In 2010 me and two of my friends, all architects, rented a One-Room-Kitchen in an S.R.A building. Oblivious to what that means. Written and illustrated in hindsight this project narrates a biography of the time lived in the S. R. A through spatial and architectural notation systems – a spatial biography.
This project employs my memory of the lived experience in an S. R. A. building as the primary tool for the study of this case. These memories are recollected or re-drawn using typical architectural drawing systems of plan, section and axonometric drawings. Where needed free hand drawing method or drawing from memory and even collage is employed to convey the ideas more candidly or vividly.
A narrative structure beginning from the modest room going to the scale of the neighbourhood is used a method to illustrate various aspects of the S. R. A. building and also certain glimpses of life in an S. R. A.
The project primarily acknowledges the absence of a sense of commonness by portraying a sense of complete isolation or indifference to the communal life of S. R. A. extending all the way to the entire city. This acknowledgement is important in order to begin the project on commons with a clean slate – perhaps like a confession which read only between the lines.
The case used here is the S. R. A. building on Dr. Ambedkar Road, Khar (west), Mumbai. The actual conditions might differ in the present – partly also because the project is entirely reconstructed from memory.
room for architecture 