Sem 05 / Form and Space Studies
Fraternity as Infrastructure

Richa Shah  

The course ‘Fraternity as Infrastructure’ was a 10-week-studio that explored design through participatory processes, focusing on communities as active producers of space, knowledge, and imagination. The title draws on B. R. Ambedkar's conception of fraternity as the ethical foundation of democratic life and AbdouMaliq Simone's idea of ‘People as Infrastructure', foregrounding social relations as the conditions through which urban life is sustained and transformed. Grounded in these core ideas, the course aimed to examine how relationships, shared aspirations, and collective action shape spatial production. The students worked collaboratively in groups, developing proposals for retrofitting homes and designing community infrastructures and spaces, including community toilets, markets, workshops, and recreation spaces. They focused on producing community-facing modes of communication and representation, making design a process of dialogue, experimentation, negotiation and mutual learning rather than a fixed outcome.

The project began with a household-based survey at the Thakkar Bappa Colony, Kurla, an informal settlement of shoe-makers, to understand the existing social, spatial and infrastructural conditions of the neighborhood. As these households became an entry point to the community, the students first designed homes for the people with whom they interacted. The designs were at two stages: one was a minimal repair and retrofit design set within a low budget of Rs.15,000 to 20,000/- and another was a complete redevelopment of their homes, in the event of complete dilapidation. While designing, the key idea was to explore how light and ventilation could be improved within the houses, which worked along the idea of "Bimari Mukt Ghar" (Disease-free Homes), owing to the history of tuberculosis within the community due to poor living conditions, and promoted by the local NGO, Kishan Garodia Vishwavrutti Foundation, who has been working actively in the area.

The household interviews led the students to community spaces around the colony, like the padas or chowks, temples, gardens, Buddhist Viharas, public toilets, community halls and other public spaces like cycle track. These community spaces become extensions of the individual homes, creating a network of shared open and social spaces. The students first conducted a SWOT analysis of each site to understand the existing programmes, requirements, and aspirations of the people regarding the commons.

This helped them develop a programme for each of the spaces. Through a community consultation process, the students developed design iterations to enhance the affordances of these sites. The course concluded with a presentation and exhibition at the community hall in Thakkar Bappa Colony, where the students interacted with the people on how their everyday spaces could be improved.

More work from the course can be found here.