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ARANYA LOW-COST
HOUSING
INDORE
- AR. B. V. DOSHI

CASE STUDY FACTS
•Location - 6km from the centre of
Indore city, M.P.
• Client- Indore Development Authority
•Principal Architect - Balkrishna Doshi
•Project Associate - Mr. Himanshu Parikh
• Structural Engineer - M/s Stein Doshi &
Bhalla, New Delhi
•Project Engineers -Environmental
Engineering Consultants, Bombay
•Total Built-up Area -100,000 m 2
•Project Cost - Rs. 100 Million
•Year of completion - 1989
•Award - Aga Khan award for
Architecture in 1996anard for

PRE-DESIGN STAGE ANALYSIS
Objectives:
• To improve and upgrade the existing slum area
• To provide serviced sites for new housing developments instead of
building complete houses.
• To provide for 6,500 residential plots ranging in size from 35m 2 for
EWS to 475m 2 for high income groups
Financial Aspects:
• The idea was to mix some middle income plots with EWS plots to
use the profits to raise capital towards development of local trades.
• Funding – 100% public sources.
Sales
Local sources
National
Sources
International
Sources

OBJECTIVES
The general objectives of Aranya were to:
• Create a township with a sense of continuity and fundamental
values of security in a good living environment.
• Achieve a community character by establishing harmony between
the built environment and the people.
• Create a balanced community of various socio-economic groups to
evolve a framework through design.

EVOLUTION OF MASTER PLAN
Plan proposed by IDA
N
N
Initial stage of proposed plan
with distributed open spaces and
street hierarchy
N
Later stage of development to with
rectified orientation to minimize heat
gain and increase shading
Proposed master plan
N

DISTRIBUTION OF AMENITIES
• Community facilities grouped in
local sub centers.
•Formal organization
• Community amenities distributed
evenly
•Informality created
•Accessibility improved
• Lower level community facilities
organized in green spaces
•Even distribution
•Maintains link with town centre
•Pedestrian access easier.

ACCESS TO AMMENITIES ( in minutes)
N

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD CONCEPT
Concept
• Slum development project
• Inspiration from existing slum
settlements in Indore
Characteristics
• Mixed and multiple land use
• Formation of small
neighborhoods and houses
extending to the outdoors.
• Small shops operating within
congested areas.
• Trees planted in public places
• Streets accommodating social,
economic and domestic activities.

SITE ANALYSIS
• Urban Indore city 214 sq. km.
• Major development along Delhi –
Mumbai highway running through the
city in the north south direction
• Surroundings: - Delhi-Mumbai
highway on the east
- Developing industrial areas on the
north, south and west.
- Internal city roads to the north,
south and west.
• Approach through the Delhi –
Mumbai highway
• Site selection criteria:
- Linkages to the city
- Employment generating industrial
areas in the surroundings.

Existing features:
• 1.85 hectares allotted for
existing light industries.
Geographical features:
• Flat site
• A natural water channel
running diagonally across the
SW corner.
• Top strata of the black cotton
soil 2-2.5 m thick.
• Gradually sloping (Gradient :
1:110 approx.) towards the
north-west corner.

Township level:
•The aim was to create a central spine. The master plan was informal with
interlinked space of cultural context, maintenance of hierarchy of road,
open spaces, a central location of basic community services.
•The central spine was a focus of the converging six sectors
Six Sector level:
•This enabled segregation of pedestrian and vehicular movement, good
distribution of built and unbuilt spaces by promoting interactive land use.

N

ZONING I
Residential commercial N

ZONING II
DISTRIBUTION OF PLOTS ACCORDING TO INCOME
GROUPS
Lower income and economically weaker sections of the society
EWS 65% uniformly distributed
LIG 11% uniformly distributed
MIG 14% close to artery
HIG 9% arterial road

HIERARCHY OF ROADS
60 m
30 m
12 m
15 m
9.5 m
4.5 m
1.5 m
N

ROADS
• Segregation of vehicular and
pedestrian traffic
• Offsets break visual monotony
• Hierarchy is based on the
volume of the traffic and
activities
•The roads suit human scale
•Use of cul-de-sacs to avoid
traffic

CIRCULATION AND LINKAGES
For clear segregation of vehicular
and pedestrian traffic:
•Vehicular access in the form
rectilinear and formal roads in the
hierarchy of 4.5m wide to 15m
wide road draw the vehicles
outwardly.
•Pedestrian access in the form of
informal interlinked open spaces
draws people inwardly.
Vehicular roads
Informal pedestrian pathways and open
spaces

HIERARCHY OF OPEN SPACES
• Interlinked informal spaces
• Continuous system of open spaces is
provided
• Staggered roads create spaces for
community congregation
• A single large open space is avoided
Access to open spaces in minutes

LAND USE DISTRIBUTION
Roads
26%
Open Spaces
9%
Community
&Commercial
facilities
7%
Residential
Space
58%

CLIMATE RESPONSIVE FEATURES
• Most of the plots small in size and clustered in low rise blocks
• Longer side façade oriented in the north-south axis to reduce the solar
radiation on the building.
• Each house has minimum exposure to wall surface and a common wall.
The north south orientation of
clusters
The building height to street width
ratio is such that streets are
shaded except when the sun is
overhead

CLIMATE RESPONSIVE FEATURES
• The two openings on the north and south permit light and cross
ventilation.
• Courtyards within the houses, cul-de-sacs, public squares and small
activity areas shaded adequately by adjacent buildings.
• Use of locally available building materials.
• Topography used for orientation of major infrastructure network and
spatial organization.

Plan showing varied houses with backyards (private open spaces)

SITE AND SERVICE SCHEME OF DESIGN
•In this scheme services like
water tap, toilets and street lights
and a plinth are provided around
which houses can have different
configurations.
•Longer side of a block of row
house was oriented north south
to reduce solar radiation
•Provision of vertical expansions
•Housing was seen more as a
process than a product

SERVICES
SITE AND SERVICE APPROACH
• Cost-effective
• Progressive development of facilities.
• Houses built by the people themselves to
suit their needs.
• Each family provided with a plot having a
water tank, sewerage connection, paved
access with street lighting, storm water
drainage
• Service cores - key to this site and
service scheme.
- nuclei around which
houses were built.
• Houses were clustered in groups of 10.
• Septic tank provided for every 2 clusters.
• Water drawn from 3 local reservoirs.
•To economize, 20 toilets are connected to
1 manhole.
• One service line serves four rows of
houses

SEWERAGE SYSTEM
• Major alternatives:
- Sewer-less sanitation.
-Conventional sewerage system.
• The soil being impermeable
black soil of 2m depth,
conventional sewerage system
was adopted.
• Designed after thorough
analysis of topography –
naturally slopes towards NW
• Higher income groups, using
more water were located at high
ground level to generate large
flow..
• Lower income groups, using
less water located at lower
ground level
• This resulted in 10-15%
savings.

TREATMENT SYSTEM
• For conveyance system, a wet well and lift station was constructed near
the final manhole.
• Oxidation pond
- located on the NW corner of the site.
- removes biological oxygen
- simple in operation
- effluent suitable for disposal
STORM WATER DRAINAGE SYSTEM
• Very efficient and facilitates healthy and clean living.
• Combination of underground and surface drainage system.
• Underground used for wider roads
• Surface drainage used for internal roads
ELECTRICITY
• High income and middle-income groups were provided with overhead
cables.
• Economically Weaker Sections were provided with underground cables

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
•Foundation: Under rimmed piles in concrete, cast in situ locally was used
as the soil was black cotton soil.
•Structural members: Reinforced concrete plinth beams, load bearing
brick walls, reinforced concrete slabs.

• Exterior finishes: Bright colour in the façade, railing, grills and cornices
seen in the old houses of Indore used in some houses in the township.
• Residents were free to use any material like brick or stone that were
locally available

LANDSCAPE
• Landscape and green areas include flowering and shade giving trees
with thick ground cover, including lantana, an ever-green tree , that
requires little maintenance.
• Trees include casuarinas, bottle brush and eucalyptus

• Consistency in every aspect
• Staggered roads, prevent
thorough traffic, reduce
speed of vehicles
• Climate responsive and site
responsive design
CONCLUSION
• It understands the traditional Indian habits
• Planning and design is in accordance with
the prevailing socio-economic and
technological conditions
• Cost –effective construction materials and
techniques have been adopted
• Planning is “whole to part” – i.e. From
township level to dwelling unit level.
• Accessibility has been an essential factor for
designing.

PRESENTED BY:
ANUSHREE CHITNIS
GAURI NADKARNI
TEJASHREE NATU
SHILPA JOHN
NEHA DESHPANDE
AMRUTA MUGLIKAR
ANKITA KOLAMKAR