A project to create a more permeable cityscape in Kochi

This project looks to improve urban permeability and access to democratic public space by inhabiting threshold spaces throughout the cityscape of Kochi. This in turn allowed the creation of new accessible routes through city blocks, new civic realms for social interaction, and new opportunity for constant inhabitation of the city by bringing residents in.

Kochi, located in the Southern Indian State of Kerala, is a city suffering a crisis of its own making. Poor development and planning has left the urban landscape increasingly territorialised, gated, and closed off - depriving it of democratic public space. This segregates the city, blocking walkable routes through, reducing spatial equity, and preventing any kind of street vitality from developing.

Combined with a host of new planning polices to improve building codes, the proposed scheme comprises three key interventions. The “Andaralam” atria is a proposed street market pavilion retrofitting and opening up two existing buildings which currently constrain access to the site. The “Thekkini” forum, is a mixed-use complex, comprising residential units above, and retail vendors below. Meanwhile, enveloped by these two is the “Nadumuttam”, a terraced public square with trees and ponds which frames views around an abandoned Jewish Synagogue at the heart of the site.

Overall, these interventions together sought to create a genuine public space free from the hectic congestion of the cityscape - one which is openly accessible, permeable, and constantly inhabited by residents with eyes on the street. This transforms a site in the heart of Ernakulam Market into the bustling and vibrant social space it should be, and combined with new planning policies for the rest of the city, offers opportunity for how enclosure, impermeability, and spatial segregation can be combated.