Aanganwaadi, Garbage Collection, Community Toilet & Pathology Lab at Trombay, Cheeta Camp.

Building Making

Jinal Trivedi | Semester 6 | 2022-2023

The course started with understanding the exisitng forces on the site and observing how certain activites/spaces are occupied.The exploration started by mapping activties like the ciruculation flow on site or locating dead and live spaces, storage spaces, way in which different spaces are occupied etc.The course opened a nuanced layer of the relationship between structure,material and space where I understood the way in which the structure governs the way of design. the way in which a material brings about a certain expeirence. The course taught to look through the lens of human comfort and the expirience through that comfort. The course also threw light on the whole building making process from scratch and touched upon all aspects of it; i.e. understanding the process from site till the completion of it. We understood site management which opened up about the transportation and storage of material on site while taking care of the labour and their needs.

The importance of specifications and bill of quantities was understood which in turn made me realise the importance of finances in a project. Overall I learnt all the parts of the process of building making hold a very important stake in the broad process and have to be focused on.

SITE, SITE FORCES & CONTEXT

The transit camp of Trombay known as Cheeta Camp has diversity in the way the community lives. One such space has an intresting set up. The public toilet block , pathology lab and a small balwadi. All the three spaces are spaces of care and wellbeing, but the spatiality is more intresting. This lead to many observations.

Observation:

There have been some incremental infrastructure changes in the settlement.Once the three programmed spaces-Balwadi,Toilet and Pathology Lab came into the settlement, the community interactions gradually started to push into the alleys of the settlement and their spill out spaces also got restricted.

Various activities now, take place in these narrow alleys like people occupying the plinths and entrances of the houses for interactions,the windows,staircase and space below it used for storage,women washing clothes and other threshold conditions.

The activities that used to happen before the programmed spaces coming in, have been diverged into the alleys due to shrinking of the space.

Design Intent :

Rethinking a way in which the programmed and unprogrammed spaces be integrated such that it could hold these community interactions which happen in the gully.

To build a form that lends itself to accommodate the activities and affordances by expansion and contraction of space.