IN THE NAME OF HOUSING

A STUDY OF 11 PROJECTS IN MUMBAI

FOREWORD

In the Name of Housing curated by the studio of architect Sameep Padora (sP+a) was installed to coincide with the The State of Architecture : Practices and Processes in India held at the NGMA, Mumbai between 6 January and 20 March 2016 under the aegis of the Urban Design Research Institute. The State of Architecture supported a constellation of other smaller-scale thematic exhibitions during the same time frame and of which In the Name of Housing, which focused on one of Mumbai’s perennial and most daunting questions, was a significant show. It added interestingly to the many research projects, books, and studies that have attempted to document, analyse, and represent the robust examples of different housing typologies in the city. Along with the documentary drawings and photographs, sP+a developed a series of analytical models, to understand issues of space organisation and infrastructure in residential building typologies they studied. This documentation is particularly pertinent today given the critical need to address the issue of housing in India. Since this subject is of immense interest to professionals and students alike, it is important to present these issues through an exhibition and a publication.

The cases studied here range from residential typologies in Mumbai like the the chawls (originally workers’ housing that have morphed into vibrant communities) to more hybrid examples such as the Swadeshi market, which demonstrates an interesting multiuse building. These Mumbai typologies challenge architects, planners and designers to test their imagination in thinking about affordable housing.