PROGRAM

Brochure showing condominium amenities

Despite the materialized new wall around Dharavi create an apparent segregation, it is meant to create integration. This is done by program.

In many condominiums’ brochures a common and clearly emphasized strategy are amenities. Pools, saunas, gardens, spas, pet-spas, massage rooms, gourmet kitchens, barbecue areas, entertainment rooms, computer centers, games centers, gyms, sports facilities, just to name a few. Most of them are clearly superfluous, if not completely unnecessary, spaces created or just decorated in order for the developer to elevate the price of the unit, and therefore make more profit by not elevating much the cost. However, if thoroughly analyzed, some of these amenities can actually be useful to the users of the condominium, and although these amenities are commonly criticized by architects as being killers of the street-life — following the legacy of Jane Jacobs —, opening up the possibilities, one could argue that having a pool in a condominium does not necessarily exclude the possibility of using a public pool sometimes, or having a gym in the neighborhood and not having in the condominium does not mean the user is going to enroll himself/herself in the gym nearby, generating life to the street. There must be a balance between architecture and urbanism. The program of both can be diverse. The neighborhood can and should have plenty of facilities, but the buildings can also be small heterotopias, concentrating other programs beyond just residential, or commercial.

Having this in mind, these amenities are not meant to be literally added to the wall, but to be transformed into amenities for the actual needs of Dharavi, the surrounding area, and Mumbai as a whole. In this way, both sides of the wall are attracted to it, as people who live in other areas of Mumbai. In some parts of the wall, for example, the leather produced in Dharavi — the biggest producer of this commodity in Mumbai —can be directly commercialized with shoes industries, hence eliminating the intermediate trader and bringing more money directly to Dharavi. In some other parts of the wall, data centers can generate jobs and create a high-speed internet zone, where people from both sides can benefit from. Near the train stations, a linear museum can host exhibitions people from all parts of Mumbai might be interested in. And, in between all these apparent disconnected programs, housing and public facilities can supply part of the demand in the neighborhood.

In conclusion, the space may be aggressive — intentionally indeed — but by using this impacting new element in the urban landscape to attract people from all parts of Mumbai, perhaps the perception of Dharavi change from a problematic slum to an actual center of Mumbai, diverse, dynamic and inviting. The wall can act as a bridge.