TARA APARTMENTS

BY AR . CHARLES CORREA

Casestudy by-sujaathaa.S.M
• Tara Apartment is one kind of social projects
that is intended for the middle-
class of Nehrucenter.
• This building is designed by one of the
most famous Indian architects at this time,Cha
rles Correa, and completed in 1978.
• Tarahousing group has more than 125 units an
d375 persons per hectare.
• The Tara pays deeplyattention to the inner act
ivities which are al-
most happen in the central garden and leave
the interaction of traffic behind a wall which i
s parallel to Guru Ravidas Marg Street
( theSouth-East).
 LOCATION
• Location: New Delhi, India
• Date: 1975-1978
• Site: 1.48 ha
• Program: Social housing with
160 units of two and three-
bedroom flats
• Client: Tara Housing Society
• Architect:Charles Correa
• Structure: reinforced
concrete
• Wall: Brick
 SITE
Description:
• The project is located alongGuru
Ravidas Marg Street which leads to two
big residential areas in the North and
theSouth.
• It is in the suburb of middle-class.
• Therefore, it creates a harmonious and
bal-ance volume with the existing fabric
due tolimited height and the form of the
building.
• More than that, the project also plays an
im- portant part in linking these other
buildingswith the adjacent park.
 SITE EVALUATION

Evaluation:
• The building turns its back onthe street to prevent noise, dust from thehigh flow
vehicles
• Being staked as a row,central garden, big overhangs and sharpedges, all give thes
e buildings a sense ofIndian characteristic under hot sun, full of light
without suffering from high temperature.
 CONCEPT

 The main concept in Tara housing group project is a creative vernacular typology in
term of arranging and pilingthe singular flat into united blocks
 By separating with theoutside world and providing an interior garden, the build-
ing preserves well the private life of families within. Morethan that, just pedestrians
are allowed go inside the hous-
ing group and the parking lot is in the back of the build-ing.
 In term of a social housing group, the project takes bigadvantages from natural res
ources like lighting and ventilation and all families are equally shared these features
.Indian sense is illustrated in the use of concrete bands, panels of exposed bricks, p
ortals, overhangs and shape edges
 SPATIAL ORGANIZATION

 The dwelling units are arranged similar to that of row

houses. Of which the central street is developed as
multifunctional landscape spine serving as a major
circulation area, community space, children’s play
area and visual green affecting the micro-climate.
 The two longitudinal parallel decks are surrounded by
open space on one side and enclosed
 by visual green on the other. The spaces are
segregated with respect to various activities and
organised in response to the built form .
OVERALL MASTER PLANNING

Legend:
1. Entry
2. Guard room
3. Scooter parking
4. Housing blocks
5. Seats
6. Amphitheatre
7. Lawns
8. Planters
9. Children’s play area
10. Swimming pool
11. Changing room
12. Covered seating
13. Service entry
14. Structure on silts
15. Car parking
16. Pergola on parking area
OVERALL MASTER PLANNING

 The site has five major zones; the built dwelling units aligned North-South,
peripheral parking area along North-West and North boundary walls, enclosed
community space, children's play area on the South, and passive recreation area
on South-East.
 The services, water tank and power house are concealed in the 3m level
difference of site contours and are visually enhanced as a feature by landscaping.
The parking area on the NW is on the lower level following site contours and is
visually separated from the Dwelling Units.
 This organisation is functional; due to lack of active usage along the South East
and South periphery the areas leave an impression of left out spaces. The central
space overlooked by the dwelling units make the space more usable.The
deliberate isolation of the car parking reduces the luxury and supervision.
 MOVEMENT PATTERN

• The pedestrian and vehicular

movement is segregated and well
defined in the site. There is a conflict
only at the two entrances and the third
entrance is dedicated only for
pedestrians.
•

• The site initially had six entrances

opening onto the three roads bounding
the site out of which only three are
operational due to the security reasons.
OPEN SPACE SYSTEM
• The open spaces are derived
from the configuration of
horizontal and vertical base
planes and the character is
defined by sense of enclosure
and texture.
• There is hierarchy of open
spaces due to the alteration
in the planes in response to
the climatic conditions and to
achieve the desired visual
character.
PRIVATE PLACES

The extension of living area into

the green space in the ground
floor and the partially shaded
10sqm terraces spaces open
onto visual greens and are not
connected to active greens .
Hence the privacy is retained.
However there is lack of
interaction
PUBLIC SPACES

The open staircases and their

landing are interactive zones .
The central spine is an active
enclosed space which turns semi
open space with presence of
large green trees houses an OAT,
children’s play area, green
pockets. The multi-functional hall
acts as transition space from the
central spine to the green scape
on the South East. The soft scape
on the South East is bounded
and buffered by peripheral
plantation.
ORIENTATION AND MICRO CLIMATE
 BUILDING

Description:
• The duplex units are accessed either at ground floor or second floor levels by outdoor stair cases.
• There are two kinds of flat: the two- bedroom flats with 84 square metres (3 metreswide, 6 metres
high with two floors and 15 metreslong, the three-bedroom flats with 130 square me-tres and
have the shape of L, there are just only 16three-bedroom flats were built.
• Each unit is pro-vided an open terrace which is protected by a per-gola and big overhangs.
• Two sides of the projectare connected by staircases.
Evaluation:
• The concept of building allows people to access directly to the interior garden.
• More than that, everyone also has their ownopen-to-sky terraces with full filled shadow.
• By taking advantages of sun, wind directions and open spaces, hence lighting access and
ventila-tion to each dwelling are maximized.
 Two bedroom flats

Three bedroom flats

Parking lot and lighting accessibility
Natural ventilation
DWELLING
DWELLING TYPOLOGY
BUILDING MATERIAL AND FINISHES

 The unusually refined

exposed brick and concrete
construction reflects the
architect’s prevailing
commitment to the
modernist idiom. The
concrete pergola
accentuates the jagged
break down of the building
surfaces rather than forming
an effective continuous
parasol.
Site plan Plan
Isometric view of plan
Section
Elevation
 CONCLUSION

• The development is a schematic of traditional urban form. This part-I derives specifically
from the climatologically rationale of the narrow over hung streets in desert towns, such
as Jaisalmer.
• An introvert street configuration is created . This was devised, ostensibly, to shelter a
humid green zone with in the development. It is terraced to fit topographic profile.
• The position and character of various spaces make them multi-functional and the
juxtaposition of these open spaces .give users the flexsibility of using the spaces as a
whole if required.
Thank you