TRACE OF THE PAST,
A BASE FOR THE FUTURE

If we look at the historic built form, we can't ignore the impact of the Mills and the entire textile industry that flourished in Ahmedabad between the second half of the 19th Century and the 1950s. This portion of the territory includes a variety of scenarios, including:

Decadent corps of old factories and chimneys, today converted to neglected go-downs and chaotic warehouses. Community settlements of old Mill workers and their families, who face economic struggles and live in narrow raw houses whose morphology makes it difficult for these residents to cope with modern living standards. The subsequent layers of new industries, wholesale, and commercial infrastructure that have emerged in the last decades, a series of massive multiplexes inserted in orthogonal grids that are erasing the existing trace of the past splendorous times. All the new development plans and speculation generated by the future implementation of the Bullet train that will connect the city with Mumbai in 2 hours. This fact can be a game-changer that will transform the area in the next years, shifting the attention of developers towards the east side of the city.

METHODOLOGY / STARTING POINT / QUERIES

The studio will serve as an experimental laboratory, a platform for knowledge accreditation, and an international training program focused on the development and construction of projects within marginalized communities.

The course is based on the principle that our cities are increasingly diverse urban environments. Emerging cities, with their complex structures, will lead to an intersection between the known development model and the exploration of neglected areas within a new and unconventional context, where novel architectural spaces will emerge.

RESPONSE /

The program is designed to cultivate a technical-academic profile equipped with tools that enable students to address current challenges, aiming to align their future development with areas where the city faces pressing social issues.

Students will develop projects with a human-centered approach, emphasizing local design in land planning, the utilization of endogenous technologies, the enhancement of capacities through participatory processes, and resource optimization from a sustainable growth perspective.

BLOCK 1 >
URBAN REGENERATION, RESILIENCE, AND HABITAT TRANSFORMATION IN DEVELOPING URBAN TISSUES.
Cities can encompass a diverse array of constitutive fabrics, some of which are more fragile or vulnerable than others, often associated with sectors affected by inequality in policies and economic models that fail to align with these realities. Nonetheless, cities resist, progress, evolve, and rebuild themselves under alternative paradigms.

BLOCK 2 >
ECOLOGY, RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, NATURE, AND ENERGY OPTIMIZATION IN THE TROPICS.
The current understanding of ecology must be viewed as a process rather than an end. A profound comprehension of the dynamic phenomena shaping the inhabited environment is essential. Elements such as shade and light control, and ventilation, are fundamental for the built form in tropical regions.

BLOCK 3>
TECHNOLOGICAL IMPLEMENTATION AND EFFICIENT ENDOGENOUS SYSTEMS.
Understanding local techniques as part of vernacular culture and materials shaping the built environment is crucial. A constructive culture serves as a platform for proposing solutions to the challenges encountered in these ecosystems. Embracing new aesthetics and valuing domestic solutions tailored to the specific context is imperative.

BLOCK 4 >
LOCAL SKILLS, CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT, AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY IN POPULAR SETTLEMENTS.
Interacting with communities and establishing support mechanisms are essential. Strategies promoting capacity building or enhancing visibility for community empowerment are key. Constructing solutions grounded in the habitable environment through dialogue and training fosters interactions in urban spaces.

BLOCK 5 >
EXPERIMENTS IN THE GLOBAL PERIPHERY.
Developing intelligence for prototyping sustainable structures in Developing Countries is crucial. Engaging in exercises that involve approaching places, exchanging ideas with communities, and collaborating in alignment with their aspirations is essential. Understanding the implications of peripheral territories in the social landscape and the urban domain is paramount.

ADAPTIVE REUSE >
THE MEMORY OF THE CITY
Currently, most of these old structures are owned by private textile landlords who rent out the spaces for warehouses and storage, thereby eroding the identity and prosperity that these buildings once represented.
More than 20 sites remain as traces of the old mills and their supportive infrastructures that once constituted the textile industry of Ahmedabad near Kalupur Station.
These mammoth structures, built with brick, mortar, and metal, have been negligently treated since their decline in the 1950s. Many have been dismantled and sold, while only a few remain intact.

Group 1 will focus on the architectural, social, and historical aspects of these existing structures to revitalize their decaying state, while simultaneously preserving the memory and collective identity of the former textile industries. The new activities and facilities must align with the contemporary needs of society, serving as a crucial tool in reviving the old fabric and integrating it with the development of the modern city.

LIFE BETWEEN BUILDINGS >
THE EYES OF A PEDESTRIAN
The Kalupur zone might represent a case study itself that includes many of the elements present in the chaotic and complex Indian urban domain, such as high density, congestion, overload of traffic, pollution, management of residues, poverty, etc.
Just around the Old Mills factories, there are many communities and traditional organic settlements that were built by the workers and laborers of the textile industry. This narrow street morphology is obsolete in a city dominated by vehicles. Many sectors of the population are at risk of social exclusion due to a lack of education and skill-building. Problems of local illegal activities and precarious living conditions are driving the residents to aim to shift to other areas of the city.

Group 2 will focus on the urban realm, at the street level, with all the social elements that make it alive and operational.
After analyzing all social aspects and the available land distribution, proposals will aim to improve the area to become more livable, citizen-friendly, pedestrianized, and sustainable, which are the major objectives that a progressive and prosperous city must include.

A VERTICAL DENSIFICATION >
SPACES IN THE SKY
There is an interesting residual space generated by the new commercial infrastructures that have appeared in the last decades, and it can be replicated all across the city.
This subspace is located in the upper levels and rooftops of the existing fabric, vast, available, and unfortunately underused.
From the aerial view, one can perceive these unfolded spaces in the commercial complexes, on residential blocks, and in private houses as well.

Group 3 will explore the possibilities of vertical growth and the extension of the city toward the sky.
The premises include the new requirements of infrastructure to accommodate the growing population, incremental density, compensations on land use and bio laws, improvement on living conditions, recreational spaces, etc.