“ Programmatic Stimulation & Reorganization “

/ A Mixed Use in North Chennai

- Thesis Synopsis

211813251060
Siddharth. V
Programmatic Stimulation & Reorganization /
– An Entanglement of Distinct Activities & Spaces in North Chennai

The Project is trying to explore the anatomical meaning of city, architecture and culture of Madras
which were closely interrelated with history of settlement and human activities.
Aiming to study and design the space for the current context and contemporary architecture that
could realize the spirit of place, the urban identity and the cultural heritage that passed on from
generation to generation.

Aim -

The concept of this project is to preserve the central district of the city by keeping the traces of
civilization through its architectural leftover to let people create new meanings through the urban
activities. The project promotes city's public spaces that supported multipurpose activities and the
renewal of the old through ,

o Market Place / Plaza

o Traditional Housing ( High-rise )
o Community Recreational Centre
o Public Squares

- The Problem –

The kind of sprawl that’s affecting North Chennai is a matter of concern as the society’s heritage is being eaten
up in multiple unknown ways.

The North Chennai became a city of historical significance, but now it has lost touch with its own
traditions. The Buckingham canal has been covered with sewage, taking with it the MRTS that is
imprinted on the route of the city, garbage that is indiscriminately dumped on wetlands. The entire face of
the once beautiful city has been transformed into a degraded lifeless space. The unsystematic growth,
mostly in the north-west direction, coupled with fragmented governance has also resulted in the loss of marsh
lands and inter-connectivity.1

- Objective -

To motivate and educate the people at micro-level, developments there on should address the importance of
their culture , activities , daily living , trading , water bodies , existing canals , rainwater harvesting , segregation
of garbage etc. This can be composted locally to remove the ecological burden on the various dumping grounds.

Through this project , one can understand the need to not follow the current happenings in Central Chennai
promoting further sprawl and affecting city’s heritage value that’s highly dominant in North Madras. Initialising
a particular built environment at a particular site that contains all kind of activities for an average man in North
Chennai shall educate him on how to conserve , regenerate , revitalise and help retaining the periodic value of the
city that the Britons have left.

1. The Hindu ,
transparentchennai.com
- Need of this project -

North Chennai is probably the most thickly populated segment of Chennai, dotted with industries, both large
and small, organised and unorganised. Home to large population of workers, it has been the launch of high rise
residential apartments for some years, but there has been increasing activity in the past few months and still
demands more feasible housing typologies.2

With the problem of typical high rise structures that’s been continuously on demand in the vicinity , the place is
more in its liking to get into this sprawl. Trying to establish a typology of living with the people’s lost skills on
building self-shelters & market places for trading activities will bring up a situation that can also influence the
future developments.

High in need for the people’s exposure for routine entertainment and self-development shall be put up with
their traditional recreational centres suiting the current context.

- Methodology –

1. Study Collections -

Site study / Net study / Case study / Data collection & Standards

o Study on Settlements & Culture in the neighbouring vicinities

o On initial typology for shelters in neighbouring areas
o Possible influence of water bodies/canals that’s surrounding the site

o On Patten Language by Christopher Alexander

o Case studies on Traditional Market Places & Housing

2. Creating a Project Brief –

Area Statement / Proximity / Number of Users / Site Analysis

3. Concept & Design Development -

Functional procedure / Site level Zoning / Form / Tentative Plans

4. Working Drawings & Structural Details -

Service Details / detailed Structural Planning / Masterplan

5. Final Model

2. Economic Times , TOI

- Selection of site -

Approximate site area – 30 acres

Along the intersection of the two canals , is located the site near an abandoned goods yard.
Existing at the exact axis cutting through Washermanpet and Tondiarpet , to the south lies George Town and
Sowcarpet and to the North lies Madhavaram.

- Scope & Expected future Scenario –

By developing a strategy on high rise housing for the majority of lower income people on the area , and also
when economic times are expected to boost for real estate builders, the project tries to blend in possible
techniques to control the sprawl that north Chennai is ready to face in the coming years.
At once where the city’s cultural and heritage value with high amounts of trade and industries developed for the
people , this project will try to expand its course throughout.

Facing and placed right near the canal which was once a huge trading waterway, the design of water coherent
approach bringing back the forgotten glory and as well boosting the trade economy will save the people from
economic and water crisis that the city is facing.

Through ” Urban Events , north Chennai “ is expected to face its own value in unexpected ways and activities
through the daily behaviour of its own people and on how they could ecologically evolve and sustain themselves
from a period of time where they formed and built their own shelters. The project will also focus on
redeveloping the canals as a landscape extension promoting the importance of Chennai’s water bodies.
- Program and Area Statement –

Total site area - 30 acres ( 1,20,000 sq.m )

1. Market Space

- Feasible Market area space assumed for the given context and site ,
1/3rd of Koyambedu market , tentative Built up area - 50,000 sq.m

| Developing 3 storey structure, tentative Plot coverage for Market space - 16,000sq.m ( 4 acres )

2. Housing Sectors

- Taking a number of 500 families,

Tentative built up area - 20,000 sq.m

| Developing 1000 sq.m / floor & having two structure divisions , - 2,000 sq.m ( 0.5 acre )
and considering public movement and other spaces , tentative coverage - 4,000 sq.m ( 1 acre )

3. Recreational Spaces

- Comparing Madras Gymkhana Club – 40,000 sq.m

For the amount of population calculated , ½ of Gymkhana club - 20,000 sq.m

| Single storey and two storey level variants , tentative Plot coverage - 8,000 sq.m ( 2 acres )

4. Public intervention spaces - 65% (no built up area) , - 80,000 sq.m

| Containing public parks , amphitheatres and other amenities - 20 acres

Total Built Up area – 90,000 sq.m

- Live Case studies –

o Bhendi Bazaar & Chor Bazaar - Mumbai

o Sheik Saraai group Housing - New Delhi
o Asian Games Village - New Delhi
o Lajpat Nagar - New Delhi
o Nehru Memorial Pavilion - New Delhi
o Aranya Community housing - Indore
o Kanchenjunga Apartments - Mumbai

- Net Case studies –

o Clothesline tiny homes , Pattern Language

o The Oregon experiment , Pattern Language
- Design Approach –

Importance of Placemaking

Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every
community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, it refers to a collaborative
process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value. More than just promoting
better urban design, placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical,
cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.

To be successful, cities need destinations. They need destinations that give an identity and image to their
communities, and that help attract new residents, businesses, and investment. But they also need strong
community destinations that attract people. A destination might be a downtown square, a main street, a
waterfront, a park, or a museum.
Viability of Water Coherent approach ?

A more water-coherent approach is postulated as a primary pathway through which biophilic urbanism
contributes to livability and climate change adaptation. It is shown that upstream water retention is more cost-
effective than downstream for mitigating flood risks. Water based sense of places evokes water-based place
attachment to help adapt cities and individuals to water-coherent urbanism. Waterscape imageability comes
under the five waterscape types, including water landmarks, canals, lakes, rivers, and harbours. Water is a sixth
element of imageability and that the imageable structure of canals and rivers and the identifiability of water
landmarks significantly influences the aesthetic coherence of city image.

- Importance of the Buckingham Canal in North Chennai –

Buckingham Canal steered the rainwater overflow away from the heart of the city. Unfortunately, in recent
years, much of the canal has been used as the route of the elevated Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) of
Chennai city. Nowadays, when there are heavy rains, the city remains flooded until the water evaporates due to
the sun.

After multiple rounds of forwarding petitions and running online campaigns to save the waterways of North
Chennai, the Coastal Resource Centre’s Save Ennore Creek campaign has yielded dividends. Ahead of this year’s
north-east monsoon, the government has directed the Ennore thermal power station, the North Chennai
thermal power station and the Kamarajar Port Trust to dredge and desilt portions of the Buckingham Canal
along with the creek in the hope of preventing a rerun of Chennai’s worst December in recent memory. 3

3. The Hindu
- About the surrounding People & Culture –

East – Royrapuram ,

Royapuram Railway Station is believed to be one of oldest surviving railway station. Royapuram has a deep
history inculcated within itself and has been part of the Chennai city for centuries. It is just in the face of the
recent developments that Royapuram got edged out to the periphery of the Chennai.

Demography , primarily a fisherman community area migrated from Chepauk village in 1799 during British East
India Company's colonial rule. It has a fine blend of people from various ethnic groups as well. Royapuram
retains its specialty as the principal suburb of the Parsi community of Madras. Previously Royapuram was a
home to many Anglo Indians. But today their numbers are very low since people migrated to other parts of city
or to other countries.4

East – Washermanpet ,

The name comes from the fact that it used to be the washermen's enclave in Chennai, where many of the
city's dhobi ghats used to be located. Prior to the development of T.Nagar and Purasawalkam, Washermanpet
acted as the textile business hub of Chennai. Washermenpet is one of the several Dhobikanas in Chennai since
colonial times with others being Adayar, Chetput, Saidapet and Mypalore. 5

North – Madhavaram ,

For most residents of the city, Madhavaram conjures up images of milk and mangoes - in other words, images of
sufficiency. But, Madhavaram, which has nearly four lakh voters and is the largest under constituency under the
Tiruvallur district, continues to languish without basic infrastructure.6

South – Central Station ,

Government is in plan for extending trains to stations like Royapuram or Ennore will benefit passengers in the
northern parts of Chennai. The locality has developed into a residential area that includes slum settlements and
government institutions such as the PWD buildings. The MRTS stations in this stretch lie just above the canal
meandering along its curves which in turn gives rise to conflict with its large residual spaces under the bridge
and underused colossal stations that are rarely put to use, completely obstructing the canal.7

West – Vysarpadi ,

It's that part of Madras that's mostly off our minds. But Vyasarpadi wasn't always like this. Located just off
Parry's, Vysarpadi was once the backbone of Madras. After all, once upon a time, the entire city was built by the
residents of Vysarpadi, which still houses many skilled labourers. Perhaps we have forgotten, over time that this
area, one of the largest slums in Chennai, is known for various things than just its crime rate. Gana originated
here, and it houses talented football players. Which is why this place becomes an integral part of anything that
celebrates Madras, say well-known residents of Vyasarpadi, who've, over a period of time, carved a niche for
themselves, as well as for North Madras in the annals of the city's history.8

4. transparentchennai.com
5. Wikipedia
6. The Hindu – May 2016
7. commons.wikimedia.org
8. Times of India – August 2016
-- Importance – Study of Pattern Language , Christopher Alexander –

The pattern language concept was originally developed, by the architect Christopher Alexander and his
colleagues, both as a theoretical account of the properties of a humane, or living, built environment and as a
practical tool to aid participatory design processes.

“Each pattern describes a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes
the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over,
without ever doing it the same way twice.” 9

So long as the people of a society are separated from the language which is being used to shape their
buildings, the buildings cannot be alive. If we want a language which is deep and powerful, we can only have it
under conditions where thousands of people are using the same language, exploring it, making it deeper all
the time. And this can only happen when the languages are shared.10

9. sunlighthomes.com/a-pattern-language/
10. researchgate.net