Composite regional centre for persons with disabilities cum inclusive school at Ahmedabad

Abstract

Humans have come a long way from their animal kingdom background. Working together, throughout history, under different banners, and for different reasons. We have established one of the most significant orders of universal survival and success. The name of this system is the society, collecting further into nations and ultimately civilization. The most basic thought governing this system is supposedly inclusive growth for all individuals. However, ironic as it may seem, but, even till this date, being born specially-abled is still a taboo in many countries. India, being world’s 2nd most populous country, faces a worse form of this situation. Today, there is no discourse in architecture except the droning mantra of sustainability and so, while architecture is enjoying a resurgence, in fact it has never been more vacuous, parochial and insensitive. But more worryingly, social commentators and practitioners of art and architecture display no collective sense of outrage at the discrepancy showed towards architecture allied to developmental disorder and vulnerable population in India. The only vision available to architects today, it seems, is a demoralized one that assumes the worst. People envision the future with trepidation rather than expectation of creating a barrier free environment for everyone. Architecture designs are rather commenced on humanitarian grounds following the radical notions but on the verge of commercial culture, designs became more machine than human. As a result, architects are told to minimize their footprint on the earth, rather than stamping their vision on the planet.Owing to the traditional conception of the disabled as a person who has to be dependent, it had not been a common practice in the past for disabled people to be active users of public buildings and spaces. It had been presupposed that people with disabilities had to be taken care of by the family within the confines of the domestic space. There is an upsurge of the number of disabled persons who are leading active public lives, becoming part of the user-group utilizing public buildings for production, recreation, commerce, transportation, education etc. Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment was instrumental in establishing Composite Regional centers for persons with disabilities in various parts of the country. These CRCs are national level institutions that provide clinical as well as educational facilities to the vulnerable population at regional level. The ministry has set up five CRCs in different parts of India. This undergraduate architecture thesis put forward a detailed design proposal for the upcoming CRC Ahmedabad in the eastern region of the country. This undergraduate thesis is a result of detailed research on disability, inferences drawn from the literature studies and live case studies conducted and detailed mapping process from the concept design. The site study helped in understanding the existing conditions and geographical context of the site and the surroundings. The concept design is followed by design development process, which chalked out different zoning (horizontal and vertical) schemes. Later, this process evolved to form development and general massing of the overall site. Various layouts of circulation, activity pattern and the form responding to the living environment is penned down through various inter-relationship diagrams. This was further followed to internal layout planning process and detailed design development. The final design outcome and the design process is enclosed in this report.