Two windows, two doors, toilet, kitchen... deconstructing housing schemes for the poor

The  final product of the Slum Resettlement project at Lazar Road in East Bangalore

Whenever you hear of the inauguration (or the building) of a housing set-up for the underprivileged and marginalised, it seems like the implementation of an 'inclusive' policy on the ground. Is it?
In most cases not. The sight of these reconstruction efforts only makes you wonder- were these people better off before such an intervention? Also, you cant but think that one could have done better (much, much better) in terms of design, construction.... and most importantly as an urban intervention.
Let us take the example of a resettlement project for a small scale slum colony in East (now more North) Bangalore. Consisting mainly of squatters, settled earlier as construction workers working on nearby projects, this colony of sorts had grown over the years to a strip that leaked on two sides of the nearby road. Soon enough, functions like a small church, and a few shops that catered to the local community and to passers-by sprung up.
The hutments were predominantly temporary structures, not very dissimilar from scores of such self erected structures that house nearly 30% of this city's population (or any other big city in this country for that matter). These structures were modest, just about an adults length in both length and breadth. Roofs covered with blue plastic sheets, or, canvas; ram-shackle masonry walls, just high enough to keep rain splash and pests at bay; cloth flaps for doors in some cases; you get the picture. There were the more fortunate ones who had built themselves slightly more 'pucca' (hardier structures) with Tin/GI corrugated roofing sheets, and full masonry walls, windows, doors et al. All the structures served mainly as shelter from the weather and as shelter to retire in after an exhausting work day. Most of the activities were carried out in the open; from washing clothes to preparatory activities for food, washing utensils, and other daily household chores. Bathing was out in the open, children defecated out in the open, the nearby railway edge (and embankment) served as an outdoor toilet for this community and passers-by. Women, conducted themselves in the privacy of the early hours of the day. There was no proper drainage or sewerage system in place and during the rains, conditions of living would get worse.
This slum is commonly known as the Desyeshanagar slum and has been a recipient of a JNNURM fund for rehabilitation... read housing for the slum dwellers. Some dailies in Bangalore had written, a while ago, of an 'unenviable'; existence of these Lazar Road slum dwellers and the delayed resettlement as promised to them by the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board (KSCB). Now, after a few years of waiting, four storey apartments have come up, painted white. These RCC framed structures with concrete block masonry walls come with living quarters and toilets for each family. The walls are plastered and there are windows and doors to all units. While there are issues of the allotments versus the original 112 odd families who called this slum home, I would like to focus on the homes that have been made.

The activities are still on the outside...

I am not sure that the beneficiaries are much better off than when they were living in their temporary tenements. Yes, these slum dwellers now have a 'pucca' home, but has the quality of their lives improved? One could remain satisfied by justifying the very fact that they now have shelter, toilets and sewerage, but is that all? Let's take a look at the built.

• Being four storey structures, there are three blocks, crowding on this not so wide a plot. That being the case, the gaps between these blocks are too narrow, with barely any light in the access stairs/corridors and the rooms that face this, even during the brightest of days. Each unit has two 3' x 4' windows provided for light, but effectively only one provides any amount of light due to the stacking of blocks. One gets a feeling of being boxed in as a result. This prompts the inhabitants to remain outdoors during the day, and through the evenings... similar to their earlier lifestyle. Perhaps it also has to do with their way of life.. They surely are a more social group.

The railway embankment continues to be a drying yard
for the rehoused residents

• As there has been no provision for these activities indoors, and also due to the dingy conditions, many activities like washing & drying of clothes, cleaning utensils, etc are still conducted outside. Once again there could be social reasons to the same and the new buildings have not catered to this.
• The buildings are merely products of a mathematical approach to design. In fact they are replicas of similar slum resettlement housing that is being carried out elsewhere in the city. These structures are just that, buildings without an iota of sensitivity.

Without a doubt one thing that has improved is the fact that they now have been provided some element of basic facilities like toilets with piping for water, and electricity. But, how have these buildings contributed in a general betterment of their lives? Could it have been any better with an in-situ upgradation initiative (as against such rehousing), with improved structures in place of their previous hutments, better drainage, proper paving where needed, service yards for washing clothes, access to clean drinking water, better power infrastructure, etc? The new buildings that have been provided are mere shells that do not seem to consider the dwellers or their social requirements as important and it shows in the design.
The primary objective of housing for slum inhabitants and the poor is about inclusion, about giving them a good respectable place as citizens of the city. If it was only an aspect of sanitation and providing facilities, then why couldn't one have considered what I have suggested in the above paragraph. Dignity of life does not seem to be a part of any rehousing scheme for the poor. They don't seem to have any right to aesthetics! Matchbox type tenements reflect a general apathy of the so called powers that be.

The stacking of blocks... too close for comfort, and light!

Of course, sustainability does not seem to figure in any of these developments. How do we act on a degree of far term thinking in what their access to utilities would be? The building systems and materials leave a lot to be desired. Even the current mandatory inclusion of Rainwater harvesting infrastructure has not been provided.

As we sign off from this case study, let us reflect on our attitudes towards these citizens of our cities and ask ourselves do the poor only need houses, not homes?

Nair's Residence: An example of a Sustainable Water Management plan

Mr. Nair, a client who had retired from his active career and a man who enjoyed doing hands-on work approached us with a view to install a rain water harvesting system for his house in North East Bangalore. He could easily be counted as an eco-convert as he himself believed and was interested in many a green thing. He came to us at time when the construction of his house was nearing completion. We saw in this proposition of his an opportunity to address this in a more wholesome manner than just providing a system to satisfy his demand. Read on...

Project facts:
Location: Horamavu, Bangalore
Site area: 568sqm (approx)
Roof catchment area: 198sqm (approx)
Ground catchment area: 285sqm (approx)

Site plan: House on the east and landscaped area on the west 

The site was two plots of land with the eastern section being the house which was being constructed then adjoined by a vacant piece of land to it's west. This vacant land had a small patch of green,fruit and vegetable plants that Mr. Nair painstakingly maintained himself. At the north west corner of the site was a store which was to also include a driver's toilet later.
At IGH we believe that it is immensely more sensible to have a comprehensive strategy which involves reducing the water need first and then managing demand of water (through rain, etc) efficiently than blinker-eyed isolated interventions. Therefore we expanded the scope of just the rain-water harvesting proposition to a comprehensive water management scheme that took into account the following:

• Rain water harvesting- to catch all the rain that fell on the building's roof and the site
• Water conservation measures- to reduce overall water demand
• Grey water treatment- to reuse water that would otherwise be wasted and reduce fresh water demand
• Landscape and irrigation design- to ensure minimal use of water for external use

Comprehensive Sustainable Water management- Nair Residence

RAINWATER HARVESTING
The roof area of the house, approx 198sqm, was large enough to potentially harvest about 1,47,000 lts of water annually in Bangalore. This would meet an optimised water requirement of the Nair household of 5 members for about 9.8 months in a year- which can be a very substantial saving if rain water is managed well. Since the ground catchment area was nearly 1.5 times that of the roof, we suggested that Mr. Nair undertake surface water harvesting too, beyond just limiting it to roof rain water harvesting.

The overall plan was to use the rain water from the roof top for domestic consumption, as this would be relatively cleaner water thus requiring minimal filtration, while the surface rain water (water falling on the ground/ garden) would be harvested for ground water recharge to supplement the aquifer.

Roof Rainwater harvesting system

Roof top rain water harvesting:

The rain water down-takes from the roof of the house were already in place. The exposed roof area had 7 down-takes that were lead into the rear of the house, below ground level and already cemented over. This turned out to be a major limiting factor in the design of the RWH system as it did not allow for an above the ground, in-line system which could have been far sleeker than the underground system which was finally put in place, specially the first flush and filter units..

An important prerequisite for effective roof top rain water harvesting is the regular maintenance and cleaning of the roof. Though Mr. Nair had a 10 kl underground sump that would suffice the requirements of rain water storage, he opted to go for a separate underground tank as he did not feel comfortable about mixing rain water with that in his main sump. The terrace- the catchment for roof top rain water harvesting- he felt, despite his efforts to keep it clean, would have more contaminants than anticipated and so he wanted to play safe in separating the rain water from the main tank.This however, remained a contentious point as the source of his sump water was from a bore-well, definitely of a lower quality. A little more attention to keeping the terraces clean and less money would have been spent.

The rain water harvesting system designed here included:

• Collection chamber to collect water coming from the down-takes via a combination of 3 and 4 inch PVC pipes. A sieve as leaf separator, placed on an incline, was included in this chamber to keep large particles out of the system. An overflow at the top level of this chamber led the water into the first flush chamber. 
• First flush Chamber to flush out a specific volume of the contaminated first rains.The initial rains falling on the roof (especially after long dry spells) is usually contaminated by dust, bird droppings and other particulate matter. Depending on roofing material type, ambient pollution levels and total roof area a certain volume of water from these initial rains needs to be flushed out of the system to keep the system clean. A simple water level dependant float based diversion system was designed to be the first flush here. A dripper driven mechanism ensured that the water from this chamber was drained out over a period of 3 days after which the first flush would reset. The over flow from this would be cleaner water that would enter the filtration chamber. 

First flush diversion system

• Filter to further clarify the water - Three grades of aggregate (top layer- 40mm, middle layer- 20mm and bottom layer- 10mm) in mesh cages, for ease of maintenance, are placed one over the other as filter media in this chamber. The outlet at the base of the filter leads the filtered water via a levelling chamber into the storage tank. 
• Rain Water Storage tank to store the harvested rain water. A 5000lts capacity tank was designed with its overflow leading into a central water feature meant for ground water recharge. Though BWSSB regulations specify a minimum storage capacity of 20lts/sqm of roof area, which would have meant 3600lts, we thought it prudent to provide for a storage tank that would meet the water requirements of the family for about 7 days. Water from the rain water storage tank is pumped into the main sump from where it would be further pumped into the over- head tank for domestic consumption. Had the rain water harvesting system not been an afterthought, as it turned out to be, the plumbing could have been managed appropriately, integrating the RWH system with the main plumbing, to ensure a single operation of lifting of water from UG sump to the over head tank. 

System Maintenance: Each of the chambers have their own separate access hatches for ease of maintenance and upkeep. The dripper out from the first flush chamber needs to be checked for clogging. Setting the dripper to fully open position and then resetting it to desired flow ensures that it will remain clog-free, provided terrace is well maintained. The filter media (aggregates) is placed within steel meshes. This needs to be removed once in six months, brushed and washed with clean water before being replaced. The rain water storage tank is to be cleaned seasonally, ideally at the end of the monsoon period or along with general maintenance and cleaning of the main sump.

The surface rainwater harvesting scheme integrated into the landscape

Surface rain water harvesting:
Surface rain water recharge
The ground catchment area was about 260sqm. We designed a network of surface water harvesting systems which were a combination of recharge well, boulder trenches and a central pond. These were integrated as elements in the landscape design and for effective ground water recharge. 

Here again the regulation specified a minimum capacity of 10lts/sqm of open area (about 2600lts for this project), but we designed the system to be capable of handling a heavy rain of about 40mm in one day (Bangalore gets an average rainfall of about 16-20mm per day) and so for about 9100 lts. The recharge well can handle about 2000lts, the boulder trenches about 4500lts and the central pond about 2600lts.

WATER CONSERVATION MEASURES

The use of water efficient fixtures can reduce the overall daily water requirement by almost 30% depending on usage. It goes without saying that one can be wasteful even with most efficient of systems.

As we began chalking out measures for water conservation in this project, we made a list of fixtures- faucets and flushes that could help conserve water not knowing initially that Mr. Nair had already procured his sanitary and plumbing fixtures at the time of our engagement on this project. We however, convinced him about exchanging his fixtures- basin/ sink faucets and shower heads mainly, with more water efficient ones. Sadly, he had already gone ahead and installed the flush valves, which prevented us from securing about 15-20 lppd through the use of more efficient options.

Water efficient fixtures 

Extensive market surveys were carried out following which we made our recommendations about fixture selection. We assisted Mr. Nair with procuring recommended fixtures by tying up with suitable vendors. During this process of surveying the market we realized that the choice at the hands of a client was very limited, especially if one were to look for 'made in India' products as being water conserving. On the other hand the market seemed flooded by imported fixtures thanks to stringent water use laws in those countries. 

The few fixtures that met our needs seemed more abundantly available in the product manufacturer's brochure than in the market or the display shelves. Clearly, the consumer saw too little of these products and therefore wanted them even lesser. The general notion of most vendors was that these water efficient fixtures were solely meant for gaining points in green ratings and therefore applicable in large projects- hospitality or offices and hardly for individual homes, which was our area of application. Vendors did not seem too keen on pushing these water efficient fixtures and kept almost no stock of them because these, according to them, were not fast moving items. The sluggishness of the distributor to procure small quantities of these specialized items became increasingly evident as we had to keep moving from one to another.

An efficient landscape drip irrigation system was outlined as another means of conserving water. The treated grey water was to be reused for landscape irrigation, thus reducing the overall water requirement.

GREY WATER TREATMENT
Mr. Nair had already on his own accord chosen to separate the grey water line from his soil line. So water coming out from the basins & bath areas in the bathroom and the kitchen sink, known commonly as grey water having fewer pathogens was piped out on a separate line. Most waste water treatment systems available in the market do not cater to scales as small as that of an individual home. They also invariably are  mechanical systems that rely on an energy source. We wanted this grey water treatment system to be able to function without consuming power and also blend into the landscape. After much research and deliberation, we decided to go in for a reed bed based grey water treatment system. We worked on that integrated other plant containers apart from the main reed beds, and ensured that the whole system became a part of the overall landscape.

Grey water treatment system

The system we designed had the following sections

1. Grease trap to separate out the grease and oil which would otherwise retard the system's functioning. Kitchen sinks are large contributors to oil and grease. It is important to remove, to the extent possible, these materials. This is achieved by a grease trap which is a chamber that has two baffles. These baffles cause water to flow between them in a manner where grease floats on the top and gets arrested between them. The overflow is grease free and the water is lead into the nest chamber which is a sedimentation tank. Obviously, exercising caution at the source could potentially reduce the loading on the treatment system down the line.
2. Sedimentation tank to separate out large particles. This chamber has a single downstand baffle which assists in sedimentation of suspended solids, that persist in the system, by gravity. The sizing of this tank was based on a two days standing time. The overflow from this chamber is at an upper level and feeds the gravel bed. 
3. Gravel bed to further filter the grey water. A graded gravel bed consisting of three descending grades of 40mm, 20mm and 10mm is used as a first stage filter for the water coming from the sedimentation tank. The partition walls of this filter bed were made as a perforated brick masonry walls with the overflow from here leading into the planted filter bed.
4. Planted filter/ reed bed to oxidise and treat the grey water. A process of secondary filtration, the reed bed system relies on the ability of certain types of plants to decompose the organic pollutants present in the water. The water is held in this planted filter bed for a period of about 2 days before being let out and stored in the treated grey water tank. The plants/ reeds used in this project were sourced from a lake nearby the site itself. 
5. Treated grey water storage tank to store water before being re-used. Water entering this tank is relatively clean and odour-free. It is now ready to be used for landscape irrigation. 

System Maintenance: Each of the enclosed chambers had their own separate access hatches for ease of maintenance and upkeep. The grease trap needs to be checked from time to time and the excess trapped grease removed from the system. General cleaning of the sedimentation and storage tank would ensure the removal of any minimal particle settlement. The gravel bed and planted filter beds need to be kept weed free and de-weeding undertaken as required. The reeds are to be maintained and can be done along with general garden upkeep.
This simple decentralized system of grey water treatment has been functioning efficiently since its completion in early 2010..

LANDSCAPE AND IRRIGATION DESIGN
As mentioned above, the site was actually two individual plots that Mr. Nair owned in a private layout. He built his house on one and on the other he had plans of maintaining a garden.

We expanded this mandate to integrate within the landscaped area the rain water harvesting systems, a reed bed based grey water treatment system and surface water management system apart from a kitchen garden, patches of native flowering plants and fruit trees that would attract various life forms. There was a requirement to have a kennel and a store with a driver's toilet too in this landscaped area.

A view of the landscaped area

The orthogonal grid for the landscape was formed by extending the logic from that of the built, a straightforward, rectangular building. A central water body, the pond (see surface rain water harvesting) with a pervious base was designed as a seasonal water body that would contain surface run off water in it during the monsoons and would dry up in the summer months- much like the tanks that once dotted this city. Around this pond was the permeable walk way which lead from the house to and around the landscaped area. The walkway was paved with open jointed paver stones with grass in intermediate spaces to ensure that it allowed water to percolate into the ground. By the side of the walk way on the south is the boulder trench, again meant for surface rain water harvesting. A secondary path of stepping stones led from this walkway to individual spaces like the store etc,.

The cascade from the driver's cabin roof to the central pond

The built- store cum driver's toilet- was designed to have its roof as a water cascade. The surrounding plot of lands were still vacant and so Mr. Nair had already built a compound wall along his plot's boundary. We used two of these walls on the north east corner as the back of this built feature. It's front was a rough hewn stone masonry walls with precast ferrocement troughs inserted for the water cascade. This water cascade was fed by re-circulated water from the central pond, powered by a small solar pump.

After some deliberation on the roof of this built section of the landscape, we decided to go with a ferrocement roofing system which would be supported on steel lattice girders and concrete beams anchored into the boundary wall. On the roof of the toilet was the drip irrigation tank that was fed by the treated grey water.

This project attempts to demonstrate how individual home owners could work towards resource independence- in this case water. By adopting measures first to reduce water consumption, efficiently harvest rain water and finally reuse and manage water sensibly, this project aims to optimally utilise a resource as precious yet heavily abused as water.

Trapped in the commonplace

A drain being laid by the municipal authority in Bangalore.
Notice that the bottom level of the drain is the same as the road.

In my opinion this term seems to both define and limit us folks in the subcontinent.

When you look at developmental works being undertaken by govt agencies in your city what do you see? Beyond the obvious addition of flyovers, underpasses, pavements, roads, medians don't you see shoddy work? For that matter, most construction (including private ones) that dots the urban landscape is sub-standard. When you confront this it triggers the usual blame game insinuating everything from a poor workforce, substandard materials, poor compensation for work done and so on.
The government is a reflection of the people governed.... and by state of our public works our appreciation of what is 'good design' is poor at the best. Look at our development body and municipality driven initiatives, our parks are fenced off with a sad meshing painted green; public walls are rendered in the most atrocious paintings that are meant to reflect 'our culture'; pathways which cater to pedestrians are made like mini check dams, making them impossible to get onto by the elderly or the physically disabled. Or for that matter, what is considered permissible urban interventions by the authorities; billboards cluttered along roads, shrouding skylines; parks are made but with boards denying almost any kind of use apart from staring at the greens; traffic signage and lights placed awkwardly where one cant see them, or, altogether missing. One could go on..The important point to note though is there is minimal resistance by US the users of this infrastructure to all this.

A painting on a Bangalore city wall... as apart of a
cultural initiative by the city municipal body
Image source: images.worthview.com 

Where does the problem lie? Of course it takes a lot to create such a deep infliction, but could it be more to do with US than THEM or THAT? What exactly do I mean by that? By now most of us are familiar with the famous 'chaltha hai', or 'will do' attitude of us Indians. We seem to accept almost anything that is dished out at us. Move beyond the built environment and we see the quiet acceptance of everything from the kind of governance, education, television content, cinema, medical care, quality of commercial products, and so on. Perhaps it is this 'live and let live' kind of 'dharma' that we follow which allows all kinds of mediocrity to thrive along with rare examples of brilliance. This has also lead to a social culture that seems to depict a breakdown of society... you see this in our civic sense; love thy neighbour has been hit out of the park. Rules are almost meant to be broken... traffic, pedestrian, building violations, encroachments.... this is what we have become.
But there is change. We miss it because of the din of the commonplace, it engulfs us. There is a change in some sectors like telecommunication, computers, automobiles, apparel, footwear, etc, and that is in turn resulting in lightning speed changes in other industries like advertising, sales and marketing.
To see if this is a sign of better times to come, let us examine it.
What has driven this change? Predominantly the triggers have been external commercial forces tapping into a vast market pool, post the liberalisation efforts in the late 80s and 90s. This has had a domino effect in spawning a glut of entrepreneurial ventures across the nation. This includes the birth or growth of numerous design houses.

Hoardings mar the very facade that lends a character to the city

Has this change been good? From a sustainable perspective, I think not. Some direct impacts have been pollution and a gorging into our natural resources. While a plethora of opportunities seem to await our nation's youth, it has also created wider chasms between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'. From a design perspective, while there have been some truly innovative indigenous examples, the bulk of design from all fields have been imitations (both good and poor) and are touted as a global/contemporary trends. More local design innovation is desperately needed. From a built environment perspective, our cities and towns are rapidly transforming themselves in this global mould encouraged by the political-commercial shouts of Shanghai-ing or Singapore-ing this place or that. Technologies have changed, but the same does not reflect in how we execute work. Take for example the laying of underground cables along city roads; 'trenchless' machines have now been in use for over a decade, but the mess created, the closing up, etc have not changed.  'Pre-cast' kerbs and medians are now more in use, but the design and eventual laying is still harsh and pedestrian unfriendly. Power systems have changed and billing privatised, but power lines are drawn in much the same haphazard manner.
Will such change lead to an eventual rising above this rut? In my opinion, there has been a greater myopia with this change.  Consumerism has lead to a hoarding mentality with no sensitivity for sustainability. Real estate is an investment because of land value and not because of the quality of product, therefore people buy anything that is sold as long as the location is fine! For sure, consumer awareness will lead to an improved product quality, but driven more by sales rather than by consumer pressure. To add to our woes, better quality products are priced higher, which means that there will always be a market for shoddy lower priced products. In the real estate industry though, one can carry on regardless with shoddy products as long as the promoter has the right land, the proverbial golden goose!
What then is our ticket out of this mediocrity? There is no quick fix solution and the process of change is bound to be challenging and long. But a strong will to see a marked improvement and proudly set a renewed subcontinent standard is necessary. If I absolutely should take a shot at some possible ways out, then my bet would be to set a vision/road-map of where we want to be as a first step, where every individual would see themselves as an integral part of nation building. Today, such a all-encompassing vision does not exist.... only in such a context can smaller vision statements/action plans for industry, growth, technology, education, and so on can thrive. The next step would be to try and change attitudes of a nation starting with the setting in place effective mediums of education (to address the development of civic responsibilities to skill sets). We need to be able to set benchmarks for ourselves and have an opinion of good acceptable work, driving a change in our outlook. Only then can we begin to hold ourselves and others accountable.  Finally, instilling a keen sense of purpose in organisations, supported by a zero tolerance for poor standards at all levels. The more we allow mediocrity to flourish, the lesser are our chances that we will ever redeem ourselves. A high expectation from designers, products, governments, etc..... this should traverse all spectra.  I am aware that all or any of this is a tough ask and may span generations to achieve this, but try we should... all of us.