Asian Games Housing, Delhi

Project Data Quite often housing designed for a specific event

becomes a showpiece if contemporary archi-
Asian Games Olympic tecture, perhaps the most famous being Habitat
Village, Delhi, India. in Montreal built for Expo-67. Raj Rewal's
The housing complex consists
housing for the Asian Games held in Delhi in
of 700 dwelling units and a
mix of recreational and November 1982 has been designed in the tradi-
commercial facilities. tion if such works, but attempts to create a
Client: Delhi Development village to instil a sense of community and
Authority. participation in the best spirit if an Olympiad.
Architects: Raj Rewal Located near the medieval ruins if Sid fort
Associates. in South Delhi, 35 acres were allotted by the
Design team headed by Raj Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for
Rewal, with A. Dhar, A. some 700 housing units. The project took just
Jain, V.K.Jain, A. Mathur

H
and S. Verma.
under two years to build.
Structural Engineel': N.F.
Patel. olding any Olympiad narrow galis give access to the houses.
Landscape Architect: means the initiation of Another defining element in old walled
Mohamed Shaheer many new building pro- cities, as in Delhi itself, is the gateway or
Completion: Octo bel', 1982. jects for the host nation darwaza. The separation of space, of mohal-
. - new stadia, hotels, las, is equally as important as its integration
visitors facilities and a in letting communities define themselves.
whole "village" to house These darwazas were rather grand and
contestants from the participating countries. sometimes guarded to keep intruders out of
This, requires the mobilisation of resources a particular neighbourhood; especially at
in terms of finances, manpower and profes- night. With a rather neat twist and use of a
sional expertise. The expenditure is signifi- traditional element, the design makes these
cant and the buildings constructed for this darwazas define the spaces, but they do not
massive influx of people are often under actually have closable doors. In fact this
utilised after the event. device separates the mohallas at ground level
With this in mind, the architects de- but creates a walkway which connects two
signed the olympic village housing to be sides of a gali above the gateway. This may
used by the local population after the event, be visual game-playing, but it is architectu-
and have given the buildings an Indian ral game-playing at its best.
character. Too often in contemporary architecture
The village has been designed as a sequ- the symbolic aspects of design are forgot-
ence of spaces to create mohallas or neigh- ten. Here they manifest themselves in many
bourhoods. It parallels efforts by other de- different ways; be it the multi-purpose
signers in India to create "urban villages" in spaces or the visual elements that give the
a city. In traditional Indian cities each mohal- scheme a continuity with the past. The
la would be made up of a single social sense of enclosure and continuity of move-
group, and would vary depending on the ment is maintained throughout the scheme,
size and resources of that particular group. respecting the identity of spaces. The scale
Sometimes a minority group, such as the of the buildings and their density (of 28
Muslims, would settle together. In Rewal's units per acre) and the mix of public and
scheme he had no way of knowing how commercial spaces, gives the whole village
large a mohalla would actually be and has an intimacy and a humane scale.
designed the clusters to be of various sizes to There has been a careful selection of
have between 12 to 36 houses. Of the total materials and colours for the housing. The
700 units, 500 are £lats. building external walls are finished with a
The flats vary in size, from 90 square stone aggregate applied in situ while the
metres to a maximum of200 square metres. courtyard walls are of Delhi quartzite stone.
Each unit has its own private open-to-sky Pedestrian pathways are paved with white
space, in the form of a courtyard or a or red sandstone. The doors and windows
terrace, in addition to sharing a larger less to the houses are of metal and are painted in
private communal garden area. The house bright colours which also give a sense of
clusters, with their connecting walkways identity to the different units.
and terraces overlooking the intemal pedes- In the design, easy maintenance has
trian streets or gal is, help give the people of been introduced as with the exposed service
the mohalla a sense of participation in com- ducts. Climate too has played a prominent
munal activities. role in ordering design, for example the
Unlike westem neighbourhoods, the terrace parapets are perforated as jalis to
sense of actively "keeping an eye" on one's allow for air circulation without affecting
neighbours and being able to share experi- the privacy of the inhabitants.
Text by ences and conversation with each other is
Hasan Uddin-Khan. integral to the creation of community. Re- Right: A bi/·ds eye view of the Housing Complex,
Photographs by Madan wal's scheme takes this into account by the designed to create a community with its connecting
Mahatta. Illustrations honeycombing of spaces and by letting the walkways and honeycombing of spaces.
courtesy of the architects. pedestrian circulation through the wide and

52
53
 Above: The Asian Carnes housing consists of 500 flats
and 200 town houses, in two to four storey buildings,
having a density of 28 units per acre. The housing
surrounds the present dining complex which will later
be converted into a commercial and residential block.
The buildings are clustered to form mohallas or
neighbourhoods, each with between sixteen and thirty-
six dwellings. A central pedestrian spine, modelled on
traditional galis, interconnects the clusters. Pedestrian and
vehicular access to housing is kept segregated but linked
for convenience. Car parking in cui de sacs is off the
peripheral roads.
Right: The isometric drawing ofa typical cluster shows
how the houses are designed as interlocking units,
usually in a block of four to six flats.
Each cluster has its own integrity, being diftned by
large darwazas or doorways, which have been a
feature of old city quarters in northern India. In the
long term, it is hoped that each cluster will develop its
own identity.
The houses and roof terraces often overlook the
streets (galis) and the communal courtyards, creating a
sense of participation among residents, in what the
architect calls "the theatre of the street."

54
 1-T~njtl block ojjou,
apartments

group of eig/lt apartments

~
group oftLVeive apartments
linked 011 ends litlked 0/1 ends

cluster of sixteefl cluster of twenty fou r ,

apartm ents linked Otl apartment IiI/ked all ends ,L ___________ ,
ends alld fro nt alld partly Ol/froll t .J

Type 'E' Housing Type El Ground floor plan Mezzanine floor plan
Top: View of one of the interior .coultyards of a type
'E' unit block. The building overhangs provide shade
for the pedestrian pathway. To the rear is one of the
darwazas, which defines the boundary of this small
mohalla.
Above: A typical housing unit block is so designed that 1____.
.. __ .__ . __ ..
it can be linked on sides and front to create clusters
having a variety of enclosed spaces.
Right: The Type '£' unit rises four stOl'eys and ,-
r::, .-_-_·.
consists of two duplexflats each having three bedrooms.
LJb==!!===\I---Ef~~="7

Type E2 First floor plan Second mezzanine floor plan Terrace plan

55
Type 'A, B and C' Housing
Above: Roof terraces are enclosed by parapets which Right: Metal 'louvered shutters for windows and gates
have openings to allow for the passage of air. The are painted in d!fferent colours to identify individual
service ducts are exposed at pipe joints for easy mainte- units.
nance and replacement. Right, below: A typical gab or pedestrian street with
Below: Pedestrian pathways, narrow and shaded, are entrances to the flats through private courtyards.
an important feature of the design.

56
 ~ l :~ ~~" ~ '"~

"i.::';.: \ :'~'" .~.':.'1. /\

57
 he Asian Games are over

T
and the village has been
returned into the hands of
the Delhi Development
Authority (DDA) as part
of its housing stock, The
architects have completed
their task of creating an environment which
attempts to foster community by the in~
tegration of spaces and the use of symbols
familiar in old Indian cities.
A number of questions, which are im-
portant to the future of DDA public hous-
ing developments, have been raised by this
scheme, Are the costs too high and the
densities too low for such housing to be
replicated on a mass scale? The space stan-
Type Gl Gmund floor plan Type G2 Fil'St floDl' plan dards of the smaller units may be appropri-
ate, in financial terms, for lower-income
housing, but will the size mix be able to
accommodate social mix? Is such a mix
desirable? Will this design actually help
"create community"? Can the DDA be
sensitive in the allotment of houses, to be
able to sell or rent them to people with
compatable backgrounds, so that there is an
opportunity of their banding together? Or
is that too difficult to do from the Indian
bureaucratic framework? (It is interesting to
note how the Singapore authorities are able
to sell houses on the sanle floor of a
high-rise block to members of extended
families, in order to preserve a sense of
continuity and cohesion,) Once the houses
are occupied, will the public spaces be
maintained: by whom? Will the city be able
to provide services, such as garbage collec-
Type G3 Second floor plarl Thil'd floor plan tion, effectively?
Some of these questions will be
answered in the near future when the alloca-
Type 'G' Housing
Top" Successive couI1yard in a type 'G' block accwtuate Abwe: Type 'G' Housing is four stOl'eys with a three
tion of housing begins, But we will have to
the linear axial planning of the mohallas, bedmo111 flat on the grourld floOl', a two bedmom flat all wait for a few years before the reality of the
Top, right.' Details o[agatewa),. the first floDl' and a three bedl'Oom duplex unit on the top situation becomes apparent. What is certain
two storeys. Each unit has its private open space as a is that the way in which houses are sold or
coU11yard or torace, leased and the way in which maintenance
procedures are institutionalised will either
make, or break, this commendable attempt
at creating community housing.

58
 Left: The careful selection if
materials and colours for the
complex is rciflected in the use of
Delhi quartzite stone for the
courtyard walls, white or red
sandstone for pathways and
stone aggregate fir/ish for the
external walls.
Left, below: An 'interior' view
if a mohalla shows the private
courtyards at ground level, the
roof terraces and connecting
walkways .

.&~~
! ! I I 1 ~ 11 I ! J II

rm
lmiII:

."

59