Building anew in old quarters of historic districts is a challenge. More so especially if the city is Lucknow, the capital of the Awadh Empire then and the capital of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh now.
Our Fourth Year Architectural Design Studio “Housing in Quaiserbagh” picked up this Architectural Challenge of creating a neighbourhood that encapsulated all the traditional values, the sense of community, that the older habitats provided and at same time enabling a contemporary style of living. The Housing was to be designed to accommodate a cross section of the social strata. It would consist of Units for singles, couples, family, extended families; and also ‘shop-house’ units where housing is enmeshed with a commercial aspect to it – something quite prevalent in the historic districts of Lucknow. It also consisted of a community space whereby the students could choose the kind of space they want to design based on their understanding of the city and its requirements.
Tutors: Khudeja Patel, Ruark Figueiredo, Abhijeet Doshi, Prateek Banerjee, Aamir Sourathia
Housing in Quaiserbagh: Niharika Parkar
“Lucknow is a cultural hotspot, famous for its Lucknowi Tehzeeb, fashion, food, etiquettes and architectural character. Such old cities are subjected to change, in order to match the pace of today’s world. In this process the cities tend to lose their original character and move towards standardization. Retaining a place’s antiquity does not mean that the imminent construction needs to be a gimmick of the old character. The design thus intents to study various elements of the existing architecture of Quaiserbag and amalgamate them with the modern language of construction, creating a blend in the design of new spaces.”
