School of Planning and Architecture: Vijayawada

(An autonomous institution under the Ministry of HRD, Government of India)

S.No. 71/1, NH-5, Nidamanuru, Vijayawada 521 104, Andhra Pradesh, India

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

Course: Urban Design Studio Class: V yr. B.Arch, Term I, 2017-18 A.Y Sec: A & B
Contact Slots: 09 hrs
Studio Faculty: Dr. Prof. Ramesh Srikonda, Asst. Prof. G.Karteek, Asst. Prof K Naga Viswatej, Asst. Prof. Parul
Internal Marks: 350 External Jury: 150 Total Marks: 500 Attendance: 75% Min. Passing Marks: 50%
Aggregate

DESIGN PROGRAMME (to be executed in groups of Four students each)

Course Objectives: To understand the city under study, read the issues in a given area after a
methodical analysis and propose housing /urban design/ campus design solutions. Anticipated
Learning Outcomes: Students will demonstrate through design their understanding of urban issues
relating to the built environment.

Content:

Issues related to the growing problems of urban areas in third world countries and their future
development shall be explored. Emphasis shall be on the design with relation to the contextual
environment, heritage, traffic, planning controls and impact analysis.

An understanding of the architectural implications of such development scheme should lead to

insights in the formulation of urban design controls and urban planning policy. The studio exercise
could involve the design of a group of buildings in the urban context. This could be a greenfield/
brownfield development, redevelopment or revitalization project in the context of the city under
study.

Urban infill Studio with focus on Urban Housing

Regulating the built form is an age old practice in many cities. A variety of approaches and norms
were used across various cities to regulate the urban development. Our physical environment is an
outcome of the time tested process with due consideration to socio-cultural attributes of the
people. A variety of approaches and development norms are used in different parts of the
country. This problem becomes more and more complex in metropolitans and other large cities. It
is thus important to design environments based on physical needs, economy of the space and
cultural attributes of the people. But it is equally unfortunate that the presently followed regulations
have not derived by such systematic study. They are basically borrowed from the western countries
and find no relevance in our socio-cultural society. Broad Studio focus shall be to devise
appropriate energy efficient built form for large scale development which is liveable. The
interventions shall address city level issues and site levels concerns keeping in view the context of
the site and aspirations of the people along transit corridors.

DESIGN PROBLEM: Urban Infill Studio with focus on urban housing in the city of Vijayawada,
A.P, India
City of Intervention : Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

The proposed site for the intervention is located in the Railway colony of SatyanarayanaPuram,
Vijayawada. Possessing an ample amount of vacant land, thus has a high demand for urban infill
and can be developed under public-private-partnership. The objective of this studio program is to
expose students to various typologies of urban housing prevailing within the city of Vijayawada
and to address and demonstrate imageability along the major transit corridors with high density
mixed use development.
For regional cultural context, the students are expected to visit a few of the new
housing/Mixed use projects coming up in Vijayawada region. Moreover students are also
expected to analyze and document the site surroundings.

CONTEXT

Current scenario of Housing in India

Urban Housing
India is urbanising at a fast rate and every year a large number of people move into the cities in
search of better livelihood and educational opportunities. Urbanisation is an intgral part of a
countrys economic development. As per Census 2011, 31.16 percent of the people live in cities
and is expected to reach 40 percent level by 2030 (Census 2011). However, compared to the
global standard, Indias urbanisation level is still low, as way back in 2008 the world as a whole
crossed the 50 per cent benchmark.

One of the critical issues associate with Indias urbanisation process is the huge shortage of
affordable urban housing. As per the National Housing Bank, in 2012, the shortage was estimated
at 18.78 million, and is expected to increase further as more people migrate to the cities(National
Housing Bank 2012). Poor people suffer particularly from this housing deficit and are compelled to
live in informal housing, including slums. As may be seen from Table 1, an overwhelming 95
percent of the shortages are in the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) and LIG (Low Income
Group). Housing also a major concern for the middle class, who are moving further and further
away from their places of work, in search of affordable shelter.

Table.1: Distribution of Housing Shortage as per Income Category

Source: National Buildings Organisation 2011

It is difficult to bridge this housing deficit purely through the market mechanism. High cost of land,
particularly in the inner city areas, near business districts; make it difficult for the poor people to
afford housing near their places of work. Moreover, the private builders are not particularly
interested in building for the LIG and EWS category due to low profit margin. The Government has
therefore endeavoured to mitigate the predicament of the city dwellers to the extent possible
through a number of housing support schemes which are specifically devised to address the
ordeal of the needy and the deprived class. However, various previous initiatives by the
government agencies to provide constructed dwelling units to the poor did not yield desired results
due to problems in the delivery mechanisms.
National Housing and Habitat Policy of 2007 envisages that the government agencies will facilitate
delivery of housing, rather than getting directly involved in housing construction (Ministry of Urban
Development 2007). One of the popular ways to deliver affordable housing to the urban
population in India, is through the mechanism of cross-subsidy, where profits made out of
developing houses for the HIG (Higher Income Group) and MIG (Middle Income Group) are
passed on as subsidy for the EWS and LIG housing. The Rajarhat New Town project, developed at
the eastern fringe of Kolkata had seen widespread application of the cross-subsidy model through
public-private joint venture (Chen, Wang & Kundu 2010).This project was spearheaded by the
Housing Department of the West Bengal state government and was executed by West Bengal
Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (WB-HIIDCO). The state agency acquired
land and formed joint ventures with several well known private developers for housing delivery,
such as Bengal Peerless, Bengal Ambuja, Bengal DCL etc. The delivery mechanism envisages that
the state agency will supply land to the joint venture company and the private partner will then
develop housing. Half of the built area, is sold by the private developer for profit, the remaining half
is disbursed by the state agency to the poor. This development model has subsequently been
adopted by various other state housing policies and also URDPFI guideline of 2014.

Current scenario of housing in Vijayawada

The population of Vijayawada city has increased substantially in recent years. In 2001 the citys
population was only about 845,217. But as per the latest census, Vijayawada city has a population
of 1,034,358 and the newly announced APCRDA (Andhra Pradesh Capital region Development
Authority) has a population about 5.81 million as per census 2011. Vijayawada is an important port-
cum industrial city and now it has become one of the most important urban hub of Andhra
Pradesh Capital region. Moreover, Vijayawda city is strategically located along Kolkata-Chennai
National Highway, it is expected that the city will continue to face increased population pressure
over the next decade which in turn would increase demand for affordable housing.

Need for High Density Housing

In view of current growth trend of cities, increasing demand for land and high costs of providing
infrastructure services, high density low energy housing is the present day need. Vijayawada city
currently has a population density of 16578 persons per square km.

However, in order to avoid urban sprawl, protect agrarian land, reduce infrastructure cost and
make the urban development process sustainable in the long run, it is deemed necessary to
encourage compact city model with high density low energy housing. URDPFI guidelines suggest
plot level density of 100-125 DU per Ha for low income housing in medium sized cities. The norms for
Group Housing schemes are as given below:
Sr. Net Residential Density Maximum Ground FAR
No. in DU / Ha Coverage (%)
1 25 25 50
2 50 30 75
3 75 33 90
4 100 35 100
5 125 35 125
6 150 35 150
7 175 35 175
Source: URDPFI (2014)
Target/Beneficiary group (Socio-economic grouping): EWS, LIG, MIG and HIG

Design Requirements

Area of the Site 6 Ac. / 2.43 Proposed Population Density 500 ppHa
Ha.
Total Population 1175 persons 260 No. of Households / Dwelling 260 DU minimum
(approx.) Units

% Mix of Area Remarks

S.No. Requirement dwelling (Sq.M)/percentage
units
1 EWS 10 40-45 Minimum and maximum numbers of
2 LIG 20 70-80 Dwelling Units have to be determined
3 MIG 50 100-120 by respective groups
4 HIG 20 140-160
5 School 800 900 As per URDPFI 2014
Convenient 200 250
6
Shopping
2% Types of amenities and services (ESS, STP
Amenities
7 etc) are to be determined as part of
and Services
Studio Exercise
10% One large recreational space may be
8 Open Space
provided
Community 800 - 900
9
Hall
Note: In addition to the above, the students may develop the program for required facilities in
conjunction with City/Area level study. Housing requirement is only 80% (including the above
mentioned facilities) of the entire site supported with other facilities as appropriate.

Project Model

The proposed design shall be a 50:50 (State Govt: Private Developer) Joint Venture project on
Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. As per the said model, the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh will
provide Land free of cost to the Developer and the Developer will have to fully develop the
project. At the end of the project, the Developer will surrender the EWS+LIG built up area to the
State Govt. which can fulfill its housing provision obligation by selling the dwelling units at a
subsidized price.

Design focus and diversity

Design shall focus on Passive Design methods/techniques to make the entire development energy
efficient. Students are encouraged to adopt a theme in terms of technology or design approach
(incl. Site planning), grouping of units, mix of low-medium-high rise etc. so as to ensure
exclusivity/uniqueness of each groups design as well as to promote a variety of thoughts related
to the design project. Students are also encouraged to explore the rationale behind income group
classification, percentage allocation of built up area etc. so as to substantiate their design
outcome.

As land is a capital intensive and scarce resource, the government / developer may wish profit
maximization by utilizing maximum built potential so as to unlock the land value to the fullest
extent.
Designers may bear this real time aspect in mind while evolving the design scheme, without
compromising on the functional and qualitative aspects of Architectural Design. The Sites are in the
midst of developed/developing areas and hence the proposed Design must be able to integrate
the interests of existing neighborhood population as well as the residents of the proposed housing
project and not be a mere inward looking gated community project.

For all other norms and standards (incl. Parking), students are advised to refer Andhra Pradesh
Building Rules (G.O. Ms. No. 119, 2016), National Building Code, Energy Conservation Building
Code, National Housing and Habitat Policy, Central Public Works Department Specifications and
Schedule of Rates etc.

Literature Review

Student teams must study various topics covering the following (list enclosed) and present their
views, during the first two weeks of the academic session, i.e., well before the case study tour.

Components to be studied, understood, presented in groups and integrated with Design

appropriately (to be submitted as powerpoint presentation and A4 concise report)

High Density Large scale mixed use developments

Socio-economic determinants in mixed use developments
Energy conservation and green initiatives in large scale developments
Site planning, landscape and water harvesting techniques in high density housing
developments with emphasis on barrier free environments
Development control regulations in India and abroad
Disaster Management and mitigation
Housing Initiatives by Government of India and abroad
Building materials and Technological alternatives in construction

Later, students shall undertake city level study and area level study to bring out the present
morphological and development issues.

City Level Study components

Evolution and Historic growth pattern
Imageability
Social and Cultural background
Movement Network
Activities, Festivals and Events
Open Space System
Ecological overlay and transformations
Institutional/Public Buildings
Area Level Study
Figure ground analysis
Morphological Study / density / FSI
Movement network
Building Unit typologies
Open spaces and Activities
SWOT Analysis
Site Level Study
(Physical Parameters)
On site and off site factors
Study of site surroundings / Landuse
Existing landscape (Existing vegetation and the site profile)
Physical Accessibility and visual permeability
Design Approach
Vision and Agenda
Structure Plan proposals
Final Structure Plan
Conceptual Design scheme
Detailed Design scheme
SITE
Site is located near Sathyanarayanapuram railway colony, which admeasures about 6 acres,
surrounded by residential area and abutted by BRTS road (NH16).

Figure 1 Site 6.0 Acres

Figure 2 Site location, Satyanarayana Puram Railway colony, Vijayawada, AP