Pooja Ugrani
Tekton
Volume 7, Issue 2, September 2020
pp. 44 – 63
Pooja Ugrani graduated from Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai and has a PG diploma in Indian Aesthetics from Janana Pravaha, Mumbai. She recently completed her M.Arch. Degree by research from Mumbai University where she analysed the expression of ownership at the boundaries of domains in urban mass housing. She was invited to present the above paper at the CEPT Research Symposium in February 2020 at Ahmedabad. She is currently teaching as Assistant Professor at Acharya’s NRV School of Architecture, Bangalore.
pooja.ugrani@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
A series of territorial markers are created at the boundaries of urban residences in community living (spatial, physical, olfactory, auditory) that indicate spatial ownership. Way-finding and address-giving for residences utilize such markers, along with other elements that are part of the existing environment. These are read and navigated to reach the destination. When a resident gives her address, she is telling you how to navigate various boundaries in an appropriate fashion to gain access.
The objective of this research is to understand how people provide addresses and how this is linked to their perception of their house. It also attempts to read the identity of a collective whole, for example, a housing society, as seen by its local residents. The address-giving/ way-finding exercise helps understand how an architect-built space is identified and referred to by its users and by the world at large creating an alternate identity for the space.
This research paper looks into the relevance of elements/ markers (created by residents or already existing in the local environment) navigated in address-giving that aid in accessing residences. It analyses why certain landmarks are more popular than others and attempts to find variations (and the reasons behind them) in address-giving within the same housing communities.
KEY WORDS:
Address-giving, Identity, Landmarks, Markers, Housing Communities, Way-finding
