BELAPUR HOUSING CHARLES CORREA

PROJECT DATA

Location - Navi Mumbai

Area - 5.4 hectares area
Design - 500 people (100 houses) / hectare
Total of 550 families
Started by - CIDCO in 1983
Completion - 3 years for completion
Income groups - LIG - Rs.20000/ unit
- MIG - Rs. 30000 to Rs.50000/unit
- HIG - Rs. 180000/unit
Plot size - 45 sq.m to 75 sq.m

Making a house is like a bird building its nest. You start with a basic house, but you
have to let people change it to their own needs
- Charles Correa
BELAPUR HOUSING
 DESIGN CONCEPT
Hierarchy of community
spaces as a fractal structure

7 housing units around an

intimate courtyard 8m x 8m

Three clusters combine to

form a bigger module of 21
houses, surrounding a
community space of 12m x
12m

Three such modules

interlock to form the next
scale of community space of
20m x 20m

Units are packed close enough to provide the advantages of

high density, yet separate enough to allow for individual
identity and growth
BELAPUR HOUSING
 DESIGN CONCEPT
Each dwelling is freestanding and does not share any wall or
land with its neighbours, allowing a family to extend its home
according to their needs by means of self-construction.

The whole is arranged so that the neighbourhood spaces

open to a small stream which runs through the centre of the
site and overlooks the hills behind.

The houses are planned with toilets located in pairs, to save

on plumbing and sanitation costs.

In each plot, the structure of the house is along the boundary

on two clearly specified edges that ensures it will be free
standing

No windows are allowed to maintain privacy

BELAPUR HOUSING
 PRINCIPLES
A bottom-up approach that is capable of responding to Equity
growth needs and provide social and community spaces Incrementality
according to populations’ needs. Pluralism
Having Open to sky spaces
The first configuration of common space provides more Disaggregation of spaces
privacy and a sense of neighbourhood at the smaller scale

BELAPUR HOUSING
BELAPUR HOUSING
 IMAGES

BELAPUR HOUSING
BELAPUR HOUSING
BELAPUR HOUSING
Choices of form through flexibility of design - at Aranya variations
in street facing-elements, within the standardized layout, help
each house gain a unique character, these enrich street façade
and help users express their identity.

ARANYA HOUSING B .V. D H O S H I

ARANYA HOUSING
 PROJECT DATA

Location - near Indore

Area - 85 hectares area
Target population - 60000 people (6500 houses)

Houses are designed around a central spine

comprising the business district, and
an agglomeration of six self-contained
neighborhoods. Their size and organization
incorporates all the neighborhood facilities in
appropriate quantities to sustain community
life

ARANYA HOUSING
The ideological basis for planning Aranya has been the following:

Vitality – development to support socio-economic aspirations of the community

Imageability – built form to impart identity and inculcate a sense of belonging

amongst the inhabitants

Equity – to create equitable balanced community with satisfactory level of

environmental qualities and opportunities for all

Efficiency – to realize development that optimizes natural, material as well as

human resources to the advantage of the user group

Flexibility – to evolve framework that absorbs with ease the progressive change and
growth as a part of natural development process

Feasibility – to ensure development within given legal, fiscal and organizational

milieu

ARANYA HOUSING
ARANYA HOUSING
 SITE LVL PLANNING
Topography of the site was important determinant in planning roads, and other service
networks to maximize use of gravity flow and minimize the cut and fill of land.

Introduction of open slot around service core combines twice as many toilets per
manhole and cuts down pipe lengths to half, achieving economic efficiency

The service slot has been integrated as design element helping break the continuous
built mass

The formal street network draws the vehicular traffic outward to the perimeter road
while pedestrian traffic on informal pathways and open space network flows in the
opposite direction achieving clear and safe segregation of slow and fast moving traffic.

Non-rectilinear alignment of streets with varying widths, bends and widening are
provided to accommodate range of spontaneous human activities.

The hierarchy of commercial activities coincides with street hierarchy.

Formal commercial outlets - major arterial roads
informal shopping areas - narrow streets and open spaces throughout the settlement

ARANYA HOUSING
 SITE LVL PLANNING

ARANYA HOUSING
 FLEXIBLE LAYOUT

ARANYA HOUSING
Six sectors, with populations of 7000-12,000, lie to the east and west of the spine

Ten houses, each with a courtyard at the back, form a cluster that opens onto a street.

Septic tanks are provided for each group of twenty houses

The site plan accommodates and integrates a variety of income groups. The poorest are in
the middle of each of the six sectors, while the better off along the peripheries of each
sector and the central spine.

Eighty demonstration houses, designed by architect Balkrishna V. Doshi, display a wide

variety of possibilities, ranging from one room shelters to relatively spacious houses.

Most of the income groups buy only a house plot. Available to the poorest, in addition to
the plot itself, are a concrete plinth, a service core, and a room.

The down payment is based on the average income of the family, the loan balance being
paid in monthly installments.

Brick, stone, and concrete are available locally, but owners are free to use any material they
choose for house construction and decoration

ARANYA HOUSING
ARANYA HOUSING
ARANYA HOUSING
ARANYA HOUSING
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