) and  a space for street children on the first floor. A tower provides vertical circulation. It also functions as a landmark for the area.  The top of the tower is used to broadcast free internet wireless to New Transit Camp Nagar (and may be to the whole Dharavi), and diffuse Dharavi’s very own dharavi.organic wiki website.  Two open spaces are planned: a patio on the backside of the plot and an open terrace on the roof.

The pallet racks system allows us to build the tower and the first floor in a flexible and adaptable way. A second floor can be easily added in the future. For the ground floor we are simply keeping the existing brick structure.

The project moves quickly and many things keep changing. These are just preliminary ideas for the buildings. We will continue working on them. We also aim at using inputs from other architects and builders coming to the URBZ office. If you are interested in helping this project in any way, please contact URBZ. What we need the most at the moment is funding. Anything would help. We can already go a long way with $20,000 to 30,000.

Images of the site:

Images of the design:

Sites: JJ School of Art and Architecture, Wilson College Neighbourhood, Chowpatty, Khotachiwadi, Crawford Market.

The MASHUP is an opportunity to visualize Mumbai’s oldest neighbourhoods afresh. This is important not only because these constantly evolving spaces are changing at a fast pace, but also because a little bit of imagination can help them do so without disrupting their spirit and the lives of their old and new residents. Your photograph, photo-shopped image, graphic, painting, poem, rendering, essay or anything else that you choose to express yourself with, will go a long way in giving direction to the ongoing make over of this part of the city. The MASHUP will work with Mumbai’s student and resident population together with international participants. We will explore these neighbourhoods, archive ongoing transformations, introduce thoughts, ideas and images from elsewhere and help visualize the future in a manner that does justice to both, the history and aspirations of these spaces.

Why leave this important task to politicians and the development lobby? Come – join the fun and take charge!

The MASHUP activities cover the oldest neighbourhoods of the city. Girgaum, where Khotachiwadi  – the much threatened and celebrated trophy heritage habitat exists, just a stone’s throw away from Chowpatty beach, another historic space for demonstrating free expression. A fifteen minute walk takes you to Crawford Market – Mumbai’s oldest and favourite shopping destination, facing its own challenges. In between lies a maze of dense streets and bazaars that testify the ability of the city’s numerous communities to make the city what it is, a city of shops, markets, factories, docks, artisanship, dreams and collective aspirations.

In this maze lie opportunities that provide newer definitions of what it means to be a Mumbaikar, through the many languages the city speaks in, the many cultural practices it invents, its changing and evolving built forms, its bazaars and markets that are as vital and dense as the air Mumbai breathes – making the question of its identity richer than anything the city officially celebrates. Way richer than the imagination of its political leaders and deeper than the possibilities framed by its most conscientious citizens.

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The URBZ MASHUP workshop facilitates creative explorations and cultural exchanges between cities and people.

Dreams, myths and personal stories influence the destiny of cities as much as political choices and economic opportunities. They inspire architects and artists, stimulate activists and residents, and broaden the vision of the public and decision-makers.

This workshop provides a space of expression for practicioners in architecture, planning, design, art, media, creative writing and other creative fields. It is based on the idea that the best way to make genuine breakthroughs in the way we understand, experience and create our cities is to stimulate collective imagination, by bringing together people from all over the world and all ways of life. The workshop provides a space to produce new images, narratives and insights about cities and urban life, using online tools, digital technology, personal experiences and professional skills.

Cities

The first URBZ MASHUP took place in Tokyo, hosted by Temple University Japan, in the first week of July 2009. The second one will be held at Istanbul Technical University, followed by Mumbai in November. Other workshops are planned in Rio, New York and Amsterdam in 2010. Each workshop will remix and mashup the material produced in other cities.The dates are as follows:

Tokyo: July 1-5, 2009

Mumbai: Oct. 29 – Nov 1, 2009

Istanbul: August 2-7, 2010 July 26 – August 1, 2010

New Delhi: TBA

Rio: TBA

New York: TBA

Amsterdam: TBA

Organization

The URBZ MASHUP workshop invites artists, designers, architects, urbanists and creative people who share an interest in cities and urban life to explore a city, debate, ideate, create fictions, photo-collages, music and videos. Each workshop lasts 3 to 5 days and can be followed by a seminar and an exhibition.

The mashup comprises a mix of international and local participants. The participants form small teams of 3 to 5 people and explore the city for the first 2 or 3 days.

Each group chooses a street or neighborhood and documents it using various media including drawing, photo, audio, video and text.On the third day, all participants get back to the workshop space and remix the material they have gathered in a free and creative way.

On the last day, the material produced is uploaded in an online gallery A selected number of pieces will be printed and exhibited at the workshop space itself. URBZ provides a virtual environment to exhibit what has been produced.

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Dharavi Mashup by Colé

MUMBAI MASHUP

URBAN TYPHOONS are events during which local communities from particular neighbourhoods get together with urban practitioners from around the world to produce visions and ideas for a collectively authored effort at urban planning and transformation. The workshops are based on the premise that communities and neighbourhoods have the basic skills and talent to participate more effectively in the processes of urban planning or in simply making appropriate choices that affect their future and the future of their cities. During a ten day interactive event, resource-persons work in teams comprising of local residents and practitioners from everywhere to develop specific themes.

The first Urban Typhoon workshop was held in Shimokatazawa, Tokyo, Japan,in 2006. The second one took place in Koliwada, Dharavi, Mumbai, India in 2008.

Behind the specific contexts of the Urban Typhoon workshops lies a theme of great relevance for urban communities around the world: the participation of the residents in the planning of their urban environment. Over the past decade, participatory planning has gradually gained recognition in the fields of planning and development. Developing cities, such as Curitiba in Brazil, Bogota in Colombia, and Mumbai in India, have experimented with participatory schemes, inspiring other cities, as well as international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank. Residents’ participation has become an essential element of urban policy in the developing world, as well as in highly developed cities such as Tokyo.

URBAN TYPHOON Koliwada, Dharavi, Mumbai 2008

URBAN TYPHOON, Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, 2006