AUS architecture student team honored at 2024 SARA NY Design Awards

Fifth-year architecture students Afreen Saheed, Asfar Ameer Deen and Ajay Sunil from American University of Sharjah (AUS) received recognition at the 2024 SARA NY Design Awards for addressing water and sanitation challenges in Dharavi, one of the largest and most densely populated slums in Mumbai, India, through a design that integrates practical solutions with cultural insights.

The 2024 SARA NY Design Awards celebrate innovative architectural designs that address pressing global challenges. The awards highlight projects that effectively blend practicality with cultural and environmental considerations.

Developed under the mentorship of Michael Hughes, Professor of Architecture at the AUS College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD), the project "Bridging Pragmatics and Poetics in the Water Culture of India" aims to improve access to clean water and sanitation facilities by creating a water tower that combines functional and cultural elements.

“Drawing inspiration from the pixelated urban fabric of Dharavi, where buildings are constructed from a patchwork of recycled materials, the project adopts a modular design approach, allowing for flexibility and adaptability within the dense urban landscape, while also ensuring sustainability,” said Afreen Saheed.

The tower includes modules for harvesting rainwater during the monsoon season and filtering contaminated water from the nearby Mithi river. It also functions as a storage and distribution point, ensuring that the collected water is not only stored efficiently but also distributed through a network of pipes. Residents can collect water from a communal collection point which streamlines the process of water distribution and access within the community. The design also offers a “wall of buckets” where residents can borrow buckets to collect water for their domestic needs. 

Incorporating traditional water wheels to generate electricity, harnessing hydraulic energy to convert it into kinetic energy and subsequently into electrical energy, the design ensures a sustainable energy source for the module. This self-sustaining system not only powers the water filtration and distribution processes but also supports the pumping mechanisms necessary for water movement throughout the module.

“The bottom of the module functions as a community hub where people can socialize and engage in water-related activities, such as collecting water and communal bathing. This space not only serves a practical purpose but also reinforces social bonds and community cohesion. By incorporating both private and public bathing spaces, the design also respects cultural practices and social norms. These spaces draw inspiration from traditional communal bathing spaces like India’s step-wells. This connection to historical practices not only provides functional bathing spaces but also evokes cultural heritage and continuity,” said Afreen. 

The research emerged from the student team’s experiences with insufficient access and poor quality of basic public sanitation facilities in some parts of India.

“We started by examining the country's sanitation and water access holistically, highlighting current standardized solutions and their neglect of water traditions. We then worked on finding novel ways of approaching the problem- namely by delving into the ritualistic and poetic role that water plays in the culture of India,” said Asfar Ameer Deen.

The team adopted a collaborative approach in their design process, resulting in a unified design. Their inspiration came from personal experiences with inadequate sanitation in India and a desire to incorporate the cultural significance of water into their solution.

“As we began designing and constructing the drawings, we chose to embrace the collaborative nature of our three-person team rather than dividing the work. We used an ‘exquisite corpse’ technique, where each of us contributed to different parts of the drawings independently, without seeing each other's work. This approach involved folding, concealing and augmenting sections, therefore creating a design that emulates the iterative morphological nature of the neighborhood. In our final iterations, our drawings came together in a cohesive collage of visuals that captures various moments and functions of the project,” said Ajay Sunil.

The team’s participation in the SARA NY Design Awards was facilitated by Professor Hughes, who supported the students' exploration of practical and creative solutions.

“The research and design for this project were carried out in Fall 2023 as part of our coursework in ARC401 studio under his mentorship. Professor Hughes taught us to balance creativity with practicality. His focus on research-based design thinking pushed us to deeply explore the issues and develop solutions that are both innovative and feasible. His support was crucial in helping us achieve this honor,” said Afreen.

Asfar added: “CAAD has taught us to focus on contextual design and cultural sensitivity, allowing us to appreciate the significance of local customs, rituals and the social fabric, making our solutions both meaningful and impactful. The interdisciplinary curriculum, integrating art, design, technology and social sciences, provided us with a solid foundation and the confidence to make impactful decisions in the future of architecture.”

The team also recently presented their work at the AMPS Conference 2024 in Barcelona with plans to publish their work in the upcoming year. While the focus is initially on Dharavi, the project’s modular design offers potential for application in other similar areas. Moving forward, the team plans to collect and review the feedback and critiques received during the conference and other presentations to incorporate into their research to develop an improved version of their project.

To learn more about the College of Architecture, Art and Design at AUS, visit www.aus.edu/caad.