Realizing Nollis Dream: Embedding Architecture in the City

Nolli’s map of Rome holds unique significance for architects and urbanists these days. It presents dialectical relationships between buildings and their milieu, countering a tendency to see buildings as isolated objects outside the very context that gives them life and meaning. Inspired from Nolli’s map, this studio focused on developing a conceptual and critical approach to architectural design where buildings are not seen as ‘isolated events’, but are deeply and intrinsically embedded in the fabric of the city. Studio aimed to reimagine typologies of civic/infrastructure projects which constitute a major part of urban development in Indian cities. Most of these projects do not respond to their immediate context due to conventional architectural approaches and end up becoming inaccessible parts of the city. This semester, the studio looked at typologies of transit focusing on upcoming metro-stations in Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. Based on strong contextual awareness, the studio investigated and explored various programmatic strategies and architectural alternatives which make projects more accessible and public in character.