Child Friendly Home

The Title itself suggests that any home needs to be specially designed for children. This is very true. When we are talking about children we are referring to children between 0 to 12 years who have their own specific requirements & their own world of emotions , fantasies, fears & fun. They are immersed in their own world obviously unaware of dangers of being injured due to furniture or sharp edges or falling from a height etc etc.

 

 There was a wonderful statement made by an engineer friend who remarked, “Any home where children can play & run around Blindfolded is a Well designed Home”.

 

Children need lots of “Space” to explore, to have fun. A very mundane response shown by parents while creating spaces for children is making a children’s room with a ‘typical’ colourful wardrobes, ‘Stars’ on ceiling & also very very typical “Bunk” Bed. I know of a small child of 5 years who accidently fell from one of such Bunk beds while playing & injured herself so badly that she needed to be hospitalised.

 

If we have children in our house, the parameters of design of our home can be summed up in 3- S.

 

1)  S pace

 

2)  S afety

 

3)  S ensetivity

 

 

1) Space:

When  a 6-8 month old baby learns to crawl, it requires lot of clean unobstructed space all around the house. The baby will not confine itself to the so called ‘Children’s room’. It will crawl behind its parents in all the rooms. Rooms should be free from clutter of extra furniture. As the baby grows up, it will start demanding & determining its own space. So wiser will be that in certain rooms, do not make furniture beforehand. For example, many parents with children upto 5 years prefer to sleep on matteress laid on floor, so to prevent children from falling from beds. Matresses can also be rolled up & space can be created for babies to play or for keeping their rocking chairs, play tents, or prams etc. Instead of large bulky beds, you can use folding beds.

Thus the key aspects is “Never Pre design a space” if you have growing children.

 

2) Safety:

Children are curious & are completely unaware of the dangers of getting hurt while playing. First & foremost , remove all unnecessary furniture in the house, so that children do not get hurt by getting hit from it. In small houses, it is difficult to avoid furniture. But still we can design furniture without sharp corners. In our house, my wife , a graphic designer, has skill fully detailed a  piece of furniture (chk image) with rounded edges which we have found to be safe with our children.

 

 

As far as possible , avoid Bunk beds. Have low height beds & furniture , which even if children fall from will get them less injured. Never have electrical switches , at heights where  children can reach. If you have , please install child safe switches which are available in the market. Do not have mirrors or large glass partitions in the house. Children do not recognise its presence & get hit by walking towards it. Have surfaces & furnishes which are non toxic, safe & can be wiped cleaned . Any dust accumulating surface will invite virus & infections. If you have attached terraces, it will be wiser to have extra railings till almost 5 feet height, which can prevent children from falling down. Grills are a must for low height windows.

 

 

3) Sensitivity:

 

We should be sensitive to the needs of “Our Child”, rather than copying from what is general or what some other parent has done in his home. Every child is special, with its own set of requirements. Children from different age groups require ‘different’ ergonomics & react to spaces in different manner. Look closely at how play schools are wisely designed these days. Books & Toys are kept in reach of children. It gives a little ‘chap’ a ‘big confidence’ when he or she opens his / her own little cupboard & takes her own things out & also keep them once the play is over. Against this , I know of a case, where a smart young boy of over  10 years of age came & told his parents that he was now “Grown up” & please remove the silly “Kindergarten furniture” & finishes from his room. Of course the parents had to oblige & installed a good study table, a workshop desk , white boards etc. Thus being sensitive is also to being logical about our own children & their special world.

 

Out door spaces for children:

Now let us also think about the outdoor spaces for children. Ideally outdoor spaces should be such that, when a small 4-5 year old kid is playing, the parents can keep an eye on them. This used to happen in older houses, where buildings were not more that 3-4 stories high & a annoyed mother would call her mischievous kid from the balcony. In most of the housing societies built today with multi-storeyed apartments, the developers give a “Children play area”, a small piece of land along open space with swings & slides. Very rarely children can reach this area without crossing a vehicular street. Hence mostly, in the evenings, parents escort their little ones to this children play area & stand there, till their child plays. This stops the child from exploring own their own. The generation of parents today who grew up playing, complain that their children play videogames rather than actual games, but never bother to ask or find out, where the hell their child will play football or cricket in the housing societies of today, where one cannot find a ‘Maidan’.

 

The question remains un answered or in the minds of all that “Do we analyse the needs for our growing children before making spaces for them in our homes or outside ?”

 

 

Hrishikesh Ashtekar

My observations regarding ‘Emergent Customization by People’ in an ‘uptown’ housing project.

A very prominent developer built a fantastic project , premium apartments located in east of Pune near Airport.  Designed by well known Architectural firm from Bangalore, the project showcased superbly modern elevations flanked by equally wonderful landscape in posters and hoardings all around the city. The construction quality was equally good and while construction was on I had taken around eighty students of Architecture to study the quality, also how well a project can be detailed out. This was around two years back when the project was yet unoccupied.

I  recently happed to visit the same project on a typical enquiry ‘to change a few things’ from a family residing in this very project. When I walked in to the campus, I could observe some very interesting things

.

a) The wonderfully designed modern elevation was all looking ‘ Hoch Poch’. People had covered terraces with tin sheets. 

b) Many people had put on grills to windows in want of security .The developers in a vain attempt to protect the look had not provided grills to windows.

c) There were external ducts in form of a false faced to hide toilets & dry balconies which were encroached upon in want of more internal space by people.

d) In some places , where rain water seemed to enter the windows, external tin roofed chajja / window protection were added done by fabricators.

e) In the apartment which I visited , I was talking to the owners how well worked out the layout was by the original Architect, they had complains all over saying how their furniture wont fit.  This family believed in Vastushastra  and the developer has not allowed them even the internal changes in electrical points and fittings leading to shabby external casing capping electric lines moving on the walls done as per their internal furniture layout.

f) The original door frames given by the developers for terrace doors could not accommodate a grill safety door which at times forms a ‘psychological safety’ device.

e) Even at some places the designed landscape seemed to change.

The question arouse in my mind, When the developer sold flats to people on the face value of magnificent elevations  shown in 3d graphics, hadn’t the same people realized to asked him, what is the use of a great elevations when it is going to change within two years of occupation.

Are good looks more important that the actual person inside ? Same is with a building. People tend to distort the building envelope and internal spaces to suit their own unique logics. These patterns are so varied that not one house becomes similar to another.

You  will think ‘ This happens only in India!’.  But world over people have rejected  and changed designed housing environments. Many of them are examples in Europe , especially built during the phase and advent of Modern architecture designed by renowned Master Architects. In  culturally diverse Asian countries like India, during the post Independence period, pre designed and pre built mass housing projects were thrust upon which were derived from western modernism principles. Strangely our ancestors built organic cities with their own houses and communities by themselves.

As with human communities, change is a way of life in ‘Residential environments’. A ‘post occupational survey’ done for housing project can give you valuable answers of what people want.  We are living in times of an ‘Emergent Architecture’ or better ‘Emergent Customization’ done by the people for the people.  It may be worthwhile embracing a ‘Democratic’ way to Design.  

There can be new design patterns which can interpret the change people demand in more designed manner to encompass beauty within the changing framework.

Ar. Hrishikesh Ashtekar

Selecting ‘Appropriate’ Sanitary ware & Faucets (Taps)

The most critical part of personalizing your own home are sanitary fittings & faucets in Toilets & Kitchens. It is very important to realize what is really ‘Appropriate’ for you & your family . In the market which is flooded with products both International & Local brands, it is critical to understand the fundamental criteria for choice.

The important criteria while choosing can be:

1) Space available

2) Aesthetic appeal

3) Use of fitting

4) Budget

5) Performance

6) Existing plumbing network

1) Space available: How large or small is your Toilet or Space available for the fitting ?, Will the fitting create problems of door closure or come in way while you are moving in the space ? Will it look proportionate within the small toilet space or appear huge ?

2) Aesthetic appeal: Gone are the days when, you asked your local plumber to get the fittings & install them. Ideally spaces for toilets & wash basins should be designed with color schemes or design themes which suit your liking. Within the design idea, everything right from the tiling to sanitary ware to faucets everything must be handpicked & chosen. Generally for branded fittings & faucets, specific design ranges are available. So you can get all different types of taps for a single toilet within the similar looking design range.

3) Use of the fitting: How do you intend to use a Sanitary ware or a faucet ? If we take an example of Wash basin, we will require a sturdy counter sunk basin ,where you intend to just wash your hands in the toilet or intend to perform mundane activities like shaving. Where as, more appropriate will be  a counter top relic or glass / crystal or any other material where the wash basin is located near dining area as it becomes a show piece in itself. The same logic will go when the tap or the faucet as to where it needs to be fitted.

4) Budget : How much will a particular fitting cost ? We need to finalize our budget for the project in regards to the fittings.  A wash basin of  a similar size will be available of a local brand of as less as Rs 1000/- while the same size branded or of an exclusive material like acrylic will cost you as large as Rs 25000/-. Faucets of similar size if purchased locally will cost anything between Rs 100 to Rs 400 /-, the same size if purchased from  a standard brand will cost you above Rs 1000/-.

5) Performance: Finally, how does a fitting perform. We really need to test the product for its robustness & ease of operation. Generally branded sanitary ware is seen to perform better in comparison with the local brands available. Also some facilities like few months warranty & life time service are available from the manufacturers on just a phone call to call center, of course when we maintain the bills & warranty documents which should be demanded from the developer at time of possession. But many a times even high end sensor based faucets are difficult to maintain & lead to frequent repairs.

6) Existing plumbing network : The plumbing network needs to be technically understood & analyzed. Open or concealed ? Continuous water or intermittent supply ? Size of inlet available ? Requirement of Hot or Cold water ?  Material for plumbing –GI or U pvc or Copper ? Many fittings will require a change in the type of plumbing, especially during renovation projects.

“Generally all leading brands of sanitary ware in India – Jaguar / Cera / Grohe / Hindware / Parryware etc & many others have detailed web sites available. (just search on any search engine) These sites give features of all the fittings in detail. It is very important to check the product personally with an authorized dealer or distributor before giving the final order. In case if you are purchasing a flat from developer please ask for the product number from them & check for yourself.

Ar. Hrishikesh Ashtekar

Basic Types of Sanitary ware & fittings table:

No	Space	Fitting	Description
1	Water closet W.C	Indian W.C – Orissa pan	Regular floor flush pan which fits in the 18” sunk in floor or on raised platform in the toilet. Available in white & other light ceramic colors
		European WC –Floor mounted pan	W.C pan which fits on the toilet floor. This requires a flush tank in the rear which is available in ceramic / PVC / Wall concealed type. This requires 8” sunk in the slab. Available in two types-‘S’ trap with plumbing through floor & ‘P’ trap with plumbing through wall.
		European WC –Wall hung pan	W.C pan hung from the rear wall on metal brackets. This has plumbing pipe through the wall. Generally a ‘ledge’ wall is built foe extra support & concealing the flush tank within the wall. A variant with ceramic flush tank also is available.
2.	Toilet	Shower cubicle	A designer & specialized item which many manufacturers give customized. This is nothing but a dedicated area for bathing within the toilet usually a tile level lower than the toilet floor level. Shower cubicle comes equipped with various faucets & shower accessories. It is divided from rest of the toilet by either a PVC shower curtain or a toughened glass sliding partition. Shower cubicle has now replaced the legendary’ Bath tub due to awareness of water conservation.
		Wash basin  types available  1) Counter sunk  2) Counter top  3) Stand alone –with or without pedestal	Variants available in ceramics, glass & acrylics, though mostly used is ceramic because it is more robust. Counter sunk basin has a ceramic basin sunk within a granite counter. Counter top wash basin has a ceramic bowl which rests above the granite counter. More economical is the stand alone which gets fitted on wall with metal brackets. Stand alone basin comes with or without pedestal.
3	Toilet Faucets	Bib cock / Bib tap	Bib taps have a tee-shaped or capstan handle and a horizontal inlet. This get fitted as water outlet units perpendicular to the wall surface. There are available in SS & Brass materials with various finishes, (expensive ones in chrome/silver plated). In case, when Bib taps are used alongside of W.C pans, they come with an underneath attachment of health faucet nozzle.
		Pillar tap	Pillar taps have a vertical inlet, can be made of metal or plastic with capstan or elbow-action handles or shrouded head. Made to fit holes in sinks, basins and baths. Commonly used for wash basins. These also come with single nozzle & dual control handles for hot & cold water flow.
		Mixers	Mixers are pillar units in which hot and cold water meet and come out through a central spout. Bath mixers can have a shower attachment to divert mixed water up to a sprinkler. These generally come with two handle units on either side of the central spout but now they are also available as diverter fitting above the spout through which hot & cold water flow can be directed by turning the handle either ways. If you require a hand shower arrangement the central spout had a threaded connection on the rear on which the hand shower pipe is connected.
		Shower sprinkler Arm Hand shower arrangement	This is a unit connected to the mixer unit by either a concealed or a surface Stainless steel pipe. Shower fittings come with an adjustable neck. A hand shower fitting is also available connected to mixer by either SS or PVC flexible pipe.
4	Kitchen	Sinks	Sunk in the Kitchen counter this is available mostly in Stainless steel & more recently in Artificial stone. Sink comes in one or two bowl format. Many times a variant with single bowl with a SS utensils dry area attached is used in case of long counters
		Kitchen taps	Available both in Bib type or a Pillar type with a long neck spout to prevent water from splashing. The kitchen tap in India usually comes with the cold water side or top control handle. Also a double handle mixer tap is available in case required. In case a separate connection to water filter or an aqua guard is required a separator with valve control needs to be fitted between the water inlet & spout. A tap with a flexible neck is also available in the market which is quite commonly used in western countries.

The Fallacy of ‘Interior Decoration’

On the onset, let me be very clear that I do not have anything against Interior decorators.

 The word ‘Interior decoration’ as it is used today personifies ‘Fashion statements’ derived from secondary or tertiary sources. The ‘visually attractiveness’ factor while making up home spaces , especially usage of materials has become so magnified that finally rooms & houses become a museum of various materials used in their grandeur  form . It is same as using clothing used by models in fashion shows on day to day basis. Or another example is , do we use special clothes worn only during marriage ceremonies on everyday basis ? When we do use our own logic while selecting clothes comfortable to us in our daily lives, why do we shut our minds off when it comes to making our own homes?

People & families who occupy stereotype houses built for them come from different geographical settings, ethnic backgrounds, cultural beliefs, educational status, travel experiences, & lifestyles involving different daily activities.  Hence every house will have to reflect the personality of the ‘Family’ instead of the ‘ego’ of the designer or that of the material manufacturer who want to create a ‘photogenic’ visual image which goes into their portfolio.

 The house where people live is a dynamic space, where they grow in age & beliefs. Thus the house that ‘Is’ different than the house that ‘Was’. Hence the house will be different when it ‘Will be’. The adaptability factor of house & its spaces should be such that the homes should grow along with the people in its appearance & feel.  The finishes, spaces & furniture should reflect the comfort factor of the family including their current & future needs. How do we really derive this wisdom or connect with the common sense especially in today’s marketing world where everyone is trying to sell you something?

One way is to carry out a detail ‘User Needs Analysis’ study of our own family members in their present situation or in future. This analysis should be for various aspects like functional use, visual appearance & sensory perception , current & future needs, cultural requirements etc etc.  The house which you have purchased seldom would be enabled with specific requirements of your family. The environment of the living spaces in our house has a positive or negative impact on the minds of the family members.  Hence it is important to have the proportions, light, colors & materials rightly placed so to have a positive impact on your minds. The design outcome through such an analysis will be certainly different & close to your heart & a skill full designer may be easily able to help you realize these specific aspects in reality.

Spaces have to be lived in , felt, enjoyed  & experienced. They cannot be captured in photographs & put into flashy magazines.

Hrishikesh Ashtekar.

When People will ‘DESIGN’ their own Houses, Neighborhoods & Cities !

Towards a Participatory ‘User defined approach’ for designing  housing :

People in Traditional cultures since ancient times always knew , how to make their buildings & homes as per their needs. The farmer’s hut was always built by the farmer. Even today right from the Hausas from Nigeria to the Native villagers of Kutch in India make their own abodes from a simple material like Mud. The knowledge of construction always got transferred through generations as oral procedures or sometimes as in places like Kerala or Rajasthan , where the house making evolved in form of sophisticated art form in cities, there were guilds of traditional craftsmen who worked in close team with the owners. Making one’s own house was a traditional ritual. In Native American Red Indians , the nomadic tribe women got together to build the Tipi tents. A decade ago, when I was living in Bhutan, I have seen adobe mud wall houses being built in the local villages, where people sang as they beat the mud in the wall using large logs. When people built their own house, they knew how much area they require, what are the spaces in the house, where to sleep, where to cook, how much light should come into their rooms, where will their cattle stay etc. etc. After building the house, people used to decorate the inside with great care using locally available materials & design patterns, inherent to their cultures. Hence a Banni hut in Kutch was never the same as a Hausa mud house in Nigeria even if both arose in desert plains.

What is the ‘Big’ issue about standardized housing?

Compare this with the modern day house building activity in large cities. If we consider the people residing in cities as roughly divided into 3 types of economic classes – Poor, Rich & Middle class, we find a typical process being followed by each class of people. The Poor seldom have a choice of ownership. The poor man makes his hut or a shelter on a pavement or even illegally in a slum using whatever material that is available. Most of the times, the house is made by his own family & friends. What it interesting that even though the living conditions are wretched & unhealthy, still the poor man exercises the ‘Right’ to define his own living space by himself in less means. The Rich man has the entire world at his service. The Rich man buys a large plot of land, hires the best designers & contractors to make the house’ Exactly the Way as He Wants’ or requires. Thus the rich man also exercises his ‘Right’ to define his own living space without any limitations. The Middle class which is the maximum of us living in large cities cannot be as daring as the Poor man & cannot afford to live like the Rich. Thus he cannot make a illegal hut , nor can he build his own bungalow. Thus when he wants his own house, he goes to the ‘Developer’ who makes building with several standardized design units. The so called ‘Ready possession’ apartment gives the middle class families almost no option to exercise their ‘Right’ to define their own living space except spending lavishly on exclusive furniture items & false ceilings with infinite lights ! When everything from a rigid layout  to location of toilets , plumbing & electrical layouts are predefined by the developer, the end user has to really ‘adapt’ his lifestyle to live in a given situation. Thus the ‘Real loser’ is the Middle class which goes ‘Unexpressed’ & Design ‘Suppressed’ in terms of defining their own spaces.

The standardized units housing even though economically practical is not the answer to the housing needs of middle class people.  Nevertheless the bridge between requirement versus available housing stock in cities needs to be taken care of & hence mass housing projects cannot be avoided especially in large cities.  Can there be a ‘Middle path’ where a house can still be part of a large ecologically responsive  system of structures & services, but yet can grow as per needs, can change spaces as per requirements & aesthetically define itself as per the various cultures in cities? Various experiments have been made by designers & philosophers in the world before on this kind of issues. Growing mass housing structures have been designed in form of pre fabricated units.

What has the world done till now?

Notable experiment is a movement in Europe called ‘Open Architecture’, in which an open structure in form of slabs & service cores is left for people to design their own house. Even though this movement has evolved in Netherlands under guidance of Architect Urban designer Prof Ar.John Habrakan, projects have been built in far off lands in Japan based upon it.  On a larger scale experiments have been carried out to define Living neighborhoods by Ar. Christopher Alexander based upon his new theory in Urban Design & Pattern language. A Generative code is sought for based upon the premise that Community housing can be created by people themselves, those who live & belong to the land instead of being based upon monetary profitable systems like housing built by developers. Another recent development theory is one called ‘Emergent Urbanism’ where proponents argue that instead of planning a development to its last detail, a city can grow organically as self organized built forms defined by people along certain major network routes like street ways . On the Indian front, even the Government authorities have now realized that standardized mass housing when built for rehabilitating slums or project affected settlements gets unoccupied & rejected by most of the end users occupying the houses. In Navi Mumbai , Pune & various cities in India, experiments have been made to give people only a plinth & basic drainage water supply services (BSUP schemes) which create flexible framework where people will build for themselves an incremental house within their means. People centric co –operative housing movement has always been there since many years in Indian cities especially in cities like Delhi. In case of  Privately built mass housing , The day when, developers see mass housing beyond just a profit generating enterprise, will make them realize that people actually require a flexible systems within which they can define their own spaces instead of standardized rigid living cells they are selling today.

What could be the New approach?

 "At the core... is the idea that people should design for themselves their own houses, streets and communities. This idea... comes simply from the observation that most of the wonderful places of the world were not made by architects but by the people".

—Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language, front bookflap

The ‘Pattern Language’ written by Ar. Christopher Alexander is an Epic book in Modern Architecture which explains design as patterns, corresponding to behavioral systems of people & how do people live. The obvious references in the above sentence are from the studies of medieval towns in Europe & Asia, where the design of the house was an outcome of cultural & social patterns defined by the people themselves. Also due to then limited recourses of material & technology the houses, always responded to the climatic & geomorphic  context.  This concept of self definition of space is so historic in the context of human settlement, that almost all the traditional cities & houses have been built or at most defined by the people themselves. The advent of standardization & mass production of materials has made it difficult for people to exercise these space sensibilities. Also the nature of space & its use in the house has been flexible & dynamic. The traditional Japanese wooden houses came up on a structural grid based upon the dimensions of a ‘tatami’ mats, which were laid all over the house interiors. The exterior walls were in form of open able screens to let the nature come in a better season. The interior rooms could be changed when ever required because they were defined by movable ‘fusuma’ light weight internal partitions made out of lattice framed paper screens.

It is a common fact that, In case of today’s mass housing schemes, people tend to modify their house & their surroundings over a period of time to suit their needs. Even today, when people get changes done in their pre built houses or do ‘Interiors’, they are actually trying to Define their own space which comes as a natural instinct to them but such an endeavor can succeed in only a limited manner as most of the required adaptations & modifications get defined based upon the existing framework of structure, electrical & plumbing system used for the entire building.

The final fact remains today, when we have accepted mass housing & we cannot go back to the incremental old city houses or the farmhouses anymore. Hence there are few things people will never be able to build by themselves in today’s housing. These are-The floor slab, The roof slab & the water supply & drainage services. That’s all is that is required.

The answer is that, Within a flexible framework of structure, building services & maybe a defined external façade, it would be definitely possible for people to define their own spaces according to their own needs & lifestyle.

Even cities today can be built by the people. City is actually an abstract concept. A number of neighborhoods make a city. The neighborhoods have plots, roads & open spaces. The current towns planning systems & acts in India have been borrowed from its colonial past. In a free country even if major road structure is defined by the government & also built, All the plot re configuration in the growing suburbs & also for large scale redevelopment can be done by the land owners coming together to form a cohesive & cooperative group. All it would take is redefining certain legal frameworks to exploit such possibilities. The so called land uses allocated to land parcels will become building uses like in our old cities which has mixed use development. These communities will be ‘Livable’ & ‘Walk able’ neighborhoods defined between streets with broad sidewalks coupled with efficient mass transit systems. Interestingly the seemingly impossible processes about which I am writing have happened few hundred years ago in India. The planned city of Jaipur only defined grids of street & character of buildings on the edges of street. All the internal streets & neighborhoods are organic & built by people. Even our own Pune witnessed the laying of ‘Peth’ areas during the Peshwas period in the same process. We will find straight laid out roads in the Peth areas but the internal plot configurations was defined by the various communities who occupied the Peths. Even though seemingly congested for the Automobile to get in,  Look at the interesting spaces what we have got in the old cities.

So what New am I offering?  Nothing …Let all work together, people. Designers & executioners to better Livable cities.

Ar. Hrishikesh Ashtekar

Credits & Refrences - Various websites by Ar John Habrakan, Ar. Christopher Alexander, Emergent Urbanism, Books – Traditions in Architecture – Crouch & Johnson, Pune the Queen of Deccan & few other books

KITCHEN DESIGN-Unfolding the Mystery!

Just the word –‘KITCHEN’ arises various emotions & connotations. Since man started cooking, or to be more perfect, since women started cooking ( men do cook & should cook!) , Kitchen came into existence. Kitchen is a symbol of ‘Family life’ in any household. The woman of the house knows best how to design the same because every household will have a different culture of food which will be quite unique. No two kitchens can ever be same.

The basic village house in India, the Hut will have a ‘Chullah’ which has gradually metamorphed  into a modern day ‘Compact Modular Kitchen’ in the city houses. Kitchen design today is made to seem as an expertise or an art & is full of branded companies offering design & execution at a ‘big’ price. No doubt, it has brought a certain degree of Sleekness & Fineness in the products used for the making of the Kitchen. But the only key word that all the ‘modular’ kitchen guys talk is ‘Efficiency’. Kitchen is much more beyond this.

Kitchen actually has two dimensions – Functional & Social

The Functional dimension relates with the ‘Efficiency’ of the Layout & the various accessories. There are primarily three aspects to this dimension - Washing , Cooking & Storage.  Washing denotes location of a Kitchen Sink.  All the various other activities within Cooking & Storage involves use of various types of Mechanical & Electrically operated gadgets. Cooking & Cutting is associated with a Kitchen platform. Kitchen plat form is either of Single type, or ‘L’ type or of ‘U’ type of even as an Island style depending upon the size & space available. It is important , not to clutter the Kitchen platform with various devices but keep it as free as possible, so that it can be cleaned easily. Usually widths of Kitchen platforms are taken around 24 inches to 30 inches with the average height of around 36 inches. Height of the Kitchen platform may vary based upon the average height of the family members who will cook. A bit more height of around may help accommodate more storage in the drawers underneath.

Kitchen is one complex place in the Home where we use almost 8 to 10 types of electrical / mechanical devices, thus making it important to become efficient. Cooking is done either on the cooking range or Gas Flame range and the Microwave.  Storage is again of 3 kinds. The Refrigerator  (Fridge) which is used as cold storage for short term perishable items. The Cabinets which are used for long term food items like grains & Cabinets used for storing utensils & crockery.  Then there are instruments like Mixer , Juicer or the Food processor which relate with the act of chopping, mixing etc. Of course one may have other devices like the coffeemaker or the sandwich maker. The kitchen chimney or the exhaust maintains the ventilation system. The physical  relation of the various devices to each other & their ergonomics becomes really important. 

This Work triangle in kitchen which defines the minimum triangular distance between Fridge, Sink & Cooking equipment , as shown is very important. Ideally The term ‘Modular’ Kitchen analyses the various aspects of the functional activities & splits them into predefined  modules to house the various gadgets. Because a dedicated space is allocated to each & every physical activity, the kitchen can be planned in a very Compact space.

The Social Dimension relates with the Human side of the Kitchen space. In Indian household it is common to have a Pooja area in the Kitchen & the space gets transformed into a praying area in the morning & evening. The very act of Cooking & Serving is metaphysical in nature which relates with oneself through the ritual. If the Kitchen has space for having food (dining table or the breakfast counter) the very act of having food usually gets overlapped by Family interactions over lunch or the dinner. The location of dining area becomes extremely important as it the place which becomes the interaction space in the house. Many times when the size of Kitchen is moderate, the dining area is cut off & created in the living room. Many times we observe that the Kitchen table gets converted in to a reading, writing or work area for women or children. Any guest who goes beyond the Living room & enters the Kitchen space is usually considered to be close to the family. Historically, Kitchen was associated with a small courtyard or a backyard, especially in old ‘Wada’ or ‘Haveli’ which formed the space for interaction only for the close family members. In today’s world of modern Open kitchens, the above values may differ from household to household but still this aspect of Social space within the Kitchen will certainly exist.   

As explained in the above diagram, the ideal design of Kitchen comes out of the overlap between the various Functional & Social parameters. These days Kitchen has become an open but a very compact space in the household. An efficient kitchen even works well within 8 ft to 9 ft width. But in the effort to make it more & more efficient, the social dimension of Kitchen is getting sacrificed. We need to understand what Kitchen means to our family .We should be aware & should analyze both the Functional & Social dimensions of the Kitchen before taking a blind decision of selecting the sleek looking laminated kitchen in the modular kitchen shop.

Hrishikesh Ashtekar

PERSONALIZING SPACES – Resolving the ‘Identity Crisis’ in today’s Housing projects

Everybody likes to express themselves

A few months back, there was a cultural  program in the housing society where I live. This housing society is ‘today’s typical’ with multiple similar looking buildings. During the mid course of the program , I walked out to go back to my apartment due to some important work I needed to attend. As I reached the lift lobby, a small kid of around 6-7 years old came running alone & asked me to drop him to 7^th floor ,where he lives. The lift went up & as the lift door opened on the 7^th floor, he suddenly started crying aloud. I was confused & asked him why is he crying. The answer came that he does not live on 7^th floor. Hearing the noise, an old lady residing on the 7^th floor came out. She happened to recognize this child & told me that he does live on the 7^th floor but in the ‘H’ wing & not in the ’G’ wing where this lift door had just opened. The simple reason to this incidence was that there were no ‘cognitive’ visual references by which a child can tell the difference between lift lobbies of two different wings & doors of the houses. 

Recall how many of us as adults have faced similar problems in today’s housing projects while looking for an address in similar looking huge building complexes, where we search address through abstract numbers like G 604 or B 302. Now recall how simply we can still locate an address in the ‘Old city’ or the Traditional neighborhoods. Some one can tell you that you have to travel down from the large lane to the small lane near the grocery store from where you have to stop next to the temple & come in the court where his house  is located which can be recognized as the house with the decorative door or with green color windows etc.

In the traditional development –villages, old cities etc , People ‘personalized’ their houses, there house fronts, entrance doors, windows with elements derived out of their culture & religions. Just take a heritage walk in any of the old town of Pune, or Kolhapur or Ahmadabad. You will get to know how a Brahmin house always appeared differently than the ‘Traders’ house. The design of their houses were of course different because the houses were built by themselves as per their own needs & not ‘Mass produced’ by developers as they are done today.

This cultural connection defines  the ‘likes’ of  people even today. Hence even in the mundane looking apartment building, as soon as you enter the house, you can distinguish between the house of ‘Shahs’ to the house of ‘Iyers’ to the house of ‘Deshpandes’. The difference comes because of the lifestyle & culture of the people & what their background is. Religion, rituals & attitude towards life makes them ‘Make choices’ unknowingly. There have been studies carried out by Architects, Anthropologists & Social scientists in various parts of the world on this aspect. The research tell you in nutshell that it is more logical to define you own spaces by yourself rather that being impressed by what you see in magazines & movies which do no belong to you.  Hence I make it a point, Not to kill anybody’s belief when people speak with me about designing their spaces. If ‘Vastu’ is an important derivative to you, believe it in true sense. Read about  it in the traditional text books in great depth & then define the locations of various things. There are also counter arguments like when the busy lifestyle of say IT professionals is same in larger cities, we can give them modern spaces with international touch. Just remember that you are an IT professional or a Businessman in your Office. In you home you are a human being, a loving father, a son or a caring mother who comes from a certain background where certain aspects of culture still continue in some form or another.  

The Great truth is that ‘We do not do interiors’ but we ‘Express’ our attitudes, individuality, lifestyle & culture in our spaces. It is our basic need to ‘Personalize the Space’ where you live in. YOU HAVE THE ULTIMATE CHOICE to personalize your space.

So when , next time any Interior designer  or any Vastu expert tries to impose some designs on you, Think why you should not tell him to just shut up & listen to you & design as per your needs not his.

Hrishikesh Ashtekar

SIZE OF HOUSES & VARIOUS FACILITIES

A very common occurrence with most of the people in Indian large cities- You buy a smaller apartment at first –within your budget for your modest size family. As your family grows & as you grow wealthier, you start looking for a larger apartment. The typical question then arises- When we want to move to a larger size house “What is that you are exactly looking for?”

Given below are general Comparative area ratios for various types of houses. If we consider a unit module for one bedroom flat, the area tends to grow in multiples for larger flats as seen.

A fairly common question which students of Architecture ask while learning to design Mass housing is “When the increase is just in the number of bedrooms (maybe an attached toilet with it), why do the areas taken for design multiply as double, triple, four or five times the area of the smaller unit?”

The answer to both the above questions does not lie only in the quantitative aspect but largely lies in the qualitative aspect of the apartments

Let us look sequentially what this ’extra’ area should mean to you:

A typical 1BHK house may have 3 rooms- Living, Kitchen & Bedroom & a separated WC, Bath area. The modestly sized Living room in this kind of apartment may support only one type of Seating arrangement. The Kitchen with a restrictive width to depth ratio may have a small designated dining area to accommodate a table for four people.  The bedroom size will be such that it can accommodate ‘Bare minimum’ furniture. 1BHK flat may not have a designated service area like a ‘dry balcony’ & washing machine & clothes line needs to be accommodated in the lobby or in the small size attached terrace depending upon the weather conditions. Working out a furniture layout & making facilities in this kind of apartments is  a real challenge . Every room should be designed to shift functions whenever required. Eg. The Living room for a larger family should turn into a sleeping area in the Night.  The Bedroom needs to also accommodate tables & chairs for children to study during their exams. Thus every furniture item you buy or make will need to be thought about in great detail in terms of its use. Care should be taken that, in the attempt to maximize the use & storage, we do not over clutter the house & make it look small that it is. 1BHK apartment is always related with ‘Affordability’ & ‘Multi functionality’. Strangely even though these type of flats are in great demand due to their small areas & costing, developers make them less in number as it is time consuming &  structurally costlier to make more number of smaller sized 1BHK apartments.

A typical 2BHK house may have 4 rooms- Living, Kitchen- dining, Bedroom & a Master bedroom. It will always have a common toilet & an additional attached toilet with the Master bedroom. There may be larger lobby spaces like entrance lobby & bedroom lobbies. There also may be designated service areas like a ‘Dry balcony’ for your clothes line & washing machine.  The additional area here is generally distributed in an increased size in almost every room. The Living room should be large enough to have multiple seating arrangements ( a virtue rarely seen). There should be a separate Dining table space which can house a dining table for at least six people.  The kitchen comes with a larger arrangement of kitchen platform & as the dining area gets separated out, more amount of kitchen storage like crockery units etc get accommodated.  The bedrooms are slightly larger in size to accommodate, even a small study area along with the double bed & wardrobes. The attached toilet  with the master bedroom  gives you the privacy within the family. Because there are two bedrooms, one bedroom can be treated as the Children’s bedroom which can accommodate their bed areas & study areas. The need for every room to perform multiple functions reduces here as there is an area designated for each function. So the Living room can have a ‘Sofa set ’ instead of a ‘Bed settee’.  As we get a ‘Dry balcony’ for clothes & services, the terrace of  this apartment can be used for seating & having even a small garden. Thus the Design tagline in a 2BHK house goes as “Exclusive area for each function”.  In India, we seldom enter our house with our shoes on. Hence an area with a cupboard to keep shoes in the entrance lobby means ‘a lot’ to us.

A typical 3BHK house may have 5 rooms- Living, Kitchen-dining, Master bedroom with attached toilet , Bedroom & and additional Bedroom with a toilet. There will be a common toilet near the kitchen. This house will have an exclusive entrance lobby, bedroom lobbies, a dry balcony area & a fairly large terrace. The Living room, Kitchen & bedroom areas will have similar characteristic as any other 2 Bedroom apartment. Except that the sizes may increase marginally to accommodate more seating areas, more storage areas.  Some houses even come with additional alcoves or separate rooms  to be used for Storage, or  ‘Pooja room’The 3BHK house comes in the ‘Luxurious’ segment of Mass housing . The finishes also come with this quality & taste. Every area can be designed to have an exclusive function.  Another quite common factor seen in 3BHK plans is that it will have bedrooms with at least two walls  as external walls & more windows to facilitate cross ventilation. This happens because a 3BHK house consumes larger floor space within the building. The Design tagline for a 3BHK apartment is “Design every function in style”. Thus Design goes beyond the aspect of basic necessity & each item can be a  design statement. A 3BHK house many a times becomes as ideal house type for Joint families as very couple may get their separate room.

A Row house & The Bungalow is a real ‘Luxury’ in larger cities with ever increasing real estate prices.  These are usually ‘The house with my own adjacent Car park’ & ‘The house with my own private garden’.  The Pent house or the Duplex  comes in the same category in terms of the area  with Large Living areas, Large open kitchen & Dining, Multiple bedrooms, Balconies, Terraces & Bi level arrangement of rooms with internal staircases. Here the Design tag line is ‘Beyond the function & Design in style’.  The function & facilities aspects is taken’ For Granted’ in this kind of Housing option as there is very less Space crunch felt due to room sizes & exclusive spaces for available every  use & function. Hence each room can be designed in style suiting to your requirements & liking.  Another interesting aspect in a ‘Row house’ is the availability of clear terrace areas on the roof top, which  could be creatively used beyond putting up ‘Solar panels’ & Water tanks.

In India, the house type ranges from ‘The Hut’ To the ‘Haveli’ (Villa) depending upon the factor of location & affordability. The basic needs of Human beings still remain the same. Hence the basic function what every family requires  i.e – Seating spaces , Sleeping spaces, Cooking spaces, Eating spaces & Toilets  need to be taken care of. If we look upon various types & sizes of houses as ‘Canvas’ to paint our Ideas to accommodate all the above functions, the ‘Size of our house Does not Matter’ !

Hrishikesh