Aranya Low Cost Housing

“In the Gujarati tradition in India, when the bride and groom proceed to the groom’s ancestral home, a plate, adorned with a mixture of water and kumkum, a vibrant red pigment, rests outside the front door. The bride dips her hands into this symbolic red pigment, and imprints the walls of her new home. In this act, she signifies that this house is also her home now. Balkrishna Doshi, the Architect of Aranya Housing, declares this as, “she belongs to the house, and the house belongs to her.”

This can be seen as the significance of ownership within the architectural realm. The essence of home lies not merely in erecting structures but in nurturing a profound sense of belonging, facilitating participatory involvement, and enabling the expression of aspirations, relationships, and desires. These values are visible in Aranya Housing, a visionary housing project situated six kilometers from Indore, India, now seamlessly woven into its urban fabric. In this project, residents weren’t handed fully-built homes. They got land with the basicservices, and then they could shape their homes bit by bit, suiting them to their evolving tastes and needs. This way, the community grew naturally, with each person’s home becoming part of shared spaces like courtyards and streets, showing the real lives of the people there.

Doshi’s architecture, like Aranya Housing represents how social life and buildings can work together. Everything from shared spaces to balconies and terraces is carefully designed to connect people and their environment. Even now, in India’s bustling cities, Doshi’s way of practicing architecture stands out as a guide for caring about people. His influence tells architects to step away from the usual and work with communities, dreaming up fresh ways to make homes. When we mix traditional ways with new, then architecture isn’t just about buildings, it becomes a force for shaping how people live their lives.” (Booklet Positive Lived Experiences of Quality in the Built Environment 2024, p.13)

Image: Aranya Low Cost Housing_Balkrishna doshi.

Credit: Vastushilpa Foundation

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