EcoHouse Research

Narinder Sagoo

Partner, Foster & Partners

 

With many years of experience in designing and constructing in India amongst other places, Mr Sagoo takes us on a journey of how research has enabled him to make innovative designs and go beyond the conventions and standard practices of his metier. In the context of low-rise, densely populated urban environments, the architect has to become a researcher himself to find adequate solutions to the unsolved challenges of our time. 

 

Mr Sagoo’s field trips start with the city of Jaipur, in Rajasthan, India, a city designed with a main axis to allow access to the various neighbourhoods. Although the original layout has not changed since the 18th century, the organisation of the urban interior and function has evolved continuously and benefitted from the open and non-prescriptive architecture. With these anthropological and technical design considerations in mind, the community of Palahi in Punjab was developed on agricultural land with a bare and simple structure which the residents could use as a starting point to shape their homes and businesses.  

 

The company Foster & Partners were tasked to design the sustainable city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to house 90,000 people on 820 hectares. This zero carbon development differentiates from other projects due to its passive design: The buildings create a sustainable and a dense structure for shading the streets and doorways, preventing overheating. In a typical Western design in Mumbai the ground surface temperature is approximately 57ºC, while in Masdar City it is 33ºC during the day.

 

Dharavi, in Mumbai, is one of the most densely populated districts in the world (175 hectares for one million people) and surprisingly also one of the most sustainable, with a negative carbon emission count, being the recycling district of the entire city of Mumbai. Mr Sagoo’s research comprised a study of the density of the area, visits to the site, and interviews with residents in order to understand the complexity of the place. It showed the recycling turnover which employs around 250,000 families, the 15,000 mini-factories that work under black market rules, and the mix of different economic backgrounds, with well-equipped families next to less advantaged. The study showed that the social structure is crucial to the workings of this district.

 

Building on these findings, Foster & Partners developed an urban plan for high density, low rise buildings and no inclusion of cars except on the exterior main streets. The design is thought to enable gradual transitions, piece by piece, following the school of thought of favouring spontaneous development. Moreover, the project has a humanitarian side, which is based on three aspects: to create an infrastructure spine to supply bare utilities such as fresh water, electricity and internet access; to have structural building platform upon which residents can create their homes; and to provide green public spaces by eliminating some of the building space. Historically, these design concepts have enjoyed success as in the case of Aranya in Indore (developed by Vastu Shilpa Foundation, Balkrishna V. Doshi 1983-89).