Architecture Unplugged winners
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In the near future, when 150,000 slum dwellers in the national capital move into an environment-friendly, compact dream village in the Gautampuri area of Delhi which will serve as a resettlement colony for them, they are likely to be more grateful towards the brilliant students of Chennai’s Dr. M.G.R. Engineering College (a deemed university) who have designed their future homes. These final year students of the college — Babjee S, Radha D, M.V.T Sathish and S. Prasanna — recently won the ‘Architecture Unplugged’ contest sponsored by Delhi-based Century (India) Ltd, open to students of any of the country’s 200 colleges of architecture. Amazingly, the second prize was also won by three students — Nazia Begum L, Subhash Chandra Bose and Arun S — from the same college. Contestants from over 130 colleges across the country sent in entries for Architecture Unplugged.
The project for the contest was to construct ‘Molarbandh’, a resettlement colony for Delhi’s urban poor which would provide an efficient and sustainable urban development model for people below the poverty line. The guidelines were exacting and required the contestants to design homes of 12.5 sq. m and 18 sq. m on very tight budgets. Moreover inflexible rules mandated plans for proper drainage, garbage management, water recycling and utilisation of low-cost environment-friendly construction material. "Since most were vendors and construction workers we had to budget adequate space for carts and bicycles," says Radha.
But meticulous planning led the team to design 10-15 row houses with open spaces of 8 sq. m in the front and rear provided for every group of four houses. The main road network of the village was not altered but primary and secondary lanes that led from it were planned for hand-carts and bicycles. The master plan also included a clock tower in the centre of Molarbandh’s marketplace. Interestingly both winner groups provided for hand pumps and percolation pits for rainwater harvesting. There’s also provision for vertical expansion and each home is individualised by coloured doors and windows.
"We did considerable research to find alternatives to traditional construction materials. The tonnes of fly ash which the nearby Badarpur Thermal Plant produces were converted into bricks by the very construction workers who will be living in the colony," says team leader Babjee.
The award came as a pleasant surprise to the team. "From the very beginning we decided to build homes rather than ‘housing units’. The area’s climate and monsoon behaviour determined the use of cost-effective materials," says Sathish Kumar.
In a society in which people-friendly town and village planning is conspicuous by its almost total absence, the conceptualisation of the contest and the enthusiastic student response to it augur well for the future.
Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)
Riyaz Ahmed
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| Riyaz Ahmed |
Nine-year old Riyaz Ahmed is like any other boy of his age in Lucknow’s crowded Kasai Bada area where he lives. Except that this Republic Day Riyaz was one of a select group of 26 children from across the country who were honoured for exemplary courage. The heroic act which persuaded the jury of the Sanjay Chopra award was won at a heavy price: Riyaz lost his right arm, left hand and right leg on January 16, 2003 in a bid to save a seven-year-old girl from an oncoming train at a railway crossing. And though little Shazia could not be saved, Riyaz sagely says that it’s the pain of a wasted sacrifice that’s greater than of his lost limbs. "In similar circumstances I would do it again," he declares. The only small regret he harbours is that he can no longer fly kites, his great passion.
Notwithstanding the disability he has suffered, young Riyaz is unfazed. He has set his sights on qualifying as a police officer or a medical practitioner. But for now his demands are rather modest. "I want a regular supply of school uniforms and a shop from the government. My brother can run the shop until I become old enough to manage it," he says. With help from neighbours Riyaz is taking tuitions at home and preparing for his class II exams. He regrets that the local municipal school at which he studied until recently has closed down.
The fourth of eight children of a rickshaw puller father most of whose modest earnings are spent on liquor, Riyaz returned from the Republic Day awards ceremony with a bag full of encouraging promises. Sonia Gandhi offered to send him for rehabilitation to the UK; Delhi chief minister Shiela Dixit promised to bear the expenses of travel. But for now Riyaz’s concerns are more immediate. "The state government promised us Rs.1 lakh and medical care but none of it has been received yet. I don’t want to be a burden on my parents. When I came back from Delhi after receiving the award there were so many people to receive me, now hardly anyone comes by," he says despondently.
But somewhere in his heart hope still burns bright. "I met President Abdul Kalam who said we can do anything if we set our mind to it. Nothing is impossible. Not having use of my limbs isn’t a deterrent to pursuing my dreams. I am determined to prove that," says Riyaz with optimism.
One hopes this brave heart’s modest dreams don’t die hard.
Puja Rawat (Lucknow)