Plugin Housing Challenge

Fig: 1 - Population Explosion in urban city

LIVING CONDITIONS IN URBAN CITIES

Humankind has lived and worked primarily in rural areas. But now, more than half of the globe's population will be living in towns and cities. The number of urban dwellers is rising, reaching almost 32% of the total world population, and 68% by 2050. It is estimated that 900 million urban dwellers and over one billion rural people now live in overcrowded and poor-quality housing without adequate provision for water, sanitation, drainage or the collection of household waste. Even renting affordable houses in the world's largest cities is impossible and people have to resort to long commute hours to reach their workplaces. 

A remedy for such conditions is required on a large scale that tackles the issue of housing for low-income groups residing in urban areas. In the coming decades, the cost of constructible land will increase, making the situation worse. 

But how did we get to tackle the issue of housing for low-income groups residing in urban areas?

Fig: 2 - Concept of Plugin housing

CONCEPT OF MICRO HOUSING

Working individuals and young migrants who move into big cities are constantly in search of affordable living options in the vicinity of their workplace or institution. They often stay for a temporary basis and hence rent a house. 

A possible long-term solution would be to design compact housing units that are affordable for construction as well as usage. 

Compact Housing can also be referred to as micro or capsule housing. This concept has been derived from the necessity of providing shelter along with basic functioning. It is a small, self-contained, single or double occupancy unit, typically in urban crowded areas. The interiors of such apartments and units are also complacent with the concept itself and kept flexible enough to have adaptive furniture that reduces the need for more space.  

Fig: 3 - Different housing units interior image

BRIEF - FUTURE OF HOUSING

A well-designed affordable house reflects the need of the user. The spaces are defined by functions that vary depending on the need. Some basic necessities like food, sanitation, and resting area are inevitable requirements of a house. 

Micro Housing aims to compose these basic necessities by optimizing space usage and creating common interactive spaces for the communication and recreation of the residents. These common areas can include recreation as well as break-out spaces for the users. 

Challenge: The challenge is to design micro/compact housing units of single and double occupancy that can be plugged in together depending on the demand of the urban locality. 

These units must be modular in nature ready to be plugged in together to form blocks of not more than 100 units each. The participants are expected to conceptualize complete functional blocks which would include interactive areas/common service areas and corridors for circulation. The units can be technology-driven and added or subtracted from one block to another depending on the demand of the locality. 

MODULES & USERS

Single Occupancy Carpet Area: 25-30 sqm

Double Occupancy Carpet Area: 65-70 sqm                                

The design of houses/units would be based on two kinds of modules namely Single or Double occupancy for the User Groups mentioned below. The blocks created from these units can be a combination of different units with common areas for interaction and services. 

Youngsters AGE: 18-25 Years Users group from this age category may be full-time or part-time workers or students depending on their occupation and education.  

Working Professionals AGE: 25-40 Years User groups from this age category would have different kinds of occupations (creative freelancers, healthcare, software developers etc). However, the house units are expected to be universal and not specific.  

OBJECTIVES

You have to create a housing complex/tower of about 80-100 units on the site details as given on the following pages. 

• Lighting and Ventilation: All living spaces must have optimum natural lighting and ventilation.
• Modular: Housing units should be modular and fabrication friendly with minimal variations.
• Optimization: Furniture of the house units must be optimized according to space use.
• Customizable: The house should be customizable according to users' perspectives.

The objectives can be a point of beginning for the participants to initiate brainstorming their design ideas. 

SITE

Participants can choose a site for this housing concept anywhere around the world (Suggestively in an urban area). The chosen site need not necessarily be empty/undeveloped. If the site has built forms/buildings/construction on it, you can consider it as an empty lot and build your design on it for this design exercise. 

Site Area: 4000sqm.
Ground Coverage: 50% 
Maximum FAR: 1