Page 18 - HUDCO DESIGN AWARDS
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SUBLIME ORDINARINESS – HOUSING AT VASIND, MAHARASHTRA

         The Housing Project
         The project houses 54 families of staff working in an
         industrial facility. 48 of these are small apartments of
         50sqm (Type B) and 6 are larger apartments of 100 sqm
         (Type A). For people living in company housing, the comfort
         of the new neighborhood is crucial to the sense of
         wellbeing. The housing has been designed keeping these
         socio-cultural contexts in mind.
         The single-loaded corridor typology drawn from the
         Mumbai chawls becomes a catalyst in fostering a sense of
         community. On the ground floor, apartments are accessible
         individually from their own small semi-private space, or
         “otla” (raised entrance plinth seen in traditional houses).
         On upper floors, four ‘one-bedroom’ apartments are strung
         along this corridor space, at the end of which sits an open
         staircase. Each staircase is articulated differently with its
         first flight angled out giving each block an identity of its
         own. Three such Type B blocks come together along with
         one semicircular Type A ‘two-bedroom’ block to form an
         intimate courtyard which becomes the heart of the housing.
         Each apartment comprises of a small multi-functional space
         at the entrance with the kitchen on one side and toilets on
         the other. This space opens into two non-designated
         rooms which can be used as per the needs of the family.
         The kitchen near the entrance enables the woman of the
         house to be connected to the outside.
         Wind, sunlight and rain are the delights of living in tropical
         environments such as Mumbai and its surroundings. The
         semi-open corridors, staircases, balconies and entrance
         plinths give the residents the possibility of enjoying these
         natural phenomena and engender interaction and reinforce a
         sense of belonging and togetherness.                            Placing of housing block.    Connection of corridor with open space.















           Plan of typical Chawl.                                                                                  Plan showing Otla space.
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