The Holcim Awards jury Asia Pacific praised this thoughtful proposal for the way it addresses the serious issue of worker’s conditions in the PPSEZ. The design of the suggested housing complex was considered simple yet well-balanced in terms of space distribution and programmatic aspect.

User comfort and wellbeing: By responding appropriately to the ecological context of the site and the requirements of factory workers, and extremely simple and aesthetically pleasing built environment is designed.

Space and cost-efficiency: The project can be constructed with far fewer necessary components, making it cost-effective. A composite of local clay bricks and concrete is used for construction.

Community living – safe, secure and social: Semi-open collective facilities such as shops, bike parking, creche etc are integrated at the end of each cluster to help create an inclusive environment.

“We are implementing a model that could easily be replicated in other rapidly growing cities,” says Avneesh Tiwari of atArchitecture, Mumbai, India. 

The Holcim Awards jury for Asia Pacific sees the design of the proposed housing complex as well contextualized, aesthetically pleasing, and simple yet well-balanced in terms of space distribution and programmatic planning.

The seamless integration of living spaces into the public and community spaces led to the development of a “Home” for the workers within the wider “House” of the community.

Most of the spaces are shared either functionally or visually, making the project space-efficient. For instance, the corridor leading to the apartments is also shared as a veranda overlooking the open-to-sky courtyards, and similarly, on the other side, the boxing for recessed windows are shared as a storage cabinet.

• The blocks are oriented to block east and west sun. The courtyards, windows and ventilators aid passive cooling, cross ventilation, and natural lighting, creating a comfortable micro-climate for each home reducing the operational energy cost.
• A robust composite structural system, with the majority of construction material sourced locally in the form of clay bricks, owers the embodied carbon.
• Modular construction systems limit construction wastage.
• Site as part of SEZ with good proximity to factories reduces work transportation. The campus enjoys high-quality pedestrian and bike links to local amenities, leading to sustainable connectivity.
• 55% of the site is left in open regenerative condition with tree plantation to counter CO2 rise, this enhanced ecology leads to sustainable land use.