Designing Urban Plazas & Community Hubs
Creating spaces that encourage connection and reclaim underutilized pockets of the city. We blend thoughtful architecture with the local neighborhood fabric to build places that feel like home.
The Basera Community Plaza in Ahmedabad, designed as a safe and inclusive space for a women-led organization. The tiered seating and open pavilion create a flexible environment for workshops, meetings, and daily conversations.
This before-and-after view of the Basera Plaza site shows the dramatic transformation from a simple parking area into a functional and beautiful community asset, highlighting the impact of thoughtful urban design.
Women and children gather at the Basera Community Plaza. The design's openness and visibility from the street were crucial to making it an accessible and welcoming space for community discourse and grassroots activities.
An educational session in progress at Basera. The space was designed to be a versatile platform, accommodating everything from vocational training to informal gatherings, all sheltered under a light-diffusing bamboo canopy.
Detail shots of the Basera pavilion, showing the interplay of the bamboo lattice, simple metal frame, and draped fabric. These elements provide shade and a framework that the community can adapt for various events.
A before-and-after perspective of the Basera Plaza's connection to the street. We removed the imposing wall to create an open, inviting entrance that integrates the plaza with the surrounding neighborhood.
Women relaxing on the integrated seating at Basera Plaza, which overlooks the adjacent street. This design promotes "eyes on the street," enhancing safety and fostering a sense of community ownership.
About this collection
When we approach a public space, we start by mapping the hidden rhythm of the street. Whether it is transforming a derelict alley into a vibrant gathering spot or redesigning steps into a tiered plaza, our focus remains on materials that age gracefully, such as bamboo, stone, and steel, ensuring the space thrives long after we finish.
Great public space is about more than aesthetics; it is about visibility and safety. In our work, such as the Basera Community Plaza in Ahmedabad, we looked at how to transform a parking zone into a sanctuary for women. We replaced imposing walls with open, permeable boundaries, creating a plug-in that connects to the street rather than hiding from it.
Our toolkit for urban plazas focuses on adaptive reuse. We do not always clear the site; we read it. We analyze how residents move, where the shadows fall, and what materials will hold up to the daily bustle of an Indian city. By using locally sourced materials like black granite, Jaisalmer stone, and bamboo lattices, we create structures that require low maintenance but high engagement.
For the Nepean Greens project in Mumbai, we took a neglected series of steps and turned them into a tiered landscape. By extending the platforms and incorporating ramps for accessibility, we ensured the space serves everyone, from children playing to residents looking for a moment of quiet. This is the essence of our practice: listening to the context, respecting the history of the site, and designing for the people who will actually walk, sit, and gather there every day. We believe that when you design with empathy, the architecture fades into the background, and the community comes to the forefront.
Compartment S4
We are a team of eight friends who see every project as a new story to be told. We sketch, we shuffle, and we obsess over textures until a space feels right, not just for the client, but for the street itself.
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