Site
Andhra Pradesh/Tamil Nadu near Chennai, India
Masterplan
05-08/2008
Area
7,00 HA
Gross Built Space
164.000 m2 (FAR 2,40)
133.500 m2 Housing (2.750 Units)
7.500 m2 Commericial and Light Industry
7.500 m2 Retails and Entertainment
15.500 m2 Administration and Social Infrastructure
Partners-in-Charge
Mark Gilbert, Christian Aulinger
Project Team
Christian Aulinger, Mark Gilbert,
Dagnija Smilga, Janosch Boderke, Elisabeth Steidel, Alexander Semper
Client
Sri City (P) Limited
Consultants
Traffic Planning – Andreas Käfer/Verkehrsplanung Käfer GmbH, Wien
Visualisations
TC ZT GmbH Wien
As with any large-scale green-field development, the first step in the construction of SriCity (see the project SRI – SriCity Residential Zone Master Plan) is the production of housing for the workers who will build the city. Despite considerable built density (FAR 2,40), the district exhibits considerable urban quality. Careful attention to the public sphere: a network of pedestrian streets functions as extended living rooms for the inhabitants. The threshold between domestic and public space acts as a stage for everyday interactions.
Adjoining a Bazaar just northwest of the future downtown area, the LIH district is organized around a large retention pool and a broad, tree-lined promenade. A public park, a school with a daycare center and medium-rise managers’ housing lie to the southwest of the pool; the workers’ neighborhood is located to the north.
Here, a varied palette of building typologies – from multi-story dormitories to courtyard houses – reflects the cultural and economic differentiation within working class India. The dwellings form a structured and networked neighborhood in which diverse communities can coexist. A simple and flexible planning grid generates a complex, yet orderly network of pedestrian byways and public squares whose intimate scale supports the everyday acts of family life.
The superimposition of this branched network upon a regular grid of parallel streets allows trouble-free vehicular access across the district, insures service access for the neighborhood and permits rational building processes during all stages of construction.
