Project
Chhav
Proposal
project location
Delhi, India
team members
Gunraagh Singh Talwar
Ipsita Choudhury
Eish Ahlawat
social media
idea
Chhav seeks to provide a spatial solution for the people of Rajiv Nagar - an informal settlement around the Bhalswa Landfill - one of Delhi’s 3 major landfills. Understanding the context and community, the authors realise a lack of dignified open space for the community. Chhav realises ‘lost space’ in the settlement and attempts to activate it with an intervention designed around existing infrastructure.
jury comments
“From the conceptual framework of invigorating lost space, of which we see so much around the world, to the structural framework for creating meaningful public space, this replicable intervention holds real promise for improving the quality of life for many people.” - Stephen A. Goldsmith
“Chaav is a very thoughtful and meaningful idea that has the potential to improve the neighbourhood and lives of the people of Rajiv Nagar(I hope the name is correct of the slum). The participants through keen observation and community interaction well understood the problem and used their creative skillset to provide a simple yet very impactful solution. One suggestion would be to ensure inclusivity in place-making for all gender and age groups.” - Shahena Khan
“As a sensible and frugal intervention, this space-making exercise allows us to think of accessible ways to engage underserved communities in a clever and feasible manner, capitalizing on the agency of design and the possibilities of an -apparently- unusable area.” - Sebastián Trujillo
“I was taken in with the simplicity of the project. People through their own agencies claim city space and make it their own. This project dignifies this process with a gentle infrastructural support. It will be nice in the next stage to strengthen community networks and programing of these spaces to benefit community members beyond men who anyway claim city space. It will be good to reach out to women and children as well and with community initiatives to increase the porosity and access between the settlement and the chosen site. It will also be good to work further on the design of the project, while maintaining the simplicity of the approach.” - Rupali Gupte