Strategic Urban Design Framework Proposal for a 109 year old university
Forest158, Noida
News Media Production Facility and Corporate park
Completed - Vastushilpa Sangath LLP,
Academic Block - FLAME University
Academic Block, FLAME University
Completed - Vastushilpa Sangath LLP
ReWilding Koba 2024
Systems Approach to Climate Responsive Master Planning semester 03 | studio final project
In an era where urbanization often distances us from nature, the ReWilding Koba Master Plan attempts to re-imagine “a city within a park, rather than a park within a city” which offers an alternative idea for the future of urban living. The premise is to question and re-imagine every aspect/element of our cities and urban life positioning nature as the core framework that drives an economically thriving, resilient urban fabric and quality of life. The plan seeks to redefine the relationship between urban spaces and ecological systems. Situated along the Sabarmati River, Koba’s diverse landscape of residential neighborhoods, commercial hubs, and transit-oriented developments becomes the foundation for a sustainable, climate-resilient, and community-focused urban fabric.
At the heart of the Rewilding Koba master plan lies its intricate composition of urban blocks and clusters, the building blocks that give shape and form to the larger vision of “a city within a park.” This chapter delves into the micro-level design principles and spatial configurations that bring the layered systems approach to life. Urban blocks are not just modular units of land use; they are dynamic spaces where mobility, community, landscape, and resilience frameworks converge to create vibrant, multi functional environments. Each block is carefully designed to maximize accessibility, enhance social interaction, and balance built and open spaces, while maintaining a seamless connection to the larger ecological and infrastructural networks of the master plan.
The metrics of the master plan embody a balance between ecological integration, urban efficiency, and community well-being, offering a quantitative foundation for its almost utopian vision. For the ReWilding Koba Master Plan, they illustrate the deliberate integration of natural and human systems. These metrics not only quantify the master plan’s ambitions but also create a road map for its
Figure Ground
Framework
Why Systems Thinking?
As we move into the 21st century, the challenges of rapid urbanization, climate change, and resource depletion faced by our cities today demand innovative planning methods. Traditional compartmentalized approaches to urban development often fail to address the complexity and interdependence of modern urban systems.
To bridge this gap, we look at a systems based approach which recognizes our cities as interconnected networks of infrastructure, environment, and community.
The vehicular mobility framework attempts to ensure that the city is connected efficiently while minimizing the footprint of motorized traffic. With a hierarchy of arterial (ROW 35m), collector (ROW 24m), and local roads, the master plan allows seamless vehicular flow across districts while prioritizing access and convenience.
Typical Street Sections
While the larger urban commons mitigate larger ecological concerns and act as the urban lungs, sequestering carbon and moderating the micro-climate, complementing these are smaller-scale commons, including parkways, green streets, larger urban park and a network of minor neighborhood parks.
Parkways, designed as landscaped thoroughfares, double as flood buffers during monsoons. The neighborhood parks function as localized green spaces that are multipurpose and adaptable, serving the immediate neighborhood. Together, these commons ensure that every urban district is seamlessly integrated into a continuous green network.
Resiliency Systems Framework
While the districts form the basic blocks of the master plan the anchors play a pivotal role in shaping the identity, functionality, and vitality of urban districts. They serve as nodes of activity, drawing people together for various purposes and fostering a sense of place within the broader urban fabric.
Strategically distributed, these anchors are imagined to ensure that essential services, cultural amenities, and social infrastructure are accessible to all, creating a collective of almost self-sustained neighborhoods while also helping the master plan to be realized as a collective whole.
These mobility and landscape systems framework combine to integrate the storm water management into the landscape and road systems. Seasonal reservoirs and constructed wetlands intercept runoff, reducing urban flooding.
Roads function as more than conduits for vehicles; bios wales and permeable medians transform them into recharge spines, enhancing groundwater percolation. Linear parks along canals and riparian trails act as catchment buffers, mitigating peak runoff during storms. This framework emphasizes adaptive design, allowing urban spaces to perform ecological functions while retaining their usability across seasons.
Park Systems Framework
Urban Forest at the heart of the Masterplan
The Koba Urban Forest Park is the central element of the park system. The park edges responds to the built fabric and varied land uses in its vicinity with its diverse programming.
From the residential blocks, a mid-rise apartment complex serves as an example of medium-density housing designed to balance livability, accessibility, and integration with green spaces. Its layout demonstrates how shared courtyards, tree-lined pathways, and open spaces are used to foster community interaction while ensuring privacy and natural ventilation.
The maximum height of the buildings is limited to G+2 to G+6 to maintain a sense of humanity and to blend in with the tree canopies so as to create a park-like setting in the area. The intra-residential streets are designed for the provision of walking and cycling only accompanied by developed back thus developed back roads separated by vehicular barriers.
With easements, shared corridors and pocket parks, the residential clusters strive to mimic a new age urban village with an rural ethos.
Built form Ideation
The simple form of the installations derived from the pure shapes posses a range of possibilities, both in their expressions and programming potentials.
The re.create urban installations are a network of installations aimed at scaling down the Sabarmati River Resiliency Park. Each of the installations, arranged at strategic location shall be programmed to serve specific purposes. A series of pathways, trails shall tie all the installations together.
installations are
The re.create
arranged over the Sabarmati River Resiliency Park in a grid measuring 90m.x 90m., with the primary intention of humanizing the expanse of the park.
Designed as a large green corridor along the river edge, the park has dedicated zones for play areas, native riparian vegetations with boardwalks and trails to access them.
The park’s primary function is flood mitigation, achieved through a series of constructed wetlands and floodable landscapes.
The ReWilding Koba master plan represents a bold and transformative vision for the future of urban design—one that redefines the relationship between cities and nature. In the broader context of urban design and planning, ReWilding Koba exemplifies the possibilities that emerge when cities are designed with the environment as a partner, not an afterthought.
It is but an humble attempt to leaves behind a legacy of hope and innovation, challenging cities, her makers and the citizens to rethink the potential of our built environments and to aspire to cities that nurture both humanity and the planet.
Homegrown Resiliency
Lake front urban design for Thaltej Lake, Ahmedabad semester 02 | studio final project
Nestled within this bustling cityscape lies Thaltej Lake, a serene water body whose history is intertwined with the very fabric of Ahmedabad’s development and cultural legacy. In its early days, Thaltej Lake likely served as a lifeline for the communities inhabiting its vicinity, providing vital water for irrigation, sustenance, and daily needs.
Thaltej Lake has not been immune to the pressures of modernization and urbanization. The rapid growth of Ahmedabad has brought with it a host of environmental challenges, including pollution, encroachment, and neglect. As the city expanded, the lake found itself threatened by pollution from sewage, industrial waste, and unchecked urban runoff.
Encroachments along its banks further diminished its natural beauty and ecological vitality, as concrete structures replaced the once lush greenery that adorned its shores.
The project attempts to reimagine the Thaltej lakes as an resilient, inclusive and reclaimed community space, while shying away from the common, more forceful, evasive and capitalistic models of lake development in the city.
Can a seasonal lake not have perenial activities?}
Instead of forcing an permanent, evasive lake intervention, the very temporal nature of the water body is accepted.
The strategy relies on changing seasons, water levels and design intervention adapts activities to the lake, the seasons and water levels. The strategy is two folds.
Primarily the eutrophied lake bed is treated with a specific planting policy. As the lake heals, the lake is to be left untouched. A series of decks, floating over the lake, adapting to changing terrain is conceptualized. The decks would adapt to changing sites and needs as per program.
A minimal invasive structural system holds the decks floating over the lake.
Historically a large contiguous waterbody, the Thaltej lakes have been over time encroached upon heavily. While one water body is almost lost, while other disconnected, the greater Thaltej lake stands as a silent victim of both community neglect and forceful appropiations.
Lakes like the Thaltej, can often be more than just communal spaces, but rather instruments to help save our cities against the effects of the changing climate. The strategy relies on changing seasons, water levels and design intervention adapts activities to the lake, the seasons and water levels.
The current dire state of the lake, and its subsequent disconnect with the community at Thaltej gam represents a poignant reminder of how our lakes have fallen into disuse from their earlier heydays. Water has always been at the heart of Indian communities, and today, they could possibly help save our cities against the effect of changing climate.
vision statement
“ecological and cultural revival of a forgotten, dying lake”
- Ecological revival of greater Thaltej lakes.
- Connect community to the lake.
- Qualify lake edge.
- Define seasonal lake uses and activities.
Currently the lake edges have been severely euthropied and encroached upon. The lack of designation has also resulted in it being subject to rampant littering amongst other activities.
The design attempts to rationalise the lake edge, turn the lowest levels of the lake bed into a seasonal reservoir. The collar around the lake acts as a neighbourhood level bioswale, allowing the water to find its way back in an event of excessive flooding and rains.
“Imagaebility looks for the physical qualities which relates to the attributes of identity and structure in a mental image”. ( Lynch,. 1981)
A place’s image is defined here as the sum of beliefs, ideas and impressions that people have of that place. They are a product of the mind trying to process and frame huge amounts of data about a place into a small set of manageable ideas. An image is more than a simple belief.
However, many a times, due to certain incidences, place image may be affected by many events beyond its control. Negative events, such as political conflicts, diseases, terrorism or insecurity, were shown to have negative influence on place image. The socio-cultural fabric of contemporary cities is changing at a fast pace. In order to meet the needs of modern society, a new vision/image of our built environments is needed.
Much of these huge land parcels in and around our cities lie dormant, their potentials unexplored. These derelict land parcels often become a “void”; a harbour for illicit activities triggering high crime rate, increase in anti-social elements.
The result is made up by ideation. A bold, new, persistent image of these voids as a catalyst for the socio-cultural development and center of the city.
This thesis project aims to create a concept of how these urban voids can be used as a catalyst for the development of the environment.
How can we change the image of these derelict lands and unpack their catalysing potentials?
The primary aim of the design was to create a contemporary and diverse office space, while also preserving the historic character of the precicnt. Additions to the pre-existing context were made to attract the widest target audience possible from rail passengers to local residents, the young people to tourists, and everyone who happens to be passing through the area.
The main architectural facade of the office building is a modern interpretation of the Mill walls in front from the 1930s. The extension essentially includes a single unifying block that follows the shape and size of the original buildings, and of an underground floor to contain the new functions.
does an office, have to be an office? - Doshi }
A shaded, canopied pathway with large trees conveys the users inside the building. The atrium on ground floor almost gives back the entire floor plate as a forest with all its rawness.
The re.create #7 is modeled after the “Dier” and “weaver”. The yarns once the weaving process has completed, move on to dyeing. The dye box, carries out dyeing of all the textiles. The installation, will double up as a police office precinct and a mail office along with community space.
Placed within an large dry excavation below ground, the museum seeks to reflect Shakti Mill’s historical and contemporary role as one cultural mecca. By arranging the galleries in a continuous loop around the dry excavation walls, the “void” becomes the centerpiece of the exhibition – an open, outdoor area where visitors experience the size of the mill lands.
“A new kind of urban space - Open to new ideas and Life”
A “void” was created which is a ode to the “absense” of the glorious mills. The “Void” with the galleries around is left open.
Banaras Hindu University Master Plan
Strategic Urban Design Framework Proposal for a 109 year old university. Ongoing project - Vastushilpa Sangath LLP
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) is a sprawling campus located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. The campus covers an area of over 1,300 acres and is home to a wide range of academic departments and research centers. The master planning of BHU is based on the Karmukha plan, from the ancient indian town planning principles.
Over the years, haphazard planning and construction, exponential growth of the city has put pressure on the university campus. Coupled with this, the increased traffic, noise, and pollution, has had a negative impacts on the architecture and cultural heritage of the campus. The practice was approached to document the site and analyses the development potential of existing land parcels and deliver a comprehensive urban design vision for the development.
How does one bind a sporadically grown, disjointed university without building a single wall?
The practice, with a small team of urban designers, architects prepared a master plan and urban design strategy for phase wise development. Various facilities for students, residents were identified and an approximate estimation of potential student and staff population was arrived at.
Lastly, parcel wise analysis with urban design controls covering built form and architecture characters was compiled.
: Author + VSSLLP project team
: 4 months
lead : Ar. Vijay Patel
The site was identified into smaller sectors or parcels. The parcels are studied for buildings to be demolished, retained. The parcel foliage, along with pathways, conceptual linkages, tie the proposed built forms.
This exercise has been carried out for all land parcels across the study area.
Cited below is an example of one such parcel.
• Landscape strategies proposed in the sections are conceptual in nature and based on aerial and visual surveys
• Findings and directions provided in this stage should be used only as a reference to build on concisely in the stages to follow
• Recommended baseline studies will be required to verify findings and detail the landscape master plan to its entirety.
These are pedestrian-scale, mostly internal streets within the residential section. They form the major circulation network between hostels, residences, amenities and recreation areas.
Extensive surveying and mapping of site’s existing ecological condition was done to analysis patterns in vegetation and relevant strategies were suggested.
The main objective for thes large Vegetation Patches is to increase ecological health and services in these areas. Human use within these patches should be restricted to passive recreation or opportunities for outdoor learning.
The overarching objective for this network is to provide continuous shaded landscapes with pause spaces that are safe and comfortable for pedestrians.
The phasing and implementation strategies underscore the master plan’s practicality, ensuring that its ambitious vision is realized through systematic and manageable steps. By aligning short-term actions with long-term goals, the phasing plan ensures that the master plan remains adaptable to future needs while staying true to its overarching vision.
The entire campus of BHU has a deep network of shaded pathways, thoroughfares spread in a radial manner, dividing the campus into sectors. These long, shaded thoroughfares, a characteristic of the Karmukha plan, has over the years fallen into decay due to poor maintenance and remain largely ignored.
Approach to campus vision is two fold. Firstly, to indentify potential redevelopable zones between radial corridors. Second reviving these corridors.
Credits : Author + VSSLLP project team
Duration : 4 months
Team lead : Ar. Vijay Patel
Forest158, Noida
News Media Production Facility and Corporate park
Completed - Vastushilpa Sangath LLP,
Situated outside the bustling capital, amidst the farms of Noida, lies the Forest 158, a state of the art news media production facility. The project includes a giant crowd work studio, five news studio spaces, a 300 seating office area and a adjoining corporate office. The master plan also has a 1,000 capacity amphitheater and a sizable and dense cultivated forest garden at the heart of the project.
Keeping in mind the tight deadlines of the project, and the longer spans attributed due to the studio spaces on the lower levels, the entire building was designed and executed as a pre engineered steel structural system, enveloped in thick brick and dry wall systems. The building has been designed to the higher standards of acoustical performance.
My role on the project included from early schematic explorations till the preparation of final construction documents for construction, on site coordination with the PMC team. The building reached completion in late 2024.
How does one make a building disappear?
Ground Floor Plan
Spread over 19 acres, the project includes a news media broadcasting facility, a tech centre for 1000 employees and a corporate park.
Credits : Author + VSSLLP project team
Duration : 12 months
Team lead : Ar. Vijay Patel
Section through the studios and corporate facility.
Although imposing in scale, the court in the centre attempts to humanise the structure.
Built form evolution and programmatic arrangement
Ground Coverage
Studios on the lower levels
Forest at the heart
Corporate offices and canteen on top
Second floor houses corporate offices seating close to 300 employees.
Plan at ground floor level.
Studios on the ground floor are designed as black boxes connected by corridor.
Plan at Second floor level.
Crowd work studio blocks and forest
The entire building is clad with red agra bricks to humanise the imposing scale.
Corridor at second floor
The building is screened with reclaimed wooden slat screening to break the harsh Delhi sun.
Forest garden
The cultivated forest in the heart of the master plan acts like an oasis in the harsh Delhi summers.
Academic Block - FLAME University
Academic Block, FLAME University
Completed 2023 - Vastushilpa Sangath LLP
Nestled on the slopes of the Sahyadris, the FLAME arises as a testament to man’s ever increasing need to be in touch with nature. This premise for the design of this educational institute stems from belief that the process of learning extends far beyond the classroom, into encounters of nature; people and life.
Conceived as a place of ‘liberal education’ , the approach to design in itself gives impetus to lateral learning. FLAME is the epicenter of a university town, envisaged to have bustling streets, bazaars, sports arenas, cultural centers and social amenities that go into nurturing a settlement. The institute over the years since its inception has drawn larger population of students and to satisfy the needs of a growing campus, the practice has added multiple buildings. One such recent addition, is a perceptibly large block, with almost half the capacity of the current academic buildings put together. The large size of the built-up has been attributed to the need felt post the pandemic. To scale this building down has been one the critical inquiries of this project.
My role on the project included from early schematic explorations till the preparation of final construction documents for construction. The building reached completion in late 2023.
Section through the central staircase
(The central staircase acts as a spine, connecting all six academic blocks)
Elevation study (excerpts from ArchiCAD BIM modelling) Facade studies
East Elevation
The pink dholpur stone cladding ties the entire campus together.
Working on this project was an exercise in many folds. From form analysis, structure and service coordination, revisions, additionns, exploring various iterations of elements like entrances and staircases for fire compliances, till execution on site, each step in the project cycle was experienced, dealt with a certain capacity as an individual or as a part of a team.
The building reached completion in late 2023.
Credits : Author + VSSLLP project team
Duration : 14 months
Team lead : Ar. Vijay Patel
Saurav Ashish Chatterjee
Address
C-8, Vishwajeet CHS, Veer Sawarkar Marg, Teen Petrol Pump, Thane (W)
Studio Apprentice | May 2018 - Jan 2019 (08 months)
Malik Architecture, Mumbai, India
Ar. Kamal S. Malik, Ar. Arjun K. Malik, principals, Malik Architecture
Software skills
Areas of interest
Languages
ArchiCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD, ArcGIS, Trimble’s SketchUp, Microsoft Office Suite Abode Design Suite – Photoshop, InDesign, Lumion, V-Ray, Vilux, Google Earth
Urban forms of cities, Nature of public places, Urban Design, Public perception of cities, Architecture, Housing, Economics, Research and writing, Graphic Design.
