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Low Cost, not Low Design

(image source: www.urbanland.uli.org)

Housing is one of the most important elements of urban development. The current focus on affordable housing in India presents numerous challenges and opportunities at the same time. The housing shortage is growing at more than 6%, and is projected to reach 34 million units by 2022. With high demand, limited resources and time running out, the challenges are obvious. It also cannot be denied that great challenges come with great opportunities. The opportunities and challenges of affordable housing demand innovative solutions from everyone involved – architects, engineers, contractors, developers, and the government. This also presents a unique opportunity to Architects in India to develop design solutions that are unique to the current Indian context. The Architecture fraternity should not miss out on this opportunity to create an impact.

There is a generally accepted assumption that affordability is a policy issue, and not a design issue. Though there is truth in the statement, it also cannot be denied that design and construction can play a significant role in affecting cost of development. At this point, I would like to mention that when I use the word design, it includes visual aesthetics, quality of spaces, and way the building functions, all three.

 Apart from a small number of social housing projects undertaken in the 70’s and 80’s, there has not been an architectural movement in India defining the design of housing for the masses. The early efforts by architects like B.V. Doshi, Charles Correa, U.C. Jain, Raj Rewal, and their contemporaries, though commendable, did not spurn a large movement. This was due to government policies and the free-market policies that ignored social housing altogether. Now that there is some positive movement in the right direction, the architects should not miss the boat.

 In the last two decades, failed government policies like Slum Redevelopment Schemes, Inclusionary Housing policies, etc. failed to create a social housing stock that we can be proud of. Treating affordable housing as an obligation has produced some of the most inhumane environments for habitation. But housing, irrespective of economic status of inhabitants and cost of development, should always be humane, sustainable and livable. Though it is acknowledged that within the constraints of prevalent building regulations (FSI, ground coverage, etc.), client brief, and construction costs, there is little scope for creativity and innovation, it is still not an excuse to create an inhumane and unhealthy environment.

Low cost should not mean low design quality. It is time for the development community engaged in affordable housing to realize that good design means good business. Affordable housing is not only about decreasing the cost and increasing the speed of construction; in the end if the project is low on design quality, the project and the business will not sustain. The solution lies in the concept of “frugal innovation”. Creating more with less for the many. One idea could be to treat the entire project as a kit of parts, and deconstruct the entire structure in to separate elements – structural system, walls, roof, doors, windows, flooring, plaster, paint, toilets, staircases, parking, etc. Evaluate each of these elements with respect to space efficiency, materials, usability, cost, etc. A design thinking process like this will enable critical evaluation of every element of construction, helping reduce costs without compromising design quality.

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