Type in a Cluster
We studied the Incremental house in Bot Village, in Palghar district and identified the architectural type in that particular context which is influenced by climate, culture and life forces. We took in consideration the sense of scale, light quality , materiality and temperature during the design process.
The site is located in Bot village, Palghar district. The villages houses people of the Agrarian community. Most houses in the village are made of mud, brick and karvi. My site is the 'Incremental house'.
This house is surrounded with neighbouring houses in the front and right side, on the left side there is a handpump and further ahead are the farmlands. The house has a small backyard where the toilet is present.
The main house has nine members, two couples, a nephew and four children. While the other house has works as a storage space.
This is an old house which has changed through the years, according to their requirments.
Site Photos :
Site Context :
The Incremental house, has changed over the years. We enter the house through the oota, which is the public space of the house. The space we enter through the door is madhli kholi, which has two rooms on both sides. The ones on the left are used mostly for storage and the one in the front is used by the children to sleep at night. Similarly the rooms on right are used by the two couples. The madhli kholi further opens up to the two kitchen which are mostly used for storage. The kitchen on left opens into mori and the kitchen on right opens to the chool (used for cooking).
Site Documentation Drawings :
The house had a oota, madhli kholi and four rooms of which, one was a kitchen.Then they extended the house at the back, making two separate kitchens for the two couples due to family disputes. Further they extended the left side at the back, making a 'mori'. The mori is made of Karvi, which is a porous material and allows light to enter through gaps.Lastly they added the chool ghar and the toilet. Also they extended the height of the house, and added an attic made of wooden members, covered with bamboo (cane mat). This attic only acts as a storage space for now. They plan to extend above, in order to add a new floor, as their family is growing and needs more space. The toilet stands as a seperate unit from the house.
The light quality inside the house varies due to diffrent sizes of windows and their directions. The oota, which lies outside the house is lit the whole day. The madhli kholi is dark most times of the day due to less windows. The rooms in the front have a good amount of light. The kitchen is also dark in most parts but the light flushes inside through the roof. The mori and chool have karvi walls which are porous, that is have small gaps that allow the light to enter inside, which allows entirely different light quality to enter. The space is most lit during the afternoons as sunlight enters the house through windows.
Observation and Pattern language :
The Oota of the house becomes a public space at different times of the day, for different genders as well as different age groups. The nephew spends most of his day in the central room (madhli kholi). Women mostly occupy the kitchen and the washing space (mori), that is the back side of the house. Men spends most of the day outside and the remaining day in their rooms. While children occupy the entire house. They keep their door open allowing the hens to move in, out and across the house. Most part of the house remains dark as much light does not enter inside. The Oota is the most active space of the house as it stays occupied throughout. There is a dead space between the two houses which was previously used as a cowshed. The attic works as a storage space and is made in order to extend a floor in the future.
Intent and Programmes :
The intent of my design was to create a space that transforms into a community (public) space during the evening or on festivals. Also I wanted to make the house more accessible to the women, as they spend the maximum time inside the house. As they are at home and can do work other than the daily chores, i thought of introducing a 'anganwadi', which is a part of the house itself and extends to the outside. On the other hand the nephew also spends most of his day at home, so introducing a shop would help the house economically and make the public space outside more active as people would visit the shop and stop by or vice versa.
Process Drawings :
Process Models :
ITERATION ONE: Initially, I tried to make a configuration of rooms at ground floor that keeps the connection between the spaces same as the initial and added the anganwadi on the first floor joining it to the floor above the shop. Here the women could cook the food on the upper floor and run a canteen.
ITERATION TWO: In this iteration, I worked on the configuration which could allow the working of the shop better and on the upper floor, I added a few activities for the children that could make the space playful. The upper floor was connected by a semi-open passageway, creating a transition between the two spaces.
ITERATION THREE: As I wanted to make the oota a more active space, I added more steps for people to sit. I shifted the kitchen to the right so that women can access the entire house and shop conveniently. I shifted the anganwadi to the ground floor, so that children can easily access and it will connect to the play area outside as well.
ITERATION FOUR: In this iteration I tried to create a central courtyard and keep least walls on the ground floor, so that the space is open and large enough for children to play and opens up to the backyard. And on the right side is the shop and toilet and above it is the room for the nephew.
ITERATION FIVE: In this iteration I created levels in the kitchen, mori and chool and extended the plinth so that women can spend time outside the kitchen and keep a watch on the functioning of the shop. Also the plinth is cut t make a level, which acts as a courtyard in the anganwadi.
About Final Design :
The oota becomes the public space of the house with a protection wall which has seatings on either sides, that are occupied by different genders and age groups at different times of the day. Between the house and the shop lies the play area, that has spaces to climb, hide and run around, these climbing spaces acts as partition between the public space and anganwadi. On the side of shop where there is a handpump, place to sit is created by extending the plinth. The outside can be accessed through the kitchen. Bookshelves are created beneath the staircase, which acts like a library and seating are provided to sit and read ear it. Wooden boxes at different levels are made for children to sit and climb.
Design Drawings :
Ground Floor Plan :
First Floor Plan :
Roof Plan :
Sections :
Design Model :
