Matching Vaults
The geographic distribution of the project in Ahmedabad in India challenged us to face the theme of affordable housing production.
We were asked to conceive a design solution able to host the population of the so called Hollywood slum. We main purposes were to combine social and economical needs in a winning architectonic blueprint able to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants.
The main purpose of the project was to design low-income groups units able to host the existing population in the Hollywood slum in Ahmedabad, as well as adding middle-class apartments in order to improve the economic value of the site. We decided to start from the typical row-house which enables to create diversity within the plot creating a direct relationship between the dwelling and the street. The concept of the projects stands for the will to define the entire project from a stripe. In this case the heart of the design strategy is the block of the services and the stairs block that serves two apartments at the same time. Each module is 2.5mx10m with a 2m wide mezzanine. In section, the typical dwellings shift along the mezzanine, giving space for terraces. The dwelling faces both the streets and the backyards. They’re open in order to give the tenants the opportunity to gather in smaller communities. They can also decide to "privatize" that space. In this way the dwellings have both a private and a public facing. Focusing-in the dwelling type, the brick-load bearing structure becomes part of the design itself defining the final aspect of the project. Despite the reduced size of the module, the use of the brick allows to create a nice atmosphere within each apartment.
