All You Need To Know About Aranya Community Housing

There is a common notion that low-cost housing cannot be comfortable or close to the city centre or offer a convenient lifestyle to the deprived class of the society. However, Aranya Low-Cost Housing defeated all these presumed facts when it came into existence a few years back. Designed by the award-winning architect, Balkrishna Doshi, Aranya Low-Cost Housing is everything that a buyer could wish for.

The making

Aranya Low-Cost Housing Society was constructed in 1989 in Indore and is located just 6 km from the city centre. Conceptualised by Indore Development Authority, the total built-up area of this society is 1 lakh sq mt, constructed at a cost of Rs 100 million. The total idea of conceiving this project was to improve and upgrade the existing slum area and provide around 6,500 residential plots of varying sizes starting from 350 sq ft for economically weaker section to 4,750 sq ft for high-income groups. The entire project was funded by the sale proceeds of the middle-income plots.

The community was designed in a way so that all the facilities are evenly distributed and a link with the town centre can be maintained. Pedestrian access was made easy. Being a slum development project, the inspiration was taken from the existing slum settlements where a small neighbourhood is formed with houses extending to the outdoors. Trees were planted in public places and streets that could accommodate social, economic and domestic activities were planned. Most of the plots are small in size and clustered in low rise blocks along with longer side façade oriented in the north-south axis to reduce the solar radiation on the building.

The location of Aranya Low-Cost Housing was strategic. The area has Delhi-Mumbai Highway running on the east and has developing industrial areas on the north, south and west. The site was selected on the basis of linkages to the city and employment opportunities in the surroundings.  

Aranya master plan was informal with interlinked space of cultural context and maintenance of roads, open spaces and a central location for basic community services. The MIG and HIG plots were placed close to arterial roads while EWS and LIG plots were uniformly distributed across the plot. Almost 58 per cent of the total space was occupied for housing, 26 per cent for roads, 9 per cent for open spaces and 7 per cent for community and commercial facilities. Residents were independent of using any material like brick or stone for the construction purpose.

Interesting facts:

1)    The building height to street width ratio is such that streets are shaded except when the sun is overhead.

2)    The courtyards within the houses, public squares and small activity areas are shaded adequately by adjacent buildings.

3)    Back in 1989, each plot was provided with a water tank, sewerage connection, paved access with street lights, stormwater drainage.

4)    For landscaping the area, trees that require little maintenance were planted including casuarinas, bottle brush and eucalyptus.

5)    For clear segregation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic, informal interlinked open spaces were created that were only used for pedestrians. Vehicular access was limited to rectilinear and formal roads which were 15-meter wide.