Double-Shift Schools: Architectural Strategies to foster Place Attachment.
Open Access
- Author:
- KELKAR, GAURI JAYANT
- Graduate Program:
- Architecture
- Degree:
- Master of Architecture
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- January 12, 2010
- Committee Members:
- Jawaid Haider, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jawaid Haider, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Ute Poerschke, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Darla V Lindberg, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- alienation
double-shift school
place attachment - Abstract:
- Double-shift schools are vehicles of change in developing countries such as India. Through efficient management of resources such as the school building and playgrounds, they are providing greater access to primary and secondary education, consuming fewer resources in terms of land usage and reducing costs of education. The system is beneficial economically as it cuts operative costs, however the reduction in cost comes at a significant price. The shift operation creates a crunched school day, lowers quality of education, creates conflicts of ownership of space between shifts and induces a feeling of detachment or lack of belonging to the school. This thesis delves into the question: Does the built environment of the double-shift school induce feelings of alienation; and if it does, then how can we as designers create better and more responsive spaces for the double-shift school. The study was divided into three stages. First, the concept of alienation was grounded in theories of place attachment. It was found that the environment acts as a vehicle through which the attachment processes are manifested and fosters positive self and communal identity. Through the process, people (children), processes (act of appropriation and activities) and the built environment (attributes and affordances) were established as the key players in the processes of alienation. Finally alienation was defined as a sense of detachment to place caused due to changes in people, processes and places and the environmental attributes that lead to detachment were defined and established. In the second stage, case studies of a double-shift school in Navi Mumbai, India was conducted to document goals, activities of the two shifts in order to understand the differences and similarities in the user - environment interaction between the two shifts. Secondly the physical space staging each activity was be critically analyzed to conclude if it supports or deters the activity and its goals. A summary of the findings suggested that lack of 1) control of space; 2) ownership of space and 3) adaptability of space were the main reasons for detachment towards the environment. Finally, in the third part of the study, environmental attributes that lessened the effects of alienation were established as 1) adaptability; 2) control; 3) personalization; 4) ownership. Based on these attributes design guidelines were developed for one of the case study schools and they were graphically illustrated.