Contemporary Architecture of India in flux

An observation on architectural character, practice, reason of flux, and control instruments     

There used to be a defined boundary of what is called “Contemporary Architecture” in every era since past few centuries, but the boundary of contemporary architecture at present, in the middle of first quarter of 21^st century, has become a multi-domain experience with organic boundaries of different school of thoughts melting into each other. Earlier there used to be some set of rules and inspiration, material and climatic constraint, to govern and guide the aesthetic elements of localised architecture which in turn used to give defined architectural and urban design character to neighborhoods and city, but apparently we are losing that cohesiveness in contemporary urban fabric because there is no virtual or enforced control over the aesthetics of architecture at present In the developing countries like India, which is tissue of urban fabric. That does not imply that we want another Chandigarh, its for sure, we don’t want another Chandigarh by Le Cob., that is an old story, needs and lifestyle of people have changed, so the architecture and planning.

There are guidelines for the construction and execution but no rules or guidelines for architectural aesthetics, and its solely on the mercy and idiosyncrasy of either Clients who have their own idea of what contemporary architecture should be (i.e. they want their house to be either like the house of “Mr. X”, or more lavish and grand than “Mr. Y”, or exactly like the house featured in that architectural magazine “Z”) or it depends on majority of young architects for which its more about pressed necessity of earning bread & butter rather than using and  implementing the hard earned architectural knowledge , most of which are either victim of commercialization, crippled and forced to follow the market trends (which in fact doesn’t have any architectural  trend except copying from other contemporary developments or from history or from google image search results).  

If you inspect deeply you will realize that this apparent chaos of architectural design and aesthetics is actually nobody’s fault , at least not of any individual  because it was bound to happen and its all because of  technological advancement, which makes information and tools abundant. Architects as well as clients are immensely exposed to influences from all across the world due to free and unlimited information, architects  were never so free to  experiment with design and form of buildings due to computer modeling and simulation as well as unlimited possibility that structural design provides at present due to advance technology, equipments, material etc. There is no constraint of material, you have all the construction material at your disposal in any  part of the country, there is no architectural constraint of climate, because architecture has increasingly become active rather than passive,  you have all the equipments to control and maintain the indoor climate. But amidst all this, if the architecture and city planning need design guidelines, development control regulation, urban design guidelines or a separate nodal governing authority to maintain the aesthetic and cohesiveness of city, so be it.

Definition of “Per Capita Consumption” need to be modefied - Water Sector

By- Anoop Jha

Apparently “per capita consumption” figure is used in financials, estimates and projections of every project, and DPRs across the country and across the sectors, but apparently age old definition (Per Capita Demand in litres per day per head) and formula of “per capita consumption” seem to be flawed and vague. Let’s consider Water Sector for example.

There are few reasons for this apparently flawed 

First, this formula invariably assumes that all the water is being consumed at household, institutional or community level for some useful purpose, but that is not the fact. The fact is “the collective water losses at household and institutional level are huge in any given community, settlement, or housing society”, leaking taps, pipes due to “lack of maintenance and willingness to maintain” and water wastage related to casual behavior of users “due to lack of education and sense of responsibility”  are a regular phenomenon of almost every household. Planning bodies and Policy makers have to understand that unless they stop these water losses or unless they change the definition from  “Per capita Consumption” incorporating the water losses, there demand estimates, future projections, projects cost estimates, will inevitably  be vague and skewed,

Some interesting extract from the discussion on “India Water Portal” (indiawaterportal.org) on the similar subject are as follows-

Link: http://www.indiawaterportal.org/ask/5409

“ When the norm for a large city is 250 lpcd, it doesn’t mean the residents actually get or use 250 lpcd. A large city has many other water needs such as public use in offices, railways stations, commercial places, for fire fighting, public horticulture, etc. All these are distributed over the population and indicated as per capita use” - Chetan Pandit

“The norms do not take in to account the climate. No distinction is made between Delhi that has a huge water requirement for desert coolers in summer and a bath twice a day is not a luxury; Pune that uses some coolers but not as common as Delhi and usually bath once a day is enough; and Copenhagen where the maximum summer temperature in 17 C and most of the time it is below 10 C” -Chetan Pandit

“Water consumption is affected by various factors which are variable and hence it is difficult to precisely assess the demand of public. There are empirical formulas available for estimating a fair value of domestic consumption for design of water supply systems. However, Indian Standard (BIS):1172-1993 is the basis of 135 litres/capita/day. This 135 litres/capita/person includes drinking (5 litres/capita/day), Cooking (5), Bathing (55), Washing of clothes (20), Washing of Utensils (10), Washing & Cleaning of house (10) and flushing of toilets (30 litres/capita/day)” - J.Harsha

Second, basis, thumbrules, lifestyle, requirement and related values for arriving at “standard per capita water consumption” in different urban areas changes in courses of time and cahnge as per seasonal variation which need to be accounted for calculation per standard water consumption” Standards need to be revised after a certain time interval.

“Details of present norms for water consumption are available in CPHEEO Manual on Water Supply and Treatment and Per capita water supply in selected urban centers of India is available at Water Supply, Sanitation and Solid Waste Management in Urban Areas by National Institute of Urban Affairs, 2005”

Third, accuracy of standard per capita water consumption figure is directly proportional to the size of sample (no. of household) surveyed, which may vary from agency to agency which prepares the report. Larger the sample more realistic the results would be. There should be Policy norms for minimum size of sample to be surveyed and heterogeneity of the sample.

Ever - Shrinking Living space in Urban Area

By- Anoop Jha


Pigeonhole like housing clusters

Constant influx of population to urban areas leads to shortage of living space in city, and developers and governments are trying to find the ways to accommodate this ever-growing population into already populated city, they collectively come up with some economic housing solution with ever-shrinking living footprint and decreasing level of lifestyle, which almost resemble pigeonholes (dovecote).

Conservation Projects: From Liability to Asset

By : Anoop Jha

Architectural conservation has traditionally been considered as public or state responsibility and very few private entities are interested in taking up such projects, though state like Orissa is having Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model for conservation projects. A country with rich history and centuries of traditions like India has also rich Architectural assets which are often neglected and difficult to conserve due to its sheer abundance, Though national and international agencies like “Archeological Survey of India (ASI), UNESCO, etc. are taking active measures to conserve the heritage of India, but it seems that it’s time that private entities and investors should come forward to conserve the architectural heritage of Nation. I think it can prove to be quite a lucrative option for private investors if government acts as a facilitator and if some relaxation is given in heritage conservation planning process along with some incentives. It would prove to be a win-win situation for both public and private entities.

This is how it will work. Architectural conservation projects have few elements in common –

●      TECHNIQUES – its technical aspects of conservations projects, there are technical guidelines, policy norms, etc. it’s simply art of engineering.

●      HERITAGE VALUE – every historic architectural asset has a heritage value attached to it, and if methodically and convincingly approached by private agencies, government or public agency will certainly come forward to facilitate the conservation project of any nature, because conserved and maintained heritage is an asset for any state, which they often fail to take care of because of other pressing welfare responsibilities and limited financial resources.

●      EMOTIONAL VALUE – It has high perceived emotional value for, a Nation, a State, a certain group, or certain individuals, this high emotional value can be translated into monetary value with certain effort and proper strategy

●  UTILITARIAN VALUE – This is the most important aspect of any conservation project because this is what makes it as a commercial viable project, to make this model viable government will need to act as a facilitator and will have to draft special policy considering the special and sensitive status of such projects, policy also have to incorporate privet participation and related relaxation in terms of some norms and subsidies etc. to attract the investment from private investors.

Commercial Development Cost: PPP Projects

Cost Comparision of Commercial PPP projects 
(Cost in Rs. Cr.)

Post by: Anoop Jha

PPP based Water & Sewage Infrastructure Costing

By - Anoop Jha


Cost Comparison of Water Supply, WTP & STP PPP projects 
(Cost in Rs. Cr.)

PPP model water projects

Water related projects vary in scale as well as nature, which ranges from National level river water management to state level irrigation projects to city level flood management to neighborhood level water supply and distribution system. considering the widespread and vital nature of water system these projects demands huge capital and recurring investments in Operation and Maintenance (O&M). Governments revenue inflow might not be sufficient to take care of all demands of water related projects, so long term private participation has been encouraged in recent past in India for commercially viable and attractive projects mainly in form of public private partnership (PPP), mostly in urban infrastructure segments  like water supply and distribution as well as health and sanitation. larger project baskets like flood management, irrigation canals, dams, etc are primarily under control of state and central government.  

Cost of Parking Infrastructure

Cost Comparision of Parking, Multilevel Parking (MLP) & Automated Parking PPP projects 
(Cost in Rs. Cr.)

Multi Level Parking

Post by: Anoop Jha     

PPP based Solid Waste Management (SWM) Projects

By - Anoop Jha

By- Anoop Jha


COST COMPARISION  OF SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT (SWM) PPP PROJECTS IN INDIA

(Cost in Rs. Cr.)

PPP for solid waste management 

Here are some cost comparison figures of Solid Waste Management (SWM) Projects in India based on Public Private Partnership (PPP). It appears that now focus of municipal bodies has started shifting towards waste to energy generation which would prove imperative for sustainable cities. Earlier dumping the waste at disposal sites or incineration were the only few possibilities for ever-growing city waste management, but emergence of new technology like plasma gasification and vitrification (PGV) is showing way forward for waste to energy generation possibilities in environmentally sustainable ways compared to other historically prevalent waste management options.

Source: www.pppindiadatabase.com

Urban Infrastructure Investment Requirement in India : 2012-31

Urban Infrastructure Investment Requirement: 2012-31 (Rs crore).

Total Expenditure        3918670

 Urban Roads              1728941 

 Urban Transport         449426 

 Renewal and Redevelopment including Slums 408955 

 Water Supply             320908 

 Sewerage                   242688 

 Storm Water Drains   191031

 Capacity Building       101759

 Traffic Support Infrastructure    97985

 Solid Waste Management         48582

 Street Lighting            18580

 Other Sectors             309815

"Almost 44 percent of urban infrastructure investment over the 20-year period  is accounted for urban roads. The backlog for this sector is very large, ranging from 50 per cent to 80 per cent across the cities of India.  Sectors delivering urban services such as water supply, sewerage, solid waste management, and storm water drains account for  about 20 per cent"

Source:  Report on Indian  Urban Infrastructure and Services 2009-2010

State wise types of Special Economic Zone (SEZ)

State-wise prevalent Public Private Partnership (PPP) format

[Handpicked Books]

Infrastructure priority Matrix of India

By - Anoop Kumar Jha

State-wise infrastructure priorities in India-

An unexplored solution for sustainable Urban Planning- Study of traditional rural settlement patterns

By- Anoop Jha

Traditionally rural settlements have a very distinct informal character which is always fresh and delightful which is somehow missing in our contemporary cities no matter how well it is plan. That human aspect and scale that we find in rural settlements is increasingly being lost in the rigidity and functionality of new urban planning.

[Handpicked Books]

Villages and rural communities are there since time immemorial. They have evolved and learned there planning lessons from their own experience. Every Village appears to be uniquely adapted to region, its local micro ecology and culture, it has evolves in a course of time accommodating changing requirements and absorbing the growth.

Study of rural morphology can be a source of inspiration for the Urban Planners. It can throw a light on sustainability principals which can be further replicated in urban setting with required modifications. There is a serious need to understand the logic behind the specific spatial form and variety of existing rural settlements and what makes it more human, and whether we can learn something from these and use it in next generation of urban Planning.

Some of the satellite images taken from different parts of India showing rural morphology-