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‘Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.’
—James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room
What is a home? Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines it as the place (such as a house or apartment) where a person lives. “Right now his home is a small apartment. People are concerned about protecting their homes.”
The psychology of home extends far beyond its physical or literal definition. It can be a feeling, a habit, something that comes naturally, a no-brainer. It is a set of complex relationships and networks that stem from the tangible means of materials and floor plans. An architect is always associated with building homes, not houses. We study ergonomics and psychology to get to the crux of designing a client’s home to suit and grow with their lifestyle. But do we truly know their definition of comfort and ease? Do we know ours?
We tend to ‘home’ ourselves with a bunch of influences that are irrespective of the physical presence of the space. Each ‘space’ means something different for whoever inhabits it. They could be creative or generative zones of life. In addition, they could be individual or connected, dialogic or monologic, routine or chaotic, settling or nomadic. Not just this- homes come in various economic ranges, varying across cities, styles and most importantly, vary according to lifestyle.
Given the times we live in, it is not an understatement to say that homes have become a buzzword in every sphere of our lives, including work and growth. Most of the working population has moved from large cities back to their hometowns during the pandemic, credited to working-from-home and to save costs in unprecedented times. A reverse migration of sorts occurred in Urban India, where the skilled workforce chose to return to their roots. Not only would they reap the benefits of their salaries, but they would do so in the comfort and space of their own homes rather than rented apartments. Such a shift back to the home base helps spread awareness about tech knowledge and enables the induction of modern practices to rejuvenate the rural economy.
“According to a report, released in August, by global management consultancy firm Kearney, 62 percent of value e-commerce will be driven by customers from tier-II cities and beyond, by 2030.”
On the flipside, migrant workers in India did not have much choice. Over 10 million internal migrant workers were forced to leave urban areas and return home by foot during the March-June 2020 period. The MART report estimates this number to have reached 25 million people. In a humbling phenomenon filled with challenges, we looked at what gave us strength and safety. Creating safe environments for all was a fact reinstated by the pandemic but very much prevalent before this rude awakening.
A city like Bombay, the Financial capital of India, has seen its fair share of people and a spectrum of their definition of ‘homes’. However, the influx of people to the ‘City of Dreams’ has never been proportional to the roofs available for them. As a result, significant schemes have been devised to measure up to the demand-supply housing situation; one such example enabled housing to an extent where it was a cultural shift.
In 1983, Ar. Charles Correa devised a scheme to develop 5.4 hectares of land to house 500 people (~100familes/hectare) in Belapur, Navi Mumbai.
The scheme caters to three income groups: lower, middle and upper. However, the plot sizes vary only between 45 SQM to 75 SQM across the board, an attempt at homogeneity amongst a built form. A rarity in the Indian construction scene, no plot shares common walls with its neighbours. Instead, the detached party walls enable a sense of individuality amongst the dense built environment and scope for expansion for each dwelling independent of its neighbours.
The low-rise, high-density planning allows for open spaces as the yards of each house. Not only is the civil structure's load-bearing in themselves, but they are also relatively simple to employ local unskilled labour in construction. Despite being low cost and quick solutions, the essence of a quaint habitation is evident with the Mangalore roof tiles and Shahbad stone paving.
The thought behind incremental housing schemes such as this one is to develop the most effective solution for that time. Of course, ideas are bound to be obsolete and repeat decades later, but the value of excellent planning is never lost on community spirit.
Indeed, with mindful planning not just preserving our present but also securing our future, hardly any surprise then that it is already the hot topic for 2022.
-Purvi
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