Community spaces are the most important part of the Housing. These community spaces provide opportunity for the people from different places and culture to come together and interact. The design approach focused on creating one central community space. This place becomes a common platform for the entire community to meet. It might help to enhance/induce richer social interaction between the people.
The brief given by the developer client was limited to developing open space with some activity and seating facilities. When they received the proposed layout, the open spaces in the housing were all divided into different parts. They were connected by vehicular access. The other challenge was to design the entire community space on the basement slab. There was no ground available.
They wanted to design the community space as a Park. A park with lots of trees and varieties of green edges. To give this vision to the community space, planters with good depth were required for the greens to grow and flourish. They have carefully designed these planters, so that they act as elements to define different places.
The key concern was to create variety of safe community spaces for the people of different age groups to relax and enjoy. To create safer and secured spaces, they converted the entire area into car-free zone. They worked on re-routing the vehicular traffic and meticulously working on re-designing of parking space to create a car-free community space.

Proposed space is designed as a park. A park in which, activity of seating, walking and playing is central and enjoyed to the fullest by the people. The activity of seating is celebrated by designing different plazas. The plaza at the entrance is designed under the Umbrella structure with lush green plantation around. The Umbrella structure gives a sense of arrival with its grandeur scale. It becomes a comfortable cool place to seat during hot afternoons.
Garden seating’s are always enjoyed with neighbors and friends. There are cluster seat outs designed for smaller group of people. These seat are designed under the tree shade. The plaza near the water body is designed for a serene experience with the sound of water in the backdrop surrounded by softer daylight filtered through the canopy. Swings are always enjoyed by all the age groups as a leisure space. Separate dedicated swing area is designed under the hollow plinth that opens towards the lawn area. Swimming pool is surrounded by thick green plantation to provide privacy and a green buffer from the main street. All these places are used and enjoyed to the fullest by the residence.

As shared, shaded seating areas are the most important elements of the community space. Hence, the Plantation strategy was equally important. Most of the seat outs are designed under the tree canopy. The tree species selected are one’s that stay green around the year. At the same time, they are hardy varieties and require comparatively less care. This helps in maintaining the green character of the community space.
They have used single material that is Indian sandstone, for walls, benches and planters. There is a careful selection of single material that is khakhi – beige in colour. These elements together do not over power the space and works as a background, for the Green plantation to take the foreground. There are jali walls designed to maintain the privacy for the swimming pool area. They are happy, that these designed community spaces contributes to a healthy life and well being of the people.

Project details

Design: UA Lab (Urban Architectural collaborative)
Location: Ahmedabad, India
Typology: Residential space
Built: 2019
Engineering: Kalpesh Shah, Hetal Shah
Landscape: UA Lab (Urban Architectural collaborative)
Structure Consultants: DuCon consultant
Tensile Structure Consultant: Sprech Tenso Structure Pvt Ltd
Horticulture consultant: Dinesh
Clients: Gala Infra, Ahmedabad, India
Gross Built Area: 32.85.719 m2
Lead Architects: Vipuja Parmar, Krishnakant Parmar
Design Team: Vipuja Parmar, Krishnakant Parmar, Kruti Shah, Phoolsa Engineer
Photo credits: © Dhrupad Shukla, Krishnakant Parmar

UA Lab (Urban Architectural collaborative)

UA Lab (Urban Architectural collaborative)

UA Lab is a multidisciplinary design studio headed by Vipuja and Krushnakant. Their portfolio comprises of wide scale of design projects ranging from private residential spaces to community housing and community space design. The firm provides design services in architecture, landscape design and interior design. Their design approach is always focused on the basic questions of scale, proportions, character, spaciousness, daylight, ventilation and the climatic comfort in the built environment. These aspects inform their conceptual positions and guide their design process. The design process is all about creating synchronisation between innovation; humane spaces and ambitious requirements.