A DISSERTATION REPORT ON

URBAN VOIDS

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO

THE VIDYAVARDHAN’S INSTITUTE OF DESIGN ENVIRONMENT AND
ARCHITECTURE
OF

Y.C.M.O.U. UNIVERSITY
BY

RUGVEDA PARESH GANDRE

JAN2017-2018

VIDYAVARDHAN’S INSTITUTE OF DESIGN ENVIRONMENT

AND ARCHITECTURE
(YASHWANTRAO CHAVAN MAHARASHTRA OPEN UNIVERSITY)
NASHIK, MAHARASHTRA

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2
 YASHWANTRAO CHAVAN MAHARASHTRA
OPEN UNIVERSITY

VIDYAVARDHEN’S INSTITUTE OF DESIGN

ENVIRONMENT
AND ARCHITECTURE

CERTIFICATE

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE FOLLOWING

DESIGN DISSERTATION IS THE BONA-FIDE

WORK OF

RUGVEDA PARESH GANDRE

OF FINAL YEAR FROM VIDYAVERDHAN’S

IDEA COLLEGE

OF ARCHITECTURE AND WAS CARRIED OUT

IN THE
COLLEGE UNDER MY GUIDANCE

Signature of Guide Signature of External

Signature of Director Signature of Candidate

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My dissertation would be incomplete without a little note of acknowledgement

expressing my sincere gratitude to all those who stood by me and contributed in
their own special way towards the completion of this work.
I would like to thank my internal Guide Ar. Shantanu Autade, Ar. Pooja Khairnar
and Ar. Aditi Kulkarni for their guidance at different stages of my work. Also would
like to thank my Director Ar. Vijay Sohoni , and Principal Ar. Vivek Patankar who
had been a great support during the tenure.
I Sincerely thank my external guide, Ar. Rahul Dabir for the all the references and
concern for giving valuable crits. I would like to express my internal appreciation
towards my parents and family who have always been there for me no matter
where I am, for all unconditional supports and patience

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 RESOURCES OF IMAGES

• Fig -1 Solid Void plan of the “Apartment Condition” inhabiting a thickened wall.
• Fig -2 Positive Void; reversing main and auxiliary space.
• Fig -3 “Actual Condition”; inhabitable spaces.
• Fig-4 conditions in urban area
• Fig-5 figure and ground theory
• Fig-6 linkage theory
• Fig-7 place theory
• Fig-8 typological patterns of urban and solids
• Fig-9 Types of spatial linkages
• Fig-10 Types of urban and solids
• Fig-11 Types of urban and solids
• Fig-12 Relation between permeability and public realm
• Fig-13 Relation between shared spaces and urban voids
• Fig-14 Creation of urban voids and shared spaces
• Fig-15 Sharing urban voids as a paradigm for redevelopment
• Fig-16 Difference in use of space and building and the life of the people
• Fig-17 Development of small urban spaces
• Fig-18 Square used as a meeting place
• Fig-19 Showing Urban activities
• Fig-20 The square as intersection of two roads, fixed point of orientation , meeting place
• Fig-21 As 22 overgrown with plants
• Fig-22 combination of three different facades
• Fig-23 Arcade running round the square high Narrow columns
• Fig-24 Lower arcade
• Fig-25 low arcade wide opening
• Fig -26 This series of spatial forms is according to the geometrical characteristics of the basic
shape. It indicates the wealth of spatial forms which is our town-planning heritage. This type of
irregular or organic architecture is more beautiful than a group of urban buildings planned
linearly.
• Fig -27 Also the large number of possible sections influences the quality of the space at the
stages of modulation.
• Fig -28 Orthogonal plans of square
• Fig-29 Circuses containing buildings and modulations of this spatial type
• Fig-30 Location of freedom park in Bangalore
• Fig-31 Entrance of freedom park
• Fig-32 Plan of freedom park
• Fig-33 cells in freedom park
• Fig-34 watch tower in freedom park
• Fig-35 museum in park
• Fig-36 open amphitheatre
• Fig-37 sculpture court
• Fig-38 park in freedom park
• Fig-39 waterfront development
• Fig-40 Garden view
• Fig 41 Currently the site is a brownfield with limited public Access and serves as a liability for
the city
• Fig 42 More accessible and clean ‘blue edges’’will provide public space for he city as
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well as stimulates the economy and interior growth
• Fig-43 exterior façade of mall
• Fig-44 interior façade of mall
• Fig-45 external view of mall
• Fig-46 Double heights corridors
• Fig-47 Ground floor plan
• Fig-48 First floor plan
• Fig-49 second floor plan
• Fig-50 Third floor plan
• Fig-51 Fourth floor plan
• Fig-52 Kund ,a special place with its own space loyal community
• Fig-53 Recreational area
• Fig-54 Gathering space near kund
• Fig-55 Map shows mills in the city
• Fig-56 Commercial building in mill complex
• Fig-57 Development of mills
• Fig-58 Location of Telegraph office
• Fig-59 Front view of telegraph office
• Fig-60 Inside view of telegraph office
• Fig-61 voids filled with green spaces
• Fig-62 view inside the park
• Fig-63 showing built and open spaces
• Fig-64 street conditions
• Fig-65 conditions on street
• Fig-66 public parks
• Fig-67 community garden
• Fig-68 street conditions
• Fig-69 open spaces
• Fig-70 Map showing Mumbai wards
• Fig-71 BMC school Childrens
• Fig-72 Education in BMC schools
• Fig-73 ,74 ,75 –shows the count of bmc students
• Fig-76 Location map of Maharashtra
• Fig-77 Location of Mumbai
• Fig-78 map showing Mumbai suburban and Mumbai city
• Fig-79 Location of Kumbharwada
• Fig-80 Temperature of Mumbai
• Fig-81 Rainfall of Mumbai
• Fig-82 Site Location in Kumbharwada
• Fig-83 Site Surroundings
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• Fig-84 Site Surrounding
• Fig-85 Massing around the site
• Fig-86 Existing Site Condition
• Fig-87 Ground floor plan
• Fig-88 First Floor Plan
• Fig-89 Second Floor Plan
• Fig-90 , Fig -91 View of the school from courtyard
• Fig-92 Fig – 93 Corridor's in existing school
• Fig-94,96Street Children staying on road
• Fig-95 Street Children selling on raad
• Fig-97 Health & Nutrition issue
• Fig-98 street childrens staying on road
• Fig-99 upto Fig -110 Existing site photos

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 INDEX

CHAPTER 1
1.1 Preface 10

1.2 Abstract 10

1.3 Introduction 11

CHAPTER 2

2.1 Statement 13
2.2 Aim 13
2.3 Objectives 13
2.4 Question to address 13
2.5 Hypothesis 13
2.6 Observation 14
2.7 Impact 14
2.8 Historical Background 15
2.9 Urban Voids 15
2.10 Urban Solids 16

CHAPTER 3

3.1Categories of urban voids 17

3.1.1 Planning voids 17
3.1.2 Functional voids 17
3.1.3 Geographical voids 17

3.2Urban voids and its type 17

3.3Lost space definition 18
3.4What is urbanization? 18
3.5Literature-Roger Trancik 19
3.5.1Figure and ground theory 19
3.5.2Linkage theory 19
3.5.3Place theory 19
3.6 Typological patterns
of solids and voids 20
3.7 Types of linkages
3.8 Analysis of urban solids 21
and voids
21

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CHAPTER 4

4.1 Concept of Urban voids 22

4.2 Relation between Urban voids and
shared spaces 23
4.3 Why to study Urban Voids
24
CHAPTER 5

Literature 25
5.1 First we shape the cities(Gehl) 26
5.2 Life , space and buildings (Gehl) 26
5.3 The social of small urban spaces 27
5.4 Krier’s typology 28
5.5Morphological Series of Urban space 29

CHAPTER 6

6.1 Urban Design and used spaces 34

6.2 Urban Voids and Public relation
34
CHAPTER 7

Case studies

7.1 Freedom park 36

7.2 Toronto 39
7.3 City Centre , Salt Lake ,Kolkata 40
7.4 Mill lands 43
7.5 Telegraph office Mumbai 47
7.6 Philadelphia 48
7.7 BMC schools 50

CHAPTER 8
8.1 Location 55
8.2 Site Selection 56
8.3 Site Analysis 57
8.4 Existing Site Condition 58
8.5 Durgadevi Municipal School 59
8.6 Existing School photos 60
8.7 About Street childrens 61
8.8 Main objectives 63
8.9 Site Photographs 64
8.10 Design brief 66

CHAPTER 9
69
BIBLOGRAPHY
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CHAPTER 1

1.1 PREFACE
There are dead , unused spaces that are available in plenty in our dense cities . This thesis
will define urban voids in the Indian context, understand the forming factors and generate
the categories accordingly .

The main aim of these thesis is to realized the importance of public spaces in creating
livable cities and how the dead spaces can help in increasing the urban public spaces in the
cities

1.2 ABSTRACT
Open and green spaces have become increasingly contested grounds in the context of urban
densification . Public spaces have become scarce in these dense cities where land is very
expensive . There is an another problem where cities are often being designed and planned in
isolation during process creating under used spaces all around the cities which infact reflects
on negligence and bad perception of the place . Since there is no use attached to theses
spaces people tend to ignore these places and perceive these places as dead , unattractive ,
urban spaces . These voids can be seen as spaces which disrupt the urban tissues which neither
acts as private nor public spaces . Urban voids are dead , underused , unused spaces in the
cities. These urban voids are the result of inefficient decision making , poor land management
, poor coordination among decision makers and designers .

Urban voids have huge potential of improving the place and creating a stronger urban fabric
of the city. Reclaiming the dead spaces by intervening could solve the perception of these
spaces and thereby create better shared spaces by increasing the imageability and comfort .
These spaces can be seen as great potential in this expensive world and exploited as urban
public spaces such as public gathering spaces , pockets , parks or plazas or just place for
activities which make people get engaged and enhance the public realm . Efforts are needed to
locate , study and find solutions to increase the public spaces in these dense contemporary
cities.

Spaces are designed by planners on a two dimensional plan without being considering for the
citizens experience and the quality of life in the city , what people really want and also without
deep knowledge of citizens requirements . But the users perceive theses spaces completely
different from what designers perceive and hence many hidden potentials are missed out
which contribute to the creations of urban voids.

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1.3 INTRODUCTION

Urban life is fast becoming dull and uninteresting due to the decreasing facilities and degrading of
the environment, devoid of spaces for socio cultural activities.
The increasing cost of land and the need to exploit economically, has rented the usable space is
only as "rentable space". What is however noted is that there are numerable 'Urban Voids' in
between buildings and at street corners and so forth which are left over spaces.
At present they are simply using for garbage dumping and antisocial activities. The potential of
such 'Urban Voids' can be defined as follows, "Unutilized, under-utilized or abandoned land or
areas and premises which exist in urban areas due to outdated of defunct uses . Urban Voids can
even be created by identifying the premises which has potential to redevelop for new urban
function. "
This type of 'Urban Void' may be created in urban spaces as lost spaces. These 'Urban Voids'
existing in urban areas are projects as possible opportunity to create urban public spaces in this
study .These Urban Voids can be exploited as urban public space such as surrounded public
gathering place with pockets of activity, partly enclosed areas at the edges, which just forward, into
open spaces between path, edge of water front, or canal banks, contains activities which make it
natural for people to pause and get involved. It is argued that, these spaces have the ability to
enhance and strengthen the public realm.

Cities are always in transition and so the city’s architecture should reflect it. Transition brings
opportunities of growth, expansion improvement in the social and urban fabric along with new
development strategies. I feel today's trend of development is mostly focused towards building
environment. This kind of development effects in lots of “VOIDS” between “SOLIDS”.
Here “Void” comes for “left out spaces” and “Solid” comes for “built environment” I feel that land
is most urban needs of the city. Each piece of land has lots of potential to serve the city needs and
thus we just can't waste pieces of irregular shape of lands Just as left over space between built
objects.
The limitless potential of voids in buildings and urban spaces has often been overlooked in
architectural discourse. Through a careful historical, semantic, and explorative investigation into
concepts of space and void, this dissertation tries to refocus awareness to that which traditionally
is forgotten or unobserved, altering user perception and heightening spatial experience through
the inversion of preconceived notions of solid and void. Many historical practices and indigenous
architectural solutions have reflected a great sense of environmental and social sustainability, with
respect to the technical advancement, economic and socio-political aspects. In most of post
modernism revivalist movements, emphasis was placed on the stylistic approach and typologies of
historical architecture, and analysis was focused on the cultural and stylistic authenticity. Little
emphasis was placed upon functional, climatic and socio- spatial aspects.
On the contrary, the functionally oriented contributions have, to an extent reflected a limited
fundamentalists approach to the role which vernacular architecture can play, through a continuous
process of straight revivalism. The concept of “the void” is neither autonomous nor singular: Its
existence is shaped by the presence of mass and skin; its subsistence is one of dynamic multiplicity.
Never singular, voids come in many types, each defined by scale, spatial quality, functionality, and
the process in which they are created.

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Importance of the Study
Urban Solids and Voids is the study of the form of human settlements and the process of
their formation and transformation. The study seeks to understand the spatial structure and
character of a metropolitan area, city, town or village by examining the patterns of its
component parts and the process of its development. This can involve the analysis of
physical structures at different scales as well as patterns of movement, land use, ownership
or control and occupation. Typically, Analysis of physical form focuses on street pattern, plot
pattern and building pattern, sometimes referred to collectively as urban grain. Analysis of
specific settlements is usually undertaken using cartographic sources and the process of
development is deduced from comparison of historic maps.
Special attention is given to how the physical form of a city changes over time, and to how
different cities compare to each other.

Fig 1: - Solid Void plan of the “Apartment Condition” inhabiting a

thickened wall.
Fig 2: - Positive Void; reversing main and auxiliary space.
Fig 3: - “Actual Condition”; inhabitable spaces.

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CHAPTER 2

2.1 STATEMENT
Creating positive voids in urban design or using “space as object”.

2.2 AIM
Thesis will be focused on the concept of urban voids , identifying and analyzing the type of
voids , how these voids have great potential for turning into public spaces.. The thesis will be
an attempt to unearth the potentials of these spaces in context of the built environment and
surroundings.

2.3 OBJECTIVES
- Defining urban voids in context of Indian cities
-Understanding types of voids
-Locating and studying a site with good potential that includes more than one type of void
-Preparing a process to develop these voids
- To reinstate the importance of lands in social context.
-To strengthen the bonds of society in the urban city.

2.4 QUESTION TO ADDRESS

1) Why there is need of studying voids in the urban design?
2) What are the key spaces and their potential in congested regions of the
metropolis?

2.5 HYPOTHESIS
Relation between Environment and Built and un-built Spaces when Void’s (lost spaces ) are
given equal Importance.

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2.6 OBSERVATION

Urban life is fast becoming dull and uninteresting due to the decreasing facilities and
degrading of the environment, devoid of spaces for socio cultural cultural activities. The
increasing cost of land and the need to exploit economically, has rented the usable space is
only as "rentable space". What is however noted is that there are numerable 'Urban Voids'
in between buildings and at street corners and so forth which are left over spaces. At
present they are simply using for garbage dumping and antisocial activities. The potential of
such 'Urban Voids' to enrich the public realm .public life etc. have not been exploited
sufficiently.
'Urban Voids' can be defined as follows, "unutilized, under-utilized or abandoned land or
areas and premises which exist in urban areas due to outdated or defunct uses'
Urban Voids can even be created by identifying dilapidated premises which has potential
to re develop for new urban function. This type of 'Urban Void' may be created in urban
space as lost spaces. These 'Urban Voids' existing in urban areas are projected as possible
opportunity to create urban public spaces in this study.

These Urban Voids can be exploited as urban public space such as surrounded public
gathering place with pockets of activity. Partly enclosed areas at the edges, which jut
forward, into open spaces between path, edge of water front, or canal banks, contain
activities which make it natural for people to pause and get involved .It is argued that,
these spaces have the ability to enhance and strengthen the public realm.

2.7 IMPACT

It is seen that, these "Urban Voids', left over spaces or under utilized spaces have affected
the public realm negatively by reducing the qualitative attributes of the urban space and
making it a less lively space.

This in turn has resulted in environmental degradation and psychological discomfort of the
citizens, thus effecting the entire society and environment and perhaps even the behavioural
patterns. Because of the unplanned cities, haphazard development has encroached the
public space. In a sense, positive aspects of public activity in tropical urban situations where
public activity is viewed as an asset rather than as a by-product of over urbanization. "Urban
spaces" are coupled most of the time with open spaces, where fauna and flora is grown as
an enhancement to the environment and as a breathing space for the built up area. Urban
spaces whether they are hard landscape or soft landscape have their own merits and
individuality. But, it is the inappropriate land use which leads to unused or under-utilised
'Urban Voids'.

Though such voids have the potential if not enhance leads destruction of the quality of city
which means the distraction of the special quality and results in under utilised or left over
spaces within the city, as a permanent feature.

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 2.8 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF URBAN VOIDS

The decline of industrial revolution in the late 1960s gave birth to many urban voids in the city
fabric in the developed world. Today these voids are often varied in their manifestation and the
dominate the discussion about the regeneration of the urban area.
In the end of sixties the concept of reclamation appeared in the international, political and
cultural debate. Certainly the seventies observed a shift from merely quantitative urban growth
philosophy which appeared during the second world war and was predominant over a period of
twenty years, to a qualitative philosophy which was based on transformation of the existent
and emphasized reuse.
The general process of economic and social restructuring from industrial to post-industrial
societies was reflected by the urban decline in the industrial cities. Therefore as observed by
many researchers, essentially old industrial cities were and are most severely affected by
changes like industrial decline, social polarization, high unemployment, job changes, city
exodus and abandonment of properties and houses. The quality of town centers was damaged
due to unauthorized building, congestion, the prevailing of personal interests over public ones
which also prevented their redevelopment. This rough urbanization caused a profound change
in the characteristic of towns, rapidly becoming a worrying event.
This was the reason public administrations and people in general adopted a new approach to
environmental problems and the quality of life. After the post-industrial issues, there was a
growing interest in industrial archaeology, at the same time the interest in the reclaiming and
reusing of the several abandoned buildings was increasing. In this new perspective, the
reclaiming of abandoned areas represents not only the solution to several problems. Such as
housing problems and the deterioration of the historical and cultural heritage, but also an
alternative to the blind expansion of towns.
So in this context, it is necessary to find creative ways to tackle the issue of these urban voids
which in turn demonstrate a more functioning and dynamic city.

2.9 URBAN VOIDS

Urban voids are spaces which rupture the urban fabric of a city . These are the spaces which
are often neglected or either forgotten spaces in the eyes of the people. They are often the
result of designing out of context with the surroundings . They are the result of treating
planning sites in isolation regardless of urban fabric and poor designing.
“Urban voids are undesirable urban areas that are in need of redesign making no positive
contribution to the surroundings . They are ill – defined , without measurable boundaries
and fail to connect elements in a coherent way” (Roger Trancik ,1986)
“The usual process of urban development treats building as isolated objects ad sites in the
landscape , not as part of the larger fabrics of streets , squares , and viable open spaces.
Decisions about growth patterns are made from two dimensional land use plans , without
considering the three dimensional relationship between the buildings and spaces without a
real understanding of human behavior.” (Roger Trancik,1986)
According to Trancik in his book “FINDING LOST SPACES” : THEORIES OF URBAN DESIGN”
published in 1986 he defines five types of urban voids as degrees of openness and enclosure
considering urban fabric of cities.

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What Trancik is defining is different types of planning and geographical voids . These are the
result due to faulty planning process and are in fact most visible in an urban area .Apart from
planning and geographical voids. There are functional voids which are created due to left
over spaces or have become dysfunctional due to some reasons. These are also due to the
process of development and treated as single dimension entities.
In our contemporary cities many spaces are left unused , dead and neglected . For example
there are number of urban Voids in between buildings , street corners which are leftover
spaces which are simply used for garbage dumping or social activities .With the increasing cost
of land and fight for usable space these spaces are unutilized , underutilized or abandoned.
Urban voids are the result of inefficient decision making ,poor land management ,poor
coordination among decision makers and designers .In the world of expanding cities , situations
such as disinvestment, suburbanization , deindustrialisations , and out migration have created a
lot of problems in the cities .This has resulted in various spaces to be lost in the process and left
unused regarding the previous original purpose of which it was built on.
In this thesis urban void is defined as unused , underused and underutilized spaces. The
ownership belongs to both private and public edge or corners condition of roads , retaining
walls , public facilities and infrastructures, residual spaces between individual plots . The scale
of void is limited to plot scale , block scale and to neighbourhood community scale.

2.10 URBAN SOLIDS

The first important type of urban solid can be characterized as public monuments and
institutions, which serve as centerpieces in city fabric. These object buildings, often visual foci,
need to sit prominently in open space to announce their presence and express their social and
political significance. The forecourts of public monuments and institutions with their grand
entrance stairs and the open space surrounding them, are often as important as monument
themselves. a second major type of urban solid can be define as the predominant field of
urban blocks. According to Leon Krier (Dutch architect and urban planner) the size, pattern,
orientation of the urban block is the Most important element in the composition of public
spaces. another category of solids in the city is formed by directional or edge defining
buildings that are generally non repetative, specialized forms, often linear in configuration.
As in the case of urban solids, there are certain definable urban voids. These needs to be
carved out of and pushed into solids to provide functional and visual continuities, thereby
creating an integrated, humane city in which architecture and exterior space are inextricably
fused. Five types of urban voids play a part in the exterior city.
The first is the entry foyer space that establishes important transition , or passage from
personal domain to common territory. The entry space is a private gateway visible to a select
few and announcing the arrival of individuals to there living or work spaces.
In form it can be forecourt, mews, niche, lobby or front yard. In scale it is intimate, a place
where one can be both public and private. The second type is the inner block void, a semi
private residential space for leisure or utility or a midblock shopping oasis for Circulation or
rest. A third type of void is the primary network of streets and squares, a category that
corresponds to the predominant field of blocks and that contains the active public life of the
city. Historically, the streets and squares were the unifying structures of the city, in modern
times , they have lost much of their social function and physical quality. As extensions of the
homes and places for discourse among neighbours.

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CHAPTER 3

3.1 CATEGORIES OF URBAN VOIDS

3.1.1 Planning voids

Voids created due to inefficient and improper planning processes. These are created due to
planning in isolation without understanding the fabric of the city. These are most visible in our
cities also can be perceived using figure and ground theory.

3.1.2 Functional Voids

These are dead vacant spaces in the cities .When a space is not used like it was designed to
use the space becomes defunct. These occupy precious land in the city and make the
environment unpleasant.

3.1.3 Geographical voids

These area existing geographical features in the city . When the city planners and designers do
not respond to these geographical features voids are created around them making the space
unusable.
E.g :- River, Nuallah , etc

The most important thing for this thesis is to study and understand urban spaces and people
in cities . Both cities for people and the social life of Small urban spaces will help in
understanding the human perception of the city and its context.

3.2 URBAN VOIDS AND ITS TYPES

Voids as defined in oxford dictionary means completely empty space, free form, vacant and
lacking of physical and mental content , and urban means belonging to the city. So urban voids
can be defined as Spaces in the city which are completely empty and waiting to be defined.
Bo Gronlund (1994) talks about the lacking aspect of Urban Voids in his article “ Filling the
void of Urbanity” by trying the terms Voids as:
“ Many different kind of phenomena, as we are not talking about voids in an absolute
sense. Lacking functions. Lacking people. Lack of aesthetic experiences. Lack of difference.
Further, voids can be stronger and more vast in areas of the cities outside the historical
cores, especially the sub urban void. Even more serious: “the concept of the city” or “the
urban”can be seen as a void.”

Vacant land
Vacant land is the most commonly used term for such land. The oxford dictionary defines
vacant as not occupied, empty or not filled. So a vacant land is a place of land or property
which is empty or not occupied. In a survey examining vacant land and abandoned structures
in 70 cities of USA Pagano and Bowman (2000) defined it as: “vacant land includes not only
publicly-owned and privately-owned unused or abandoned land or land that once had
structures on it, but also the land that supports structures that have been abandoned,
derelict, boarded up, partially destroyed or razed.”

17
Derelict land
Derelict land is defined as ‘land so damaged by industrial or other development as to be
incapable of beneficial use without treatment’.
Brownfield land
Land which is or was occupied by permanent structures (excluding agricultural and forestry
buildings) and associated fixed surface infrastructure.
Lost and dead space
These are the left-over unstructured landscapes which are generally found at the base of
high-rise towers. They can be the un-used sunken plazas which are away from the
pedestrian flow and activity in the city. They are the undesirable urban areas and anti-
spaces which make no contribution to the surrounding.

3.3 LOST SPACES DEFINATION

What exactly is lost spaces and how does it differ from positive urban spaces or “found”
spaces?
Lost spaces is the left over unstructured landscape at the base of high rise tower or unused
plazas away from the flow of pedestrian activity in the city. These are the no-man’s land
along the edges of freeways that nobody cares about maintaining and is used very less. Lost
spaces are also abandoned waterfronts, train yards , vacant sites and also industrial
complexes that have moved out to the suburbs for easier access.

Present Problems Of Urban Design (Trancik,1986)

Today designers and planners are faced with challenge of creating outdoor environments as
collective , unifying frameworks for new development. Usually the effort becomes a
cosmetics treatment that is poorly planned and designed for public use. This happens due
to the usual process of urban development treating buildings and sites as isolated objects
not considering a part of urban fabric of the city.
There is no real understanding of human behavior or a human dimensional process in the
decision taken. Therefore what develops is a badly shaped anti-space unusable and unsafe
creating voids in the city.
3.4 WHAT IS URBANISATION?

“Cities ,Like Dreams, are made of desire and

fears…” (Italo Calvino , Italian Novelist)
Cities play an important role in all our lives
today and in the years ahead. After the
industrial revolution, urban centers grew rapidly
and over the past 50 years there has been an
explosion in the growth of the cities, both in
their numbers and in their size – this is called
“Urbanization”.
Today, the most rapid urbanization is taking
Fig-4 Industries in urban area
place in countries in Asia, Latin America
and
Africa. Cities have always been
at the center of
economic growth, technological advances and
cultural production. But their rapid growth has
also brought negative
18
things: urban violence and poverty,
 3.5 LITERATURE – ROGER TRANSIK
On the basis of evolution of modern space and the
analysis of historic Precedents , three approaches to
urban design theory can be identified:

3.5.1 Figure Ground Theory :

Each urban environment has existing pattern of solids
and voids and figure ground approach to change the
physical geometry of the pattern. A predominant field
of solids and voids create this urban pattern , often
called the fabric and is punctuated by object buildings
and spaces such as major landmark and open spaces
that provide focal points and sub centers within the
Field.
The figure ground theory is founded on the study of
the relative land coverage of buildings as solid mass
(“Figure”) to open voids (“Ground”).
Fig-5 figure and ground theory
The best illustration of the figure-ground theory of
urban design is Giambattista Nolli’s map of Rome,
drawn in 1748.

3.5.2 Linkage Theory :

The linkage theory is derived from “lines” connecting
one element to another. These lines are formed by
streets, pedestrians ways, linear open spaces or other
linking elements that physically connect the parts of
the city. Movement system and efficiency of
infrastructure take precedence over patterns of define
outdoor space. Linkage is simply the glue of the city. It
is the act by which we unite all the layers of activity
and resulting physical form of the city. Urban design is
concerned with the question of making
comprehensible links between discrete things. The
Fig-6 linkage theory
best illustration of Linkage theory of urban design is
Kenzo Tange plan for a new community. Cambridge,
Massachusetts. M.I.T. 1960’s.

3.5.3 Place Theory :

The place theory goes beyond figure ground and
linkage theories in that it adds the components of
human needs and culture ,historical and natural
context. Advocates of the place theory gives physical
space additional richness by incorporating unique
forms and details indigenous to its setting. This
response to context often includes history and the
element of time and attempts to enhance the fit
between new designs and existing conditions. Place
represent the third category of urban design theories.

Fig-7 place theory

19
The essence of place theory in spatial design lies in understanding the cultural and human
characteristics of physical space. If in abstract, physical terms, space is a bounded or purposeful
void with the potential of physically linking things, it only become place when it is given a
contextual meaning derived from cultural or regional content. The best illustration of Place
theory of urban design is John Wood the Yonger. The Circus and Royal Crescent in bath,
England, 1764 and 1769 plan.

CONCLUSION
Figure Ground Theory :
In this approach the starting point for understanding of urban form in the analysis of
relationships between mass and open space . This theory helps us in analyzing and identifying
the textures and patterns of urban fabric as well as problems in its spatial order.

Linkage Theory :
In this approach dynamics of circulation become the generator of urban form. The emphasis
on connection and movement is a significant contribution.

Place Theory :
As we all aware of the importance of historic, cultural and social values in urban open space.
Already contextualists have argued strongly against the tendency of the factionalists to impose
abstract designs from outside.

3.6 Six typological patterns of solids and voids

The solid void relationships formed by the shapes and locations of buildings, the design of the
site elements (plantings, walls) and the channeling of movement results In six typological
patterns.
1)Grid
2)Angular
3)Curvilinear
4) Radial/concentric
5)Axial6) Organic

20
Fig-8 typological patterns of urban and solids
3.7 Three Types of Spatial Linkage Compositional form :
• Individual buildings are placed on a two
directional plane .

Mega form :
• Structures are connected to a linear
framework in a hierarchical , open
ended system where linkage is physically
imposed

Group form :
• It results from an incremental accumulation of
structures along an armature of communal
Fig-9 Types of spatial linkages
open space and linkage is naturally and
organically evolved.

3.8 ANALYSIS OF URBAN SOLIDS AND VOIDS

In the traditional city three principal types of urban

Solids has evolved :
A. Public monuments and institutions
B. The predominant field of urban blocks
C. edge defining buildings .
There are five main types of urban Voids that performs
various functions at exterior space
of the city :-
D. Entry foyers acts as passageways between privet
and public space .

Fig-10
E. Inner block Voids are semiprivate transition zones
F. The network of Streets and Squares corresponds to
the predominant field of blocks and contains the active
public life of the city
G. Parks and Gardens are nodes that contrast with
architectural urban forms
H. While Linear Open Space System usually associated
with natural features such as river ways,
waterfronts and wetlands cut through urban districts to
establish edges and create larger connections.

Fig-11
21
CHAPTER 4

4.1 Concept of Urban Void

The voids of the city are spaces which disrupt the urban tissue, leaving it incomplete and
throw into question the use of those spaces. Sometimes called urban ruins, they are at the
limit between private and public space, without belonging either to the one or to the other .
Going by meaning of the term ‘void’ is something which is ‘being without’ hence an urban
void can be interpreted as an urban area being without permeability and social realm. Urban
voids are undesirable urban areas that are in need of redesign, anti-space, making no
positive contribution to the surroundings or users. They are ill-defined, without measurable
boundaries and fail to connect elements in a coherent way (Trancik, 1986).
The network of streets and squares corresponds to the predominant field of solid urban
blocks. Extensions of home and places of neighborhood interaction, streets and blocks
traditionally provided a systematic hierarchy from locally controlled territory to citywide
communication routes (Trancik , 1986). In the sprawled settlement pattern typically to the
post war era in which the cities and the territories have become immense collection of
objects tactically placed next to one another, mute. The missing links are inept definition in
these areas are the reflection of a decomposed contemporary society in which ‘the spaces in
between things’, between objects and subjects, between my house and my neighbour’s,
between their office and mine, is traversed by many strangers, and is not a meeting place, it
has become ‘empty’ because it plays no recognizable role (Secchi , 1993).
Void in a broader perspective can be understood as a space being without permeability and
public realm as shown in below Figure Permeability have two factors, social and physical.
Physical permeability refers to a barrier, e.g a highway/railway line inside the city is
usually a barrier, similarly a slum become a barrier at an area level, this barrier can be a
building with large foot print. Social permeability generally results due to ghettos that
become a barrier due to social reasons. Absence of public realm makes the urban void
devoid of any ownership.

Fig-12 Relation between permeability and public realm

Both the parameters of ‘permeability’ and ‘public realm’ are scale dependent. A shared
space at one scale may become urban void at another scale. E.g. a slum is a shared space
with its great internal permeability and public realm, but at an area level it becomes a
ghetto, a social and physical barrier.

22
4.2 Relation between Urban Void and Shared Space
Urban void and shared space are inter related. At a scale at which a space is to be analyzed, it
can either be classified as shared space or urban void. It should be noted that urban void is
not an exclusive term, as at a given scale what could be perceived as urban void may become
a shared space at another scale or on contrary may have a shared space within the void.
An urban void is no man’s land, thus it is apolitical in nature, where as shared space belong
or everyone, thus is very political in nature. This scale dependent political connotation is
what leads to local self appropriations. Every urban void tends to self-appropriate itself to a
shared space.
This shared space to urban void relationship from a political angle is what defines the
electoral politics of Delhi. Delhi being a city state in terms of its geographical boundaries
have little difference in terms of area under the municipality or the state government, but
every election proves that the political party that wins to form the state government sits in
the opposition in the municipality. This phenomenon is based on the urban void to shared
space relationship. At a state level certain areas can only be perceived as an urban void, but
there exists shared space inside them which can be explored only at municipal level, thus the
priorities of people change from state election to municipal elections

SPACE

SHARED SPACE URBAN VOID

Shared Space
Political Issue

Apolitical issues
Fig-13 Relation between shared spaces and urban voids

Fig-14 Creation of urban voids and shared spaces 23

4.3 Why study urban voids?

Urban voids present new opportunities for developing ambiguous and dynamic relationships.
This blurring of public and private realms, of cultural and commercial zones, overturns the
modern urban project with its desire to create distinct mono functional territories, but to no
great purpose. Such fragmentary productions rests on a peculiar echo of the traditional strategy
of urban beautification where to be at the centre might now mean to be at the edge. In
contrast to this council of despair, it is therefore necessary to redefine how a city might be
made so its citizens are able to comprehend and be accommodated by the environment in
which they are expected to live (Lerup, 2001).
India went through the modern urban development in 1950s and 60s and now those built
structure have outlived its age and are up for redevelopment. Redesigning such development
may lead to the same problems that have arisen due to the previous attempt. Redevelopment
need to be looked in a different way now. Considering the relationship between shared space
and urban voids, the most desirable way to proceed would be to identify urban voids and then
convert them to shared spaces. Such an exercise will derive an urban system that will give
considerable clue for the new redevelopment that can happen.
Typically the development process is polarized; we still have not been able to design an
egalitarian city. A polar development tends to creation of urban voids, such urban voids over a
period of time opt for localized appropriations which further leads to polarization of the
development (even though the parameters of polarization changes). One way to stop this
vicious cycle is by introduction of shared space, which in turn will take an urban area away from
polar development. Even supporting localized appropriations of urban void towards a shared
space keeping in context all the scales at which the city acts will help in generation of
sustainable urban systems. The task of creating wholeness in the city can only be dealt with as
a process. It cannot be solved by design alone, but only when the process by which the city gets
its form is fundamentally changed.

Fig -15 Sharing urban voids as a paradigm for redevelopment

24
 CHAPTER -5

LITERATURE

The literature review below will help in development of the thesis at various stages . Some of
it will be used in the DISCOVER-ing stage an some in DESIGN-ing and SYNTHESIZE-ing stage .

Cities for people by Jan Gehl (2010)

How to Study Public Life by Jan Gehl & Birgitte Svarre (2013)
Convivial Urban spaces by Henry Shaftce (2008)
Finding Lost Spaces by Roger Trancik (1986)
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces by William H . Whyte (1980)

The above mention authors describes the urban spaces which help in understanding the
perception of city and its context

The most important thin g for this thesis is to study and understand urban spaces and people in
cities. Both Cities for People and The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces will help in
understanding the human perception of the city and s context. The key concepts by Jan GehI
and William H Whyte will help in general understanding of use of space relating to public life.

Whereas Finding Lost Space by Trancik will improve my understanding towards theories of
urban design and result me in defining the urban voids. How to Study Public Life will serve as a
tool to study public life and deal with the task of designing and formulating the design and
concept of the toolkit at the end of the thesis. Convivial Urban Spaces will also aid and serve as
an inspiration in the design process of the toolkit.

These articles will relate to different challenges and tasks throughout the thesis development .
There are various other theories not mentioned here but still will be part of the process, but
these listed here are core of the literature review.

25
5.1 First We Shape the Cities , then they shape us ( Gehl , 2010)

“If we look at the history of cities, we can see clearly that urban structures and planning
influence
human behaviour and the ways ¡n which cities operate7 This explains the existence compact
urban fabric of the medieval cities with their short distances, layout of main streets, public
squares and marketplaces functioned as center of trade and craftsmanship.

There will always be a mutual influence between the city and the people. This connection
between invitations and behaviour can be seen in present condition of cities which are try in g to
solve the issue of growing traffic in our cities. “We can always find new ways to increase our car
use, building a direct invitation to buy and drive more cars.”

Finding new ways to use the space should be concern for us as in cities modem urban planning
which is used as problem solving exercise without understanding the core problem. Physical
planning can greatly influence the activities and usage of city space. “If better city space is
provided, use will increase”. The better the quality of spaces in cities the better it will be the
quality of life.

5.2 Life, Space and Buildings (GehI , 2010)

If we want to create better cities, spaces working with scale is the most difficult and most
sensitive urban planning discipline. ¡f this is neglected or fails city will decline in its quality of life.

“The widespread practice of planning from above and outside must be replaced with new
planning procedures from below and inside, following the principle first life, then space, then
buildings. Instead of reverse order in the planning process that prioritize buildings, than spaces
and (perhaps) a little working with the human dimensions requires life and space to be
treated More buildings”

This method involves introductory work that determines the character and scope of the
projected life in the development. Then the agendas are prepared for the city spaces and city
structure, and then buildings can be placed or positioned to ensure the best possible coexistence
between life, spaces and buildings. This work expands into large developments and larger
districts but is always rooted in the requirements for a well functioning public life.

Fig-16 Difference in use of space and building and the life of the people

26
 5.3 THE SOCIAL OF SMALL URBAN SPACES (WHYTE,
1980)

“City abundant small spaces have key impact on the quality of life.
If those spaces are unattractive and left unattended people will
respond and retreat from the city streets and eventually have an
adverse effect on city in all aspects” Indian cities have now been
approaching the same way as US cities where the monotonous
roadside clutter including highways dividing the cities has resulted
in increasing unsafe spaces and cities .When we think about cities
we always think about people. People like public spaces, these
places contribute to happiness, and public spaces can bring out
smile. we lack in spaces while our cities are spreading like
wildfire, with its highways taking our cities. This can’t be stopped
without creative development to provide housing and meeting
other demands of growing population, what describes that how
small urban spaces work and don’t work. Places that attract tend
to be relatively free from problems.

Fig-17 Development of small urban spaces

“IF WE LEARN TO TAKE ADVANTAGES OF OUR SMALL URBAN
SPACES, IF WE DESIGN NEW ONES AND REPAIR OLD ONES WE
WILL IMPROVE THE STREETS AND QUALITY OF LIFE” (Whyte)

27
5.4 The Arrangement of Krier’s Typology for Urban Space

Krier describes that the spatial forms of urban space

are derived from the three basic geometric shapes:
(square, circle and triangle). These three shapes are
affected by modulating factors which are angling,
segmentation, addition, merging, overlapping and
distortion. These factors can produce regular and
irregular results on all three spatial types. In addition,
the large number of building sections influences the
quality of the space at all these stages of modulation.
Moreover, space that is completely surrounded by
Fig-18 Square used as a meeting place
buildings produces ‘closed’ space and the partially
surrounded produces ‘open’ space. Finally, the
differentiation of scale plays an enormous role in all
spatial forms, such as the effect of various
architectural styles on urban space.
• Square as a meeting place was the first way man
discovered of using urban space. It is produced by
grouping of houses around an open space. The
houses were as an defense to those open spaces. It
had an symbolic value and so was chosen to use to
build holy spaces. This was transformed to the
Fig – 19 Showing Urban activities
future in the form of courtyard with surrounding
rooms in a single housing unit.

• The activities of urban take place in public and

private spheres. The behavioral pattern of people
are similar in both so the result is that the way in
which public space has been organized has in all
periods exercised a powerful influence on the
design of private houses.

Fig-20 The square as intersection of two roads, fixed point of

orientation , meeting place

Fig-25 low arcade wide opening

Fig – 21 As 22 overgrown with plants Fig-23 Arcade running round the square high
Narrow columns

28
Fig-22 combination of three different facades Fig-24 Lower arcade
5.5 Morphological Series of Urban Space

Robert gives various examples for a morphology of urban space within this chapter, there being
an almost inexhaustible range of possible forms exists that are mostly from our historic town. For
example Hanover Square in London from the18th Century is an example for orthogonal regular
ground plan with four central intersections. Piazza Navona in Rome is an example for a
geometrically complex form. It is a combination of several spatial forms and many streets enter
the square. Place Dauphine in Paris is a regular triangular square that is extremely rare in the
history of town planning. These are usually formed by two roads forking. Although these forms
are clearly obvious in town planning history , in our modern cities they are criminally neglected in
the author's view.

Robert examines the erosion of urban space in the 20thcentury. It is an continuous process from
last 5 decades in the era of technological progress The need of protection had imposed a new
discipline on every town: its construction, rebuilding and expansion. However, the colossal
pressure for expansion of cities led planners over rapid decision making on town planning which
has resulted with unstructured developments. Architecture was a low priority. Functional,
constructional and capital concerns were being the most important issues of the day. Additionally,
the influence of industrial building on the urban planning is another disaster. It leads to numerous
misguided developments which caused the failure of present-day architecture.
For example: The movements towards a purely functional or constructional orientation. The
developing proposals of planners for new ideal cities during the 20th Century and 19th Century
industrial building has Taken away the control of the concept of urban space and architecture.

Krier finalized this chapter by showing his illustrations to support his thesis that modern town
planning dominates over the concept of urban space which has largely fallen into disuse.
From a distant view, the spatial range of a inter connected traditional urban structure can be
compared to the barriers which channel pedestrian movement. The spatial arrangement of the
modern city is composed of lonely and isolated sections of barrier, battered on all sides by
every possible stream of activity and with no margin left for meaningful Activity or orientation.

29
 Fig-26

This series of spatial forms is according to the geometrical characteristics of the basic shape.
It indicates the wealth of spatial forms which is our town-planning heritage. This type of
irregular or organic architecture is more beautiful than a group of urban buildings planned
linearly.

30
 Fig-27

Also the large number of possible sections influences the quality of the space at the
stages of modulation.

31
Fig-28 Orthogonal plans for squares

32
Fig -29 Circuses containing buildings and modulations of this spatial type
33
CHAPTER 6

6.1 URBAN DESIGN AND SPACE USE

Urban Design has considerable implications on usage pattern in public urban spaces. For
instance, it has substantial influence on the degree of diversity, intensity, compatibility,
and even spatial distribution of activities in public urban space. Implemented urban
design can therefore enhance or determine meaningful use of public urban spaces. The
influence of urban design on space use is collective, emanating from its major aspects
that is planned land use pattern, traffic circulation system, physical densities, geometrical
dispositioning of urban solid’s and urban space treatment.
Despite this understanding about the influence of urban design on space use, urban
design Endeavour's geared towards enhancing meaningful use of urban spaces often put
more emphasis on certain aspects than others. For example many attempts on
revitalizing modern urban spaces tend to emphasize urban space treatment as if the
influence of other aspects of urban design on space use is less significant. So that this
narrow perspective of the relationship between urban design and space use is
detrimental to such Endeavour's.

6.2 Urban Voids and Public Relation

The intention of the study is to understand the potential of the urban environment to
provide for urban life through social interaction, in those characteristics which provide for
gathering together of individuals to participate in the public realm.
Currently the whole world is in a state of high technological advance. There is sharp and
continuous decline of social activity. Modern means of transport and communication,
wide spread means of automobiles, telephones, computers, television etc. has resulted
in depriving the common public of true contact and social communication in the
activities of life.
It is important to offer spaces, public places, which acts as mode of rejuvenating or
reviving the spirit in one’s life. In today, a word of complex functions and emotions every
human being wants to find a way of reviving the spirit in one’s life. Public spaces have
proved to be the places where individual comes together to fulfill their needs to see and
been seen. But segregation of the individual in the public realm has been the attempt of
western influences and also the gift of the technological advancement. Symptoms that
indicate non-place nature of the public realm an be observed in most urban centers
today pedestrian have a distrustful expression the rush about, exchange no greetings,
considering vehicle, and other people alike as enemies. Sidewalk, which are narrow
anyway become crowded as people have no other public place to go. Human traffic
vehicular arteries are formed, which climax when they converge with vehicular streets at
cross roads.
As individuals, every human being has a natural propensity for social life and is fond of
culture. Originally, down in the ladder of evolution it was the urge for self preservation
which include him to be gregarious by nature, But once the basic need for self
preservation was fulfilled by the organization of the group, individuals living in the group
preferred to grow as exclusive entities. Separation of centrifugal tendencies are offspring
of this preference for each group to grow in its own way. The need today is for the
provision of public urban spaces those that invite participation. The conformation of the
individual with the rest of participants is of the upmost importance both for the
individual and the society. It is part of continues learning process to exist and behave and
think in community to team to become human. 34
The need is for an urban space providing acting as a setting for meetings, where different kinds
of people can come in contact, and a variety of chances encounters exist, participation in
spontaneous activity is possible where the atmosphere of the unhurried pedestrian state can
prevail.
Thus these spaces can be created to maximize the human contact and provide opportunities
for face to face social interaction , while utilizing and complimenting the modern
communication system which, characterized by their accelerated mobility and instantaneous
information will help the masses and thus the space created.
Our public spaces reflects human scale and social justice, they reflect the conflict of interests
and hostile forces. They are an element in composition which produces effects harmonious and
interesting .One cannot study them without studying or touching on the relationship between
building spaces and monuments showing enclosure grouping and effective composition.

6.2.1 The study can be mainly of two aspects:

The physical character - of the public space as a constituent of urban structure and form.
For the people – social, psychological, interaction and recreational factors in urban space
design. The study is to understand the making of public places not only in the sense of being
observed as public, but public in the sense of being open for the enjoyment of the majority of
the community. Thus it is important to study the many and widely varied aspects of public
realms which would help in creating an environment for the masses comfort and which would
act as a magnet for the wide cross section of people.

Urban hubs play an important role in overall development of the city the reside in. The
inferences of the study will be manifested in an activity hub, which would enhance the social
quality of area, developing it, to its best potential, into a multi activity hub that would be a
vibrant challenging, interaction-provoking pulse of the city and serve to benefit The community
and the image of the city at large.

6.2.2 Conclusion

Due to rapid development in the cities most of the western cities faced the placelessness , but
in many of the developing countries , the space in the urban enviornment is not used properly
because there exist under-utilized spaces in the urban built enviornment , because these
spaces do not contribute positively to the urban enviornment.

There are many factors which contribute to create these unutilised spaces . To redevelop
These unutilised spaces, theories and philosophies in Urban Design have to be considered.
It is very important to highlight the values of the Urban Public space to transform ‘Urban Voids’

Utilised spaces or Urban voids which are the most forgotten spaces in the city. Therefore , it is
of tremendous importance to study these numerous spaces and their potential . This study
tries to show that many options to renewal of an urban urban voids by through gradual
selective infill , new pieces can be effectively brought in to harmony with existing spaces and
also be achieved by incremental way .

35

Fig-30Location of freedom park in Bangalore
Fig-31 Entrance of freedom park
Fig-32 Plan of freedom park
CHAPTER 7 : CASE STUDIES
7.1 Freedom Park, Bangalore
Freedom Park is located in the Central part of the
cosmopolitan city of Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
The map shows dense city fabric around the site
location where breathing spaces and open pockets
in the city becomes an important urban need.
Freedom park near Sheshadri Road is one more
addition to the list of parks in garden city of
Bangalore.
Bangalore Central Jail which is now converted into
Freedom park was built in 1866 by the British. It
occupied a site of approximately 21 acres. The jail
has housed many illustrious leaders who fought for
the freedom of our nation and for restoration of
democracy during the emergency regime post
independence. The jail compound included a watch
tower in the center, barracks and other buildings
like the hospitals, workshops etc.
The idea of designing Freedom park germinated
with inspiration from Hyde Park which covers more
than 625 acres including the Kensington park in
London. Basically these parks are designed to hold
demonstration, rallies and protests with public
speakers spread across the park. Probably the
Amphitheatre is designed as a stage for the purpose
of speakers making their ideas known in an open air
atmosphere.
Freedom park is located in the erstwhile Central Jail
on an area of 21 acres of land, out of which another
3 acres is getting redeveloped . This area has
underground parking facility which can house 5000
vehicles for protestors, otherwise the purpose of
this park will be defeated, and Palace grounds will
still be used as rallying point.
It was opened to the public in November 2008. A
part of it has been allotted for protests. When a
state of emergency was proclaimed in India in 1975,
several opposition leaders including Atal Bihari
Vajpayee and L.K. Advani were arrested and jailed
at this venue.
36

Fig-33 cells in freedom park
Fig-34 watch tower in freedom park
Fig-35 museum in park
Cells, Freedom Park
This place was originally housing the
prisoners ,who were conspiring against
the British rulers beginning from the first
war of Indian Independence in 1857.
There are three huge barracks for housing
common prisoners, an a VIP enclosure to
house high profile prisoners. The original
capacity of the jail during 1863 ( 1866 )
when it was constructed was to house 300
prisoners which was slowly expanded to
accommodate 800 prisoners
Watch Tower, Freedom Park
The central watch tower was used to keep
a round the clock vigil over the activities
over inmates. This monument gives a 360
degree circular axis to secure the place
from prisoners creating a ruckus. Earlier
the boundary wall was scaling more than
16 feet. During the emergency L.K. Advani
was one among the VIP.
Naturally he was the ideal person to
inaugurate this premise as a symbol of
FREEDOM along with the Chief minister
and Home Minister of Karnataka. The
central tower and the prison's entrance
block are the other structures that have
found their way into the park. The park
has been categorized under six broad
areas: general, museum and exhibition
,contemporary art, retail,
performance spaces and water features.
According to the BBMP engineers, some
of the areas in the park will have entry
fees, which will be used for its
maintenance .
The park has more to it than just the rally
area; it has a joggers track (3,000 sq
m),children's play area (5,200 sq m), jail
museum, information corridor gallery,
book museum, children's interactive
museum in the old cells yard, tree
museum and an outdoor exhibition park
37

. enclosed theatre space and an open plaza for
Fig-36 open amphitheatre
Fig-37 sculpture cou rt
Fig-38 park in freedom park
Open Air Amphitheatre ,Freedom Park
The Freedom Wall stretch of the old jail will
house a permanent multimedia art sculpture
court, pathway junctions, designer
souvenir shops, book shop, traditional craft
stalls, 150-seater amphitheatre , 50-seater
gathering. There will be a water pool at main
entrance and natural localized water
percolation zones Visible only in the rainy
season.
This premise consists of Asoka Pillar,
Amphitheatre, Jail Museum, Sculpture court,
Barracks, Watch Tower, Children playing area,
People Courtyard, Water Fountain, Book
Museum, Cafeteria, Art and Craft Bazaar,
Toilets, and Parking space. There are
supposedly two entries into freedom park, one
is from Shesadri Road, opposite Maharani
college premise leading to Gandhi Bazaar, which
is main, and the other one is supposed to be
from Ramachandra Rao road.
Dummies of the prisoners housed is featured in
the VIP barrack is displayed. Maybe some of
them were reading and writing too in this
premise .The park has more to it than just the
rally area; it has a joggers track (3,000 sq
m),children's play area (5,200 sq m), jail
museum, information corridor gallery, book
museum, children's interactive museum in the
old cells yard, tree museum and an outdoor
exhibition park.
The best part of the Freedom park is that it is
currently free , but how long it is going to be
free is the issue, because ticket counters are
already in place. Even the parking is currently
free. I experienced that the concept of
Architect couple Soumitra Ghosh & Nisha
Mathew Ghosh with a budget 17.35 crores has
really yielded an aura of Freedom amongst the
concrete jungle of Gandhinagar.
38
 7.2 TORONTO

The revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront is one

of the largest urban brownfield remediation
projects anywhere in the world. Rather and
digging and dumping contaminated soils, the
traditional approach to brownfield remediation,
Waterfront Toronto is planning wherever
possible to clean and process soil for reuse on
the waterfront.

Fig-39 waterfront development Toronto’s waterfront revitalization is a huge

undertaking by the city. The total area being
redeveloped is 800 hectares. This project is
expected to take 25 years to complete, the “new
blue edge” will create approximately 40000 new
jobs through the construction process as well as
post construction.

This project is expected to have a great economic

impact on the city by providing new accessible
space to recreate. Between 2001 and march
2010, work on the waterfront had already
generated approximately 9700 full time years of
employment and contributed $1.9 billion to the
Canadian economy

Fig-40 Garden view

Fig 41 Currently the site is a brownfield with limited public Fig 42 More accessible and clean ‘blue edges’’will provide public space
Access and serves as a liability for the city for he city as well as stimulates the economy and interior growth

39
7.3 CITY CENTRE , SALT LAKE ,KOLKATA
City Centre is a shopping mall in Kolkata, India. It
is located in the Salt Lake township of Kolkata.
The site was a vacant land and the location of
the site is surrounded by very dense urban
locality as the map shows. Thus the site had
maximum potential to solve the present urban
needs of the surrounding. So the vacant plot was
developed as a twin mall of the Forum mall
situated at the other part of the city.

City Centre Salt Lake is the mall that worked

itself into people’s hearts. When a vacant
wasteland got transformed into an Indian
Fig-43 exterior façade of mall
lifestyle landmark, it was an icon of change for a
City that became happening all at once.
Identified by its inclusiveness, its uniqueness
and its diversity, City Centre Salt Lake from the
very beginning has been a place that extends a
warm welcome to everybody. It captures the
true essence of Kolkata and its passion for
‘adda’.
From the central ‘Kund’ to numerous other
hangout options that allow you to find our own
space amidst the crowd – we know that this is
where we would always want to be. A
comprehensive retail mix. The integration of
Fig-44 interior façade of mall
market and community.
City Centre Salt Lake is Kolkata’s first integrated
and unconventional hangout and shopping
center. With approximately 42 thousand sq.
meter. of commercial and entertainment spaces
on five acres of land, City Centre Salt Lake
attracts all crowds. Comprising the Mall, the
Plaza Blocks, the Cineplex, the Tower, the
Residency and the now legendary 'Kund', City
Centre Salt Lake has acquired a loyal community.
City Centre mall in Salt Lake changed the way
people
Fig-45 external view of mall
shopped, ate out and spent time.
"The City Centre in Kolkata is a very special
place...a miniature of the whole metropolitan
area, catering to multiple land-uses and diverse
income profiles...a mixture of contrast, color and
energy. We have in the City Centre a wide range
of different-sized residences, entertainment
centers, offices and shops - varying from the
smallest 'dukaans' to the most glamorous air-
conditioned boutique
Fig-46 Double heights corridors
40
 Fig-47 Ground floor plan

Fig-48 First floor plan Fig-49 second floor plan

Fig-50 Third floor plan Fig-51 Fourth floor plan

41

Fig-52 Kund ,a special place with its own space loyal community
• These diverse activities, all arranged in a fine-
grained mix, are generated by a complex system
of spaces...from broad colonnaded public arcades
to narrow bazar 'galis' to large terraced
plazas...culminating in the kund in the centre of
the complex. Coffee shops and restaurants,
strategically placed at pivotal locations, provide
opportunities to rest under wide-spreading trees
and observe the world around you...a marvelous
tradition, which has always been essential to life
in the great city of Kolkata" ... Charles Correa,
celebrated Architect-visionary, Designer of City
Centre Salt Lake
• City Centre Salt Lake is a monolithic Charles
Correa signature structure. The texture of
buildings were to be plural like a town square
where they are built next to each other. However,
all buildings were to be seamlessly
interconnected. The design is more
contemporary, cutting edge in design and more
expensive in look and feel. Each of the part of
center has been designed to reflect the vast
cultural and artistic heritage of Bengal.

• The shops here presents a collection of Kolkata

memorabilia.
City Centre Salt Lake is Kolkata’s
first unified shopping centre that has successfully
erased the mid-market and up-market divide. It
Fig-53 Recreational area offers an appealing environment where people
can do their own thing - shop at leisure or just
look through past the window display. With
almost 4.5 lakh sq.ft. of commercial and
entertainment spaces on five acres of land, City
Centre Salt Lake attracts crowds from all over
Kolkata, not just the catchment area.
• The City Centre Salt lake is such a social place for
everyone that all prefer going there other than
any other unwinding destination. Comprising the
Mall, the Plaza Blocks, the Cineplex, the Tower,
the Residency and the now legendary 'Kund', City
Centre Salt Lake is where a place-loyal
Fig-54 Gathering space near kund
community evolves most spontaneously.

• The Kund is the main attraction of City Centre. It is a vast multi-stepped plaza designed
with a central water body and a fountain that is lighted up at sunset. The place is used by
visitors to sit, to idle or just to feel the atmosphere. In doing so the modern contemporary
look has been blended with a nostalgia truly Kolkatan. The Kund is one reason why people
spend a longer time at the City Centre, often they get up to buy something whereby casual
interest is translated into purchase on impulse. A special place with its own space-loyal
community. An ideal space for holding events and promotions. 42
 7.4 MILL LANDS
Mainly the mill lands were redeveloped and was
identified for revitalizing the mills. Development of
economic vialable activities which are a part of
larger public space. Mainly the land was
redeveloped for
-low economic housing
-civic amenities & infrastructure
-office buildings

7.4.1 DECLINE OF THE TEXTILE MILLS

In mid-nineteenth century, textile industry
experienced several technological changes all over
the world. The conventional handloom technology
faced a severe competition from the advanced
power loom techniques. The mill owners did not
update the machinery in the Mumbai Mills to keep
up with the changing trends and the lows killed
workers were also comfortable with this policy .
During the same period the fuel prices and costs of
raw material increased. Reservation policies and
adverse taxation discouraged the mill owners from
investing more in the industry.

Fig-55 Map shows mills in the city

. By 1980’s it became uneconomical to maintain large scale industrial units within the city
limits on account of high power and tax costs.1 Also, the economic and technological
change struck major mill towns like Manchester in UK and Lowell in Boston and eventually
there was an overall slump in the world textile market. By 1990’s the employment rates of
service industries increased by large numbers. Another reason for the ultimate shut down of
mills is the 18 month long strike by mill workers’ union in 1982. Nearly 250,000 workers &
more than 50 textile mills went on strike. Rashtriya Mill Majdoor Sangh (RMMS) the largest
workers union in the city led by Congress (political party) fought the government and mill
owners for their rights. The Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946 (BIR Act) sought to
establish a single union, the Congress-led RMMS as the only approved union. This move was
taken primarily to renounce the option of strikes and focus on other means of resolution.
The strike of 1982 was called for primarily to strike down the BIR Act along with increase in
wages. 31 The strike did no good for the workers instead it opened a new strategy for mill
owners. During the strike, mill owners outsourced the work to workers in Bhiwandi, a
distant suburb who were paid almost 50 percent of the wages in spite of longer working
hours and no legal compensation.2 All this led to huge losses and the running of the Cotton
Textile Mills became unviable. Several mills were declared sick and a few even shut down
their operations. Only a few managed to survive. There were 58 cotton textile mills in
Mumbai. Of these, 26 were deemed ‘sick’ and, therefore, taken over by the Government of
India. The remaining 32 mills continued in the private sector.
43
7.4.2 REDEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE MILL LANDS

Redevelopment of mill lands in Girangaon is one of the few options left for a sustainable
revival of the city. Mumbai’s ecological, social & cultural aspects are the fundamental drivers
in this process of urban revitalization. When textile mills were fully operational, they were
excluded from reservations for public amenities. According to an ex-government planner,
there was no reason to believe they would shut down and hence these lands were regarded
as industrial zones alone. But a few years later, with technological changes and economic
restrictions many of the mills were declared ‘sick’ and it was hard for mill owners to pay
thousands of workers unless they were allowed to sell their assets. As a result, in 1990, DCR
58 (Development Control Regulation) came into existence. DCR 58 allowed the mill owners to
sell part of their land. For the first time Mill owners were allowed “change of user” from
Industrial to Residential / commercial on the condition that they use the resultant funds for
the revival of the mills. They were allowed to sell only 15 percent of the mill land and use the
resources to modernize the mills. In 1991, five to six mills were developed on the basis of
DCR 58, but not a single mill undertook any kind of modernization. The skyline of Girangaon
began to change steadily with the arrival of high rise luxury towers. When Phoenix converted
one of its structures into Bowling alley (the permission for this was obtained on the pretext
of building a recreation center for the workers), Girangaon was really shaken. The issue of
mill lands no longer was limited to mill workers alone: it concerned the issue of urban
development

CHARLES CORREA STUDY GROUP REPORT (1996)

The current piecemeal and individual development of mill lands is one of the major
problems when it comes to retaining the character of Girangaon. This approach initiated by
the intransigent mill owners denies the integrated development the city needs. It also points
out the lack of any overall planning and development strategy seeking to create coherent
urban form and address other issues like housing for low income groups, civic amenities and
new employment opportunities for ex-mill workers. Girangaon needs a comprehensive
urban renewal plan that will take care of mill sites as well as the surrounding communities.
Since these lands are in close vicinity to each other, each could be developed differently in
accordance with its location, size and neighboring uses and yet is a part of an integrated
master plan for the entire mill district. A complete system of urban network could be
established by introducing new destinations for entertainment, public, retail & commercial
activities, transit and recreational purposes. Consequently the Government of Maharashtra
set up a study group to prepare an integrated development plan for textile mills in
Girangaon. The study group chaired by architect & urban planner Mr. Charles Correa
created a design solution for a comprehensive redevelopment of textile mills in Girangaon.
It appointed teams of architects, engineers & conservationists to visit the 58 mills and
appraise & document the various structures and other prominent features in each of them.
However the group was denied access to 32 mills in private sector. 3 of those mills were
already keen to sell some of their land right away. Hence the report deals with remaining

44
7.4.3 Redevelopment plans proposed by the study group are based on the
following factors –

Transport

• Establish important connector roads.

• Widen capacity of the existing road and rail network.
• Improved pedestrian movement.
• Exclusive roads for buses to support heavy traffic of passengers travelling between buses and
trains.

Urban Form

Use of building facades to help define streetscapes.

Open Spaces

• Open spaces of different sizes to allow variety of uses.

• Principal roads widened and lined with trees to create leafy boulevards.
• Pedestrian plazas in front of railway stations.
• Covered shopping arcades alongside major roads.
• Land for public open spaces could be used for other social facilities like schools, clinics or
community centers depending upon the needs of the neighborhood.

Employment generation

• Generation of semi-skilled employment similar to that provided by existing mills.

• Development of new high-tech, non-polluting industries like computers and garment
industry.
• Large number of household jobs would be created with the development of high-end
residential zones in place of former mills in private sector.

Housing

• Land taken over by MHADA could be used to develop low income housing, reconstruction of
dilapidated buildings or redevelopment of slums.
• MHADA could hand over some of the construction to other contractors.

Private Mill development

• Prepare an Outline Development Proposal (ODP) for mill sites.

• Include surrounding area with road network.
• Identify and document heritage structures that need to be preserved.
• Provide land allocation for three types of uses & an outline of the built form.

45
Pooling of land
• Pooling the land for increased FSI of 2.0 (compared to FSI of1.33 in island city)
• Beneficial in creating large new public spaces.
• The cluster of taller buildings generated by the additional FSI would create a visible landmark,
recognizable across the city’s skyline as a symbol of the generation of Parel and with it, the city
of Mumbai.
• In conclusion, the study group recommends further research and analysis of the existing
conditions in Girangaon. This report is limited just to the mill plots themselves, yet some
attention has been paid to the surrounding areas.
• The report also says “to bring about more comprehensive & decisive urban renewal, detailed
planning would have to be undertaken to address many problems of the area such as chawl
reconstruction, hosing for the pavement dwellers, parking for intercity buses etc.

7.4.4 TODAY’S TREND OF DEVELOPMENT OF

MILL LANDS

• City developers and builders have already

redeveloped a number of defunct mill lands. The
land in most cases is used for residential high
rises and in some cases for commercial, retail and
entertainment sectors.

• Almost all the existing structures on these mill

lands were demolished completely (except a few
factory features like Chimney) for redevelopment.

Fig-56 Commercial building in mill complex • The first textile mill to redevelop is central
Mumbai’s entertainment and shopping hub. A
hotel and a multiplex added later in the
development.

• The new development replaced mill buildings

with very little green open space. Some of the
developers did 40 create some public spaces like
shopping complexes, multiplexes and other retail
outlets, however the benefit of these areas and
buildings for the ecological sustainability of the
city is questionable.

Fig-57 Development of mills

46
7.5 TELEGRAPH OFFICE , MUMBAI
Fig-58 Location of Telegraph office
Fig-59 Front view of telegraph office
Fig-60 Inside view of telegraph office
The CTO Mumbai is a beautiful building constructed
in the medieval Italian style, the same as that of the
Victoria Terminal (VT ) Railway Station ( now
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal – CST), The Reserve
Bank of India, Municipal Building etc. all situated
near and around the Fountain.
The building was inaugurated in 1870 for
accommodating the General Post Office.
Consequent to the rapid growth of telegraph
services after it was introduce in India in 1850, this
building was converted to Central Telegraph Office in
1909.
The huge pillars, windows, doors are all decorated
with beautiful carvings on stone which even now
have not lost their beauty even after about one and
half century. The walls are very thick just like the old
forts.
But the situation at present in the CTO is completely
changed. The introduction of new technologies in
the field of communications like mobiles, e-mails,
SMS, internet etc. have resulted in to the
marginalisation of telegraph / telegram service.
The workers, though reduced from the earlier 3,000
or so to 800 due to retirement, transfers and no-
recruitment. The original identity of these building
has lost as the main purpose of this building is not in
used now so this building is not used for its original
purpose so this is also an example of a void.
47
7.6 PHILADELPHIA
Fig-61 voids filled with green spaces
Fig-62 view inside the park
Fig-63 showing built and open spaces
Fig-64 street conditions
Philadelphia has decided the best course of action to create
public space out of the once private space. Filling the urban
voids with green space and parks for public use. The battle
arises in realizing the abandoned land, but in case of
Philadelphia there were more than 40,000 abandoned lots
to fell into the position of the city. It has taken 7000 of that
lots and dedicated them to green space, horse paddock
fenced parks and urban farms. It is more useful to focus on
what you have and how it can be improved rather than
trying to recreate the former glory. In the case of
Philadelphia it meant to invest in the public and parks. By
converting these lots of land scattered about the urban
area the city took a gamble and a commitment with only a
hope that this would start to solve the problem. It was
decided to go forth With the green infrastructure plan.
By investing in the new green infrastructure it could raise
property values in affected areas by up by 25%. Streetscape
planting, pocket parks and other green initiatives provide
visual comfort and long term equity in property value.
Another side effect of becoming a green city is the new
“green colour” jobs that are created. To develop this new
green infrastructure takes a small army of volunteers and
city employees.
Philadelphia used these new jobs to provide income and
training to the lower-income residents that resides
in these affected neighborhoods. The cities new green
space has found a place in the hearts of the citizens of
Philadelphia, although “the city doesn’t own the land, but it
owns the problem and it needs to Take charge”.
Philadelphia has just started to address the problem of
abandonment. This is one of the best examples of a
shrinking city, it is facing the problem head on and
providing an example for cities that are suffering the same
fate. Green parkways, urban bike trails, and pocket parks
are not a new idea and have been greatly utilized in cities
like Scattle and Portland.
48

Fig-65 conditions on street
Fig-66 public parks
Fig-67 community garden
Fig-68 street conditions
Fig-69 open spaces
However these cities are very young compared to the
industrial cities of the east and central united states,
and have always been experiencing growth. It only
makes sense to look and the success of the growing
cities to and even recreate it in these post industrial
shrinking cities. Providing urban green space may not be
the only solution or way to address the problem. It is
however a positive stance to take to try and resolve the
problem.
Since 1974, Philadelphia Green has supported the
development and ongoing care of community gardens,
neighborhood parks, and green spaces . Working in
partnership with neighborhood residents, community
organizations and the city agencies, the program
uses greening as a community building tool. Additionally
it educates people to make the city a more livable place
through horticulture. In more than 400 community
gardens, residents are tending plots, growing fresh
Produce , sharing food with neighbors.
Although the city has not formed a urban farm, there
are a number of community gardens that fill once
vacant lots. A sense of ownership is felt city wide for the
green initiates that it has undertaken
49
7.7 BMC SCHOOLS IN MUMBAI
Fig-70 Map showing Mumbai wards
Fig-71 BMC school Childrens
Fig-72 Education in BMC schools
The enrolment rate at municipal schools has fallen by
around 40 per cent in the past five years, according to a
white paper released by Praja Foundation.
Schools have failed to draw and retain students despite a
two-fold increase in the BMC's education budget. The
civic body now spends Rs 59, 744 per candidate.
Enrolments in 1,252 schools declined by 40,778 students
over five years, with a threefold increase since 2010, the
report has revealed.
Many of the students who were interviewed by the
foundation complained about poor facilities and teaching
standards at BMC schools. Forty-two per cent of the
respondents said the teachers were not good, while 37
per cent expressed concerns over their future prospects
after passing out of municipal schools.
Private-aided schools are also closed as they are not
getting enough students for the medium. Three private
aided schools have also applied with the BMC’s
education department saying that they are not getting
enough students and want to shut down
The declining figures have forced some of the schools to
shut down, rendering its teachers ‘surplus’ or extra. The
Right to Education Act says a school should have
two teachers for 60 students. Teachers after this are
declared surplus, and adjusted in clerical jobs or
transferred to other schools. Their woes, however, have
magnified with the state education department’s
decision to implement a ‘no work, no pay’ rule for them.
“Employing us in clerical positions is only a temporary
solution,” said the teacher of a Kannada-medium school
in Goregaon that has two surplus teachers.
“The key is to look at methods to improve the
enrolment numbers” he said This
50
work harder to keep students in school. “A private school does much better than a BMC
school next door in terms of enrolment. This despite the subsidised fee and other benefits
offered by the B MC,” said another teacher from the Kannada school ¡n Goregaon. The
private-aided, English-medium Andhra Education Society ¡n Wadala has seen a rise ¡n
enrolment in the past five years. The school offers Telugu as a language.
Narendra Varun, administrator of AES, said, “We attribute the rise to the quality of education
we offer.” the enrolment numbers, he said. This year, only six students were admitted to the
primary section of her school and 12 in other classes.
“A Kan nada school teacher transferred to an English-medium school finds it difficult
to cope with the language barrier, especially when they have taught in Kannada for many
years,” another said. The teacher said migrants who hope to return to their states send their
children to vernacular-medium schools. “But they are not satisfied with the quality of
education, and hence pull their children,” he said. A teacher ¡n an Aarey Road, school
attributed the fall in demand for vernacular-medium schools to the unavailability of
secondary sections. a student takes admission ¡n the section of a Tamil school, after she has
to switch to either a or an English-medium school,” However, the BMC cannot set up
secondary section schools unless there are enough students. “Wherever these are available,
we don’t hesitate to begin a new section,” said Mahesh Palkar, Education Officer, BMC.

The teachers agree that they need to improve their teaching techniques and work harder to
keep students in school. “A private school does much better than a BMC school next door in
terms of enrolment. This despite the subsidised fee and other benefits offered by the B MC,”
said another teacher from the Kannada

“Even ¡f a student takes admission ¡n the section of a Tam il school, after she has to switch to
either a or an English-medium school,”
However, the BMC cannot set up secondary section schools unless there are enough
students. “Wherever these are available, we don’t hesitate to begin a new section,” said
Mahesh Palkar, Education Officer, BMC.
The teachers agree that they need to improve their teaching techniques and work harder to
keep students in school. “A private school does much better than a BMC school next door in
terms of enrolment. This despite the subsidised fee and other benefits offered by the BMC,”
said another teacher from the Kannada.

51
• The image shows the current situation of the schools where the count of students is
decreasing and hardly few people are studying in the BMC school.

Fig-73

52
Fig-74

53
 Fig-75

• This shows that due to decreasing number of students in BMC schools many of the classrooms
Remained unused and hardly few are active .
• As the count of students is less out off the total number of students many places in the schools
are inactive and as a whole the schools acts like a void.
54
CHAPTER - 8
8.1 LOCATION

Fig-76 Location map of maharashtra Fig-77 Location of Mumbai

Fig-78 map showing Mumbai suburban and Mumbai city Fig-79 Location of Kumbharwada

Fig-80 Temperature of Mumbai Fig-81 Rainfall of Mumbai

55
8.2 SITE SELECTION

Fig-82 Site Location in Kumbharwada

Fig-83 Site Surroundings

LOCATION  HOUSING TYPOLOGY

• Kumbharwada , Mumbai • G+1 G+2
• Ground floor– Commercial
 MEDIUM • First Floor/Second Floor -Residence
• English ,Marathi ,urdu
 NEAR BY RAILWAY STATION
• Mumbai Central
 SURROUNDING
• Grant Road
• Chor Bazaar
• Metal market

56
8.3 SITE SURROUNDING AND BUILDING TYPOLOGY AROUND THE SITE

Fig-84 Site Surrounding

57
Fig-85 Massing around the site
8.4 EXISTING SITE CONDITION

ROAD

EXISTING SCHOOL

ROAD

Fig-86 Existing Site Condition

58
 EXISTING SCHOOL BUILDING PLAN
8.5 ABOUT DURGADEVI MUNICIPAL
SCHOOL

• In the current situation the building

has 20 students in all .
• Only 2 class room is active out off 40
Classrooms.
• There are only 3 staff members in
School including teachers and principal
• It is a co-ed school having 3 mediums
o English
o Marathi
o Gujarati
• Ground + 3 storeyed building
• Mostly ground floor is active where Fig-87 Ground floor plan
the street childrens resides.
• NGOS take care of the street childrens
By providing food , clothing .
• They come in the school for playing
and clothing purpose .

• Previously the school was active

Completely but now the situation has changed
And almost the school is inactive and acts like
a void.
• This is due to migration of students to private
Schools and most of the schools in the south
Mumbai area remained inactive now.
• In city like Mumbai wasting so much space
Gives negative impact to the city.
• So this spaces can be used properly and can be
Fig-88 First Floor Plan
Activated

USERS OF THE SITE

• Street childrens
• Community people
• Local childrens

Fig-89 Second Floor Plan

59
Fig-90 , Fig -91 View of the school from courtyard

Fig-92 Fig – 93 Corridor's in existing school

8.6 Existing School Photos

60
8.7 About Street Childrens
• In the early years of research on street children, the
term “street child ” included any child that worked
on the street. From research, however, different
categories of children on the streets have been
distinguished, while still recognizing that children’s
complex experiences are difficult to define .

• It was estimated that there were at least 100,000

street children in Mumbai.

• By UNICEF found that 72 percent of the street

Fig-94 Street Children staying on road
children studied were ages 6–12 and 13 percent
were under 6 years of age.

• The majority of street children in India are boys

with little or no education and some are girls.

• The street children in India choose to leave their

families and homes for strategic reasons. Three
hypotheses have been put forth in an attempt to
explain their choices: urban poverty aberrant
families, and urbanization

• A child running away from home ends on the street

in most situations.

• The study illustrates the trend found by most

Fig-95 Street Children selling on raad researchers: most children leave their families to
live on the street because of family problems.

• As street children must provide for themselves,

work is a very important aspect of their lives

• Unfortunately, working conditions for street

children are often very poor because they are
confined to working in the informal sector , which is
unregulated by the government.

• One of the most common economic activities done

Fig-96 by the children is scavenging for recyclable
materials, such as plastic, paper, and metal.

61
 Education
• The education of street children in India is very
poor and often nonexistent.
• A study of street children in Mumbai in 1989
found that 54.5 percent had never been enrolled
in school and 66 percent of the children were
illiterate

Health and nutrition

• Street children in India face additional

vulnerability because of their lack of access to
nutritious food, sanitation, and medical care
• Street children lack access to nutritious food
because many are dependent on leftovers from
Fig-97 Health & Nutrition issue
small restaurants or hotels, food stalls, or
garbage bins.
• Most of the street children in India also lack
access to medical care, which is especially
detrimental during times of illness or injury.

Safety Issue

• Street children in India are frequently exposed to

abuse and extortion . Because they have no
social status and no adults to protect them,
Fig-98 street childrens staying on road
street children identify being physically
threatened and intimidated by adults as the one
factor that contributes most to the misery of
living on the streets.

Street Childrens near site

• 98% muslim community according to NGO’S

• 2% others
• Attraction of the children is food
• They reside on foot paths or nearby railway station
• This childrens have very less attraction about formal education
• So the NGO’S educate them through non formal education

62
 8.8 MAIN OBJECTIVES OF STREET CHILDRENS

VALUES
NUTRITION & SECURITY
& HEALTH
SKILLS

NON-FORMAL PROGRAM
EDUCATION OBJECTIVES
KNOWLEDGE
& GROWTH

SOCIAL
AWARNESS

• Accomodation for Run away and destitute Children who land up in Mumbai city in
search of their daily bread.
• Main issue of these Childrens are safety and Security issues so the idea of night
shelter arrived.
• Activity and workshop areas for these children to increase their interest towards
education.
• Night school for those who are working during day time

63
8.9 SITE PHOTOS

Fig-99 Existing garden on the site Fig-100 U.g tank on the site

Fig-101 Existing School playground Fig-102 Existing school Playground

Fig-103 Library Fig-104 Activities in a garden

64
Fig-105 Existing public garden Fig-106 Existing Ground

SITE SURROUNDING

Fig-107 Fig-108

Fig-109 Fig-110 65
8.10 DESIGN BRIEF

DEVELOPMENT CENTRE FOR STREET CHILDREN

Street children is a term for children experiencing poverty (homelessness) who are living
on streets of the city . In the developed city like Mumbai there are many childrens found on
the streets .These children sleep on footpaths or railway station . NGO’s of Mumbai take care
Of them.

Bmc schools which had lost its importance in Southern Mumbai due to migration of children
In private schools .So these schools are left vacant and are used by the NGO’s to educate
Them.

In Mumbai Central and Grant road area of Mumbai , there are 1640 Boys and 660 girls on the
Street who sleep on the footpaths and railway stations. These students are collected by the
NGO’s and bought in Bmc schools in day time and later are left on the streets .
So to develop this childrens and educate them an institute can be designed where these
childrens are given proper safety and knowledge.

Non-formal education is a key to educate this street children through which they can generate
their interest towards education.

By creating such space for street childrens of the vicinity area , the dead space or unused
Space of schools can be activated and structure can be given importance.
Other users of this site are the local community and childrens residing in that area.
There were many childrens in that area who used to visit garden for study purpose due to lack of
space in their house. So by keeping this point in mind a public library can be given importance.
There are many local childrens in this area who uses school ground for different sports activity
So define space can be given to this childrens.

Hence, by activating different parts of the site a space can become active and useable for all the
users.

Following are the requirements that are need to be considered.

66
Design Requirements

Sr .no Requirement No .of units Total area

SCHOOL
1 Classroom 20 106sqm
4-30sqm each
6-40sqm each
10-36sqm each

2 Laboratory 2 81 sqm
1-45sqm
1-36sqm
3 Staffroom 50 sqm
(NGO)
4 Staffroom 40 sqm
5 Support Staff 2 44sqm
1-20sqm
2-24sqm
6 Dining 72 sqm
7 Kitchen 24 sqm
8 Multipurpose Hall 70 sqm
9 Activity Area 40sqm
10 Waiting and 22 sqm
Reception Area
11 Principal Area 24 sqm
12 Store room 36sqm

13 Toilet 30sqm-male 50sqm

20sqm-Female
67
Design Requirements

Sr .no Requirement No .of units Total area

16 Admin Area 24sqm

17 Computer Room 66sqm
Av room 60sqm
Sick room 25sqm
18 Playground 300sqm
OTHER REQUIREMENT

19 Reading Hall 160sqm

20 Exhibition Space 240sqm
21 Dormitories 4-50sqm
(Girls & Boys) each
4-100sqm
each
22 Shops 5-25sqm
each
23 Dining &Kitchen 70sqm

24 Community Hall 150sqm

25 Toilets 16sqm each

26 Cafeteria/Restaurant 300sqm
27 Different Sports activity
playing grounds

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PROPOSED SITE

M.S ALI ROAD

DURGADEVI STREET

Wind direction

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
• www.nippo.wordpress.com
• www.indiatimes.com
• www.issuu.com
• www.ijarrit.com
• www.architectureandurbanism.blogspot.in
• www.google search.com
• Robert Krier –urban space pdf
• Book -Finding lost spaces – Rodger Transik
• www.behance.net
• Urbanbeelab.okno.be
• www.sze.hu/
• Book- Invisible cities
• Urban voids- Ground of change

• Gehl,J. (2010) Cities for people

• Gehl,J. (2013) How to study public Life
• Whyte, W.H. (1980) . The social Life of small Urban Spaces
• URBAN VOIDS UNPACKED Simone Fracasso (2015)
• Project of public spaces ,(1991) How to turn a place Around
• Urban%20voids/SEMINAR/extended%20abstract_final%20version%20v
oids.pdf
• PROBLEM OF UNDER-UTILIZED SPACES: THE CASE OF ANKARA-OLD
INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT
• http://fileserver.mkcl.org/DydAdmin/OasisModules_Files/Files/124.pdf

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