From Utopias to Heterotopia: Migrant Housing: Values of Time, Density and Culture

The course introduced the concepts of `housing-for-masses’ across space and time. The evolution of housing settlements through linking+stacking; their processes, determinants/ generations, and resulting patterns were explored in their respective contexts working with the balance between order and complexity. The idea, here, was to create an adaptive habitat for migrant communities associated with the very dynamic and socially interactive live work environment. Here, “adaptability” was visualized and represented as a real space which is accommodating people from diverse cultures and traditions over a period of time. The spaces, thus created, should have their own characteristics; the occupants should have the opportunity to alter these spaces in certain extended patterns. Eventually, this fluctuating habitat, over time, should be able to maintain a balance between generated orders and identified contextual complexities. The students were able to explore housing structures, cluster orientations, and formations by balancing the underlying orders and complexities..