The importance of 'Plan B' in architecture
Property design and development has always had a second layer of services as a backup and this trend continues even today
There are many beautiful structures in Mumbai, even amongst these; some pre-independence structures strikingly stand out. These structures not only display an architectural style, which has immense historical value globally, but there are some very important lessons to be learnt from them as well.
One significant aspect of these structures was there was always a "Plan B" for certain situations, just in case "Plan A" fell short. For example each individual apartment was designed keeping in mind future growth of the family, as well as affording flexibility in terms of space usage.
So if there were long unending corridors in these apartments, then the reason was not too farfetched to seek. The corridor gave an option for multi-family usage of the same apartment without any one family disturbing the other families.
And, in most cases there was always an additional door which led into the main corridor for further facilitating the above mentioned purpose. What's more, this door also doubled up as an escape egress in case of an emergency ("Plan B" within "Plan B").
Climate comfort was taken care by smartly designed window openings keeping each season in mind. There were those pretty looking external wooden louvers, which not only took care of the privacy factor but also kept out the harsh summer sun while simultaneously allowing room for cross ventilation functioning in tandem with ventilators provided above doors.
Thus, the entire system worked on basic principles of air currents, wooden louvers letting in cool air currents, while ventilators above door letting out warm air currents. This system worked well even for the monsoon. Remember those days; they didn't have the luxury of mechanical ventilation. Or maybe they just didn't need it.
The main guiding principle of these structures was that they stuck to a simple fundamental: get the basics right. However limiting the means and situations, the design of these structures cleverly maximized the efficiency of each resource by a process of multi application and by having a back-up for most situations.
There are so many other virtuous features in the design of these structures, that it is no surprise, that most of them have been quantified as Heritage structures, such that they may be a source of continuous study as striking examples of intelligent design.
Having said that, it doesn't imply that we should simply start replicating these structures all over again. Remember, those times were different, the resources were different and the social norms were different.
Today, the conditions have changed, the resources have changed and the standards of living have changed. But one thing surely hasn't changed; we still need to get the basics right and that too each time.
We will need to have a Plan B for a lot of essentials, noteworthy amongst them being: water, power, waste disposal and (hold your breath) even food!
Water
For a city like Mumbai, which is bursting at the seams, water is a commodity, which is ever in short supply. Despite an above normal rainfall and most of the lakes supplying water to the city full to the brim, there are still water cuts in most parts of the city due to demand outweighing supply.
The situation demands finding new catchment areas. Even if these areas are identified, then there will be the need for a whole new network to be installed in place, which can route water from these areas to individual taps. This calls for massive decision making and huge investment of time and money.
Think Rainwater Harvesting! It is a simple system to install, many companies providing services. Water so harvested can be used for secondary water usage like flushing, cleaning of premises, washing cars, gardening, etc. New constructions are integrating this system in their design and if existing structures also install this system, water shortage can be alleviated to a large extent. What's more water harvested will lessen the run-off co-efficient on the streets during heavy monsoon, thereby easing to some extent the situation of water logging in areas as well, the virtues of multi-application.
Power
Mumbai, being the economic capital of a rapidly developing country like India can hardly afford power outages as well as power theft. When unrest among coal miners in southern parts of the country starts affecting power supply in certain suburbs of Mumbai, understand that it's time to start looking for alternate supplies.
Think renewable sources of energy! Micro solar and wind application are now finding their way in residential and commercial structures across many parts of the country. To start off, this is a Clean and Green source of energy, i.e. it doesn't rely on any non renewable source like fossil fuels for its power generation. Also, its application goes a long way in mitigating green house gas emissions.
And, with the technology getting more and more cost effective by the day with simultaneous advances in ease of application, people are now finding an alternative source which can provide power to parts of their premises in times of power outages. Even if a structure can generate 10 to 15% of its daily requirement it will still take care of a lot of power related situations.
In fact there are already some smartly designed structures in the country, which are 100% self powered. In certain cities, there are even providers in place, who will build, operate and maintain the system at a marginal rent, which still is much more cost effective than the main supply rent, and what's more if the structure is generating energy for itself means its generating energy for the country as well. A rapidly developing country like India will need as much power supply as possible.
On-site waste disposal system
At a rough estimate, the city of Mumbai produces approximately 9,000 tonnes of waste daily, out of which around 6,000 tonnes is mixed waste (bio-degradable and recyclable) and around 3,000 tonnes of debris and silt.
This is a huge quantum and given the way the city is growing, this figure will only inflate further. The dumping grounds are already falling short and with new apartments being constructed next to existing dump yards, there is further pressure on closing them down. Where do we dispose all this waste?
Already, the tell tale signs are visible with debris lying along roads and railway tracks. Drains are choked and if there is an open drain channel, one can see the amount of litter which has claimed its occupancy.
Blaming the authorities won't help. There is only that much that they can do. This situation is of a very large magnitude and it will require the total involvement of each and every citizen if we have to guarantee a cleaner and healthier Mumbai for the future generation.
Waste segregation at the source, which has been discussed for long, will need to be taken up very seriously. Each household will need to consciously adopt this practice, after all the city is simply an extension of our house. There are examples across the globe, where apartments have been designed with its own stand alone landfill on site, which serves as a micro dumping ground and in the bargain the landfill gas so produced generates power for the structure.
Again since it services only individual structures, there is negligible or zero health hazard involved. Also in India, there are examples of people having devised systems which generate energy from decomposing organic waste and then using the by-product residue as organic manure.
Plus, the importance of the three famous R's can never be overstated. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Any 7th standard student will tell you what these three R's mean when it comes to waste disposal. Let's take a leaf from their notebooks and try our best to reduce the burden on the city.
Food
This might sound a bit far-fetched but one close look at the kind of vegetables and fruits available in the market will be enough to understand at the kind of nutrition we are providing for ourselves and for our kids. Mind you, there's even a monetary price you pay for this.
With more and more parts of the country getting rapidly urbanised, there is an increasing shortage of farmlands. Food available in the city comes from places nearly 200 kilometres away, resulting in huge transportation costs daily and also burning of fossil fuels in the bargain. Again, it is estimated, nearly 50% of the food gets destroyed in transit, resulting in massive losses of resources. This leads to a further escalation of commodity prices.
Hence, it is no surprise, across the globe, there is a silent revolution happening across cities like New York, London, Stockholm and Beijing. More and more people are increasingly adopting the practice of growing as much food as possible within their own premises.
Look up the Internet and search for examples of rooftop farming or window farming and one can see the wonderful results that people have come up with. There are some very inspiring examples from India as well, which need to be further encouraged as this will go a long way in ensuring that we, and more importantly the children are eating substantially nourishing food.
In climates like Mumbai, one can easily grow vegetables like tomatoes, cauliflower, okra, sweet lime, spinach, potatoes and a wide array of flavouring herbs on rooftops. Fruits like guava, pomegranate, papaya, etc, have also been grown organically on apartment terraces. There's also an example in Gujarat where corn has been harvested on rooftops.
It is estimated that 16 square feet of rooftop farming can provide one square meal per day for a child. For a country like India, where each day there are kids dying of either malnutrition or starvation, this practice can provide immense relief.
Hence, it is only prudent; that we start adopting alternate sources for all these important essentials in a very serious manner and as early as possible to take care of certain pressing requirements of the city. We will only stand to gain.
Property design and development has always had a second layer of services as a backup and this trend continues even today
 | |
There are many beautiful structures in Mumbai, even amongst these; some pre-independence structures strikingly stand out. These structures not only display an architectural style, which has immense historical value globally, but there are some very important lessons to be learnt from them as well.
One significant aspect of these structures was there was always a "Plan B" for certain situations, just in case "Plan A" fell short. For example each individual apartment was designed keeping in mind future growth of the family, as well as affording flexibility in terms of space usage.
So if there were long unending corridors in these apartments, then the reason was not too farfetched to seek. The corridor gave an option for multi-family usage of the same apartment without any one family disturbing the other families.
And, in most cases there was always an additional door which led into the main corridor for further facilitating the above mentioned purpose. What's more, this door also doubled up as an escape egress in case of an emergency ("Plan B" within "Plan B").
Climate comfort was taken care by smartly designed window openings keeping each season in mind. There were those pretty looking external wooden louvers, which not only took care of the privacy factor but also kept out the harsh summer sun while simultaneously allowing room for cross ventilation functioning in tandem with ventilators provided above doors.
Thus, the entire system worked on basic principles of air currents, wooden louvers letting in cool air currents, while ventilators above door letting out warm air currents. This system worked well even for the monsoon. Remember those days; they didn't have the luxury of mechanical ventilation. Or maybe they just didn't need it.
The main guiding principle of these structures was that they stuck to a simple fundamental: get the basics right. However limiting the means and situations, the design of these structures cleverly maximized the efficiency of each resource by a process of multi application and by having a back-up for most situations.
There are so many other virtuous features in the design of these structures, that it is no surprise, that most of them have been quantified as Heritage structures, such that they may be a source of continuous study as striking examples of intelligent design.
Having said that, it doesn't imply that we should simply start replicating these structures all over again. Remember, those times were different, the resources were different and the social norms were different.
Today, the conditions have changed, the resources have changed and the standards of living have changed. But one thing surely hasn't changed; we still need to get the basics right and that too each time.
We will need to have a Plan B for a lot of essentials, noteworthy amongst them being: water, power, waste disposal and (hold your breath) even food!
Water
For a city like Mumbai, which is bursting at the seams, water is a commodity, which is ever in short supply. Despite an above normal rainfall and most of the lakes supplying water to the city full to the brim, there are still water cuts in most parts of the city due to demand outweighing supply.
The situation demands finding new catchment areas. Even if these areas are identified, then there will be the need for a whole new network to be installed in place, which can route water from these areas to individual taps. This calls for massive decision making and huge investment of time and money.
Think Rainwater Harvesting! It is a simple system to install, many companies providing services. Water so harvested can be used for secondary water usage like flushing, cleaning of premises, washing cars, gardening, etc. New constructions are integrating this system in their design and if existing structures also install this system, water shortage can be alleviated to a large extent. What's more water harvested will lessen the run-off co-efficient on the streets during heavy monsoon, thereby easing to some extent the situation of water logging in areas as well, the virtues of multi-application.
Power
Mumbai, being the economic capital of a rapidly developing country like India can hardly afford power outages as well as power theft. When unrest among coal miners in southern parts of the country starts affecting power supply in certain suburbs of Mumbai, understand that it's time to start looking for alternate supplies.
Think renewable sources of energy! Micro solar and wind application are now finding their way in residential and commercial structures across many parts of the country. To start off, this is a Clean and Green source of energy, i.e. it doesn't rely on any non renewable source like fossil fuels for its power generation. Also, its application goes a long way in mitigating green house gas emissions.
And, with the technology getting more and more cost effective by the day with simultaneous advances in ease of application, people are now finding an alternative source which can provide power to parts of their premises in times of power outages. Even if a structure can generate 10 to 15% of its daily requirement it will still take care of a lot of power related situations.
In fact there are already some smartly designed structures in the country, which are 100% self powered. In certain cities, there are even providers in place, who will build, operate and maintain the system at a marginal rent, which still is much more cost effective than the main supply rent, and what's more if the structure is generating energy for itself means its generating energy for the country as well. A rapidly developing country like India will need as much power supply as possible.
On-site waste disposal system
At a rough estimate, the city of Mumbai produces approximately 9,000 tonnes of waste daily, out of which around 6,000 tonnes is mixed waste (bio-degradable and recyclable) and around 3,000 tonnes of debris and silt.
This is a huge quantum and given the way the city is growing, this figure will only inflate further. The dumping grounds are already falling short and with new apartments being constructed next to existing dump yards, there is further pressure on closing them down. Where do we dispose all this waste?
Already, the tell tale signs are visible with debris lying along roads and railway tracks. Drains are choked and if there is an open drain channel, one can see the amount of litter which has claimed its occupancy.
Blaming the authorities won't help. There is only that much that they can do. This situation is of a very large magnitude and it will require the total involvement of each and every citizen if we have to guarantee a cleaner and healthier Mumbai for the future generation.
Waste segregation at the source, which has been discussed for long, will need to be taken up very seriously. Each household will need to consciously adopt this practice, after all the city is simply an extension of our house. There are examples across the globe, where apartments have been designed with its own stand alone landfill on site, which serves as a micro dumping ground and in the bargain the landfill gas so produced generates power for the structure.
Again since it services only individual structures, there is negligible or zero health hazard involved. Also in India, there are examples of people having devised systems which generate energy from decomposing organic waste and then using the by-product residue as organic manure.
Plus, the importance of the three famous R's can never be overstated. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Any 7th standard student will tell you what these three R's mean when it comes to waste disposal. Let's take a leaf from their notebooks and try our best to reduce the burden on the city.
Food
This might sound a bit far-fetched but one close look at the kind of vegetables and fruits available in the market will be enough to understand at the kind of nutrition we are providing for ourselves and for our kids. Mind you, there's even a monetary price you pay for this.
With more and more parts of the country getting rapidly urbanised, there is an increasing shortage of farmlands. Food available in the city comes from places nearly 200 kilometres away, resulting in huge transportation costs daily and also burning of fossil fuels in the bargain. Again, it is estimated, nearly 50% of the food gets destroyed in transit, resulting in massive losses of resources. This leads to a further escalation of commodity prices.
Hence, it is no surprise, across the globe, there is a silent revolution happening across cities like New York, London, Stockholm and Beijing. More and more people are increasingly adopting the practice of growing as much food as possible within their own premises.
Look up the Internet and search for examples of rooftop farming or window farming and one can see the wonderful results that people have come up with. There are some very inspiring examples from India as well, which need to be further encouraged as this will go a long way in ensuring that we, and more importantly the children are eating substantially nourishing food.
In climates like Mumbai, one can easily grow vegetables like tomatoes, cauliflower, okra, sweet lime, spinach, potatoes and a wide array of flavouring herbs on rooftops. Fruits like guava, pomegranate, papaya, etc, have also been grown organically on apartment terraces. There's also an example in Gujarat where corn has been harvested on rooftops.
It is estimated that 16 square feet of rooftop farming can provide one square meal per day for a child. For a country like India, where each day there are kids dying of either malnutrition or starvation, this practice can provide immense relief.
Hence, it is only prudent; that we start adopting alternate sources for all these important essentials in a very serious manner and as early as possible to take care of certain pressing requirements of the city. We will only stand to gain.
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