Modular Habitation Design and Architecture as Service Approaches to Sustainability

The increasing population in urban areas has put up additional pressure on urban and city resources. Housing, being one of the three basic amenities required for human survival, is the worst hit. Widening income disparity, lack of space, and costly construction have added to the unhappiness. This has become a worldwide phenomenon and is posing challenges to Indian cities as well. To bridge this gap between need and fulfillment, can architecture be considered a service? And rather than an end product; for those who need it severely and don’t have capacity. A possibility is being explored as to how the same can be planned. We try to find an opportunity to consider architecture as a service and plan microhabitats in urban areas as an extension of the existing infrastructure.

At this stage 12 million houses are lying unoccupied across urban India. Between year 2001 – 2011, number of households increased by 60 million (187m – 247m) and several houses rose by 38 million (250m – 331m) in India. In urban India, 38 million new homes were built as against 24 million new households [CBRE South Asia, (2015)]. It is evident, there is surplus growth seen in the real estate sector in India as against demand. But on the contrary, there is a shortage of approximately 20 million homes in India. This shortage affects the economically weaker section (EWS), the most. 95.6% of the housing shortage is in the EWS group. The average house prices in India’s three metropolitan cities vis-à-vis, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and New Delhi are $203,602; $134,690; and $115,897 respectively. A large number
of household’s need for a house is unmet owing to high prices. The real estate sector has become a money-making sector rather than serving the basic needs of humanity. Projected prices are being asked as against actual cost. It is not surprising to see why slums, unauthorized settlements, unauthorized additions in buildings, encroachments, etc. in and around urban areas are common. Nearly 30% of the population lives in urban areas and this is rising every year due to migration from rural to urban areas for various reasons.

Housing, being one of the basic needs of human survival, is hit by soaring prices; lesser available space than ever, rising cost of materials and labor, stringent civic building bylaws, etc. Further, income disparity, and demand due to the increasing population, are making the whole thing difficult to get. Though the Government of India is trying to frame policiesto provide housing to the EWS group, a minimum of one house per family, to safeguard the interests of people from the builder lobby, etc., but scene is still the same. Policies such as Smart Cities are also initiated. This whole scenario of the real estate sector in India is giving a strong push to the construction sector. A huge volume of almost every construction material is required, larger than ever. The push is observed in the manufacturing sector, lifestyle changes, growing aspirations, consumeristic approach of living, etc. To meet such a scenario, we may require the concept of compact living [Sassi, P. (2006)] high density, with mixed land use, access facilities choosing of end ‘product delivery’ or service rendered by the product.

Can architecture be delivered as a service to the end user?
Maybe it can be separated into two entities an end product and a service. Since the cost of the average house has gone beyond affordability limits of most, the economics behind housing needs may need a rejuvenation. A systemic innovation is needed to derive an economic model delivering habitation as a service to the needy in urban settings. The accessibility to one basic need may be extended to a wider audience by a paradigm shift from traditional individually owned buildings to a commonly owned resource. The value is in decoupling it with traditional ownerships of bigger units rather than making it smaller and decentralized. This would have a distributed model of service delivery and exert lesser consumption and environmental impact due to wider distribution of users per unit of traditional space consumption. An increased social equity can be achieved in the current scenario of economic disparity and affordability challenges. Stakeholder configuration approach of SPSS [Vezzoli, C., et.al. (2014)] system design for sustainability shall increase interaction and participation of end users in the proposed habitation as a service satisfaction system. A unit of satisfaction in habitation as a service can be defined as an end user having access to a living space for a given timeframe. It may include all products and services associated with housing needs and their fulfillment.