Madam Narangi: Modular Street Cart Design for Urban Commerce
We reimagined the traditional street cart to create a mobile, modular system that offers dignity, stability, and economic growth for vendors.
The true strength of the Madam Narangi cart lies in its ability to foster interaction. Its versatile design allows it to become a bench, a counter, or a display, creating a small node of community activity on the street.
This axonometric drawing shows how the Madam Narangi carts can be arranged to define a public space. The system is designed for both individual enterprise and collective gathering, transforming a street corner into a temporary, organized marketplace.
This exploded axonometric view details the cart's components. Every element is designed for efficiency and durability, from the retractable display platforms and protective polycarbonate sheet to the simple wheel system, optimizing materials and minimizing weight.
The design's core functionality is shown in its two primary states: a compact, folded form for easy mobility and storage, and an expanded shop-front form that maximizes display space for the vendor.
The project's brief was to elevate the humble 'lari' into a device that instills pride and a sense of community. Madam Narangi was conceived as a resilient, colorful, and flexible tool to support a community facing economic challenges.
The cart's life extends beyond the street. This diagram shows how its components can be disassembled and upcycled into multipurpose furniture for the home, such as a desk, a kitchen counter, or even a child's crib.
The design considers the entire lifecycle of the product. We explored how the cart could be upcycled into a kitchen unit, repurposed as storage furniture, or even rented out for events, ensuring its long-term utility.
About Madam Narangi: Empowering Urban Commerce
When you are working in a bustling market, stability matters more than anything. We prioritized the mechanical joinery of the folding roof and retractable wheels over purely aesthetic choices. This cart is engineered to be operated by a single person, so you do not need an extra pair of hands to set up your shop at the start of the day or pack it away safely at night.
Madam Narangi started with a simple question: How can a piece of street furniture provide security for the person selling behind it? In cities like Ahmedabad, the street cart, or lari, is a lifeline. We wanted to elevate this tool by focusing on lifecycle and utility.
Why the mechanics matter
Each unit is built to shift states. In its folded form, it is compact and easy to move through narrow lanes. Once deployed, the polycarbonate sheets and retractable platforms expand to create a full shop-front. We integrated off-grid lighting powered by movement and simple solar cells, ensuring vendors are not dependent on external power sources to trade after sunset.
A second life for every cart
Sustainability is not just about materials here; it is about longevity. When a cart completes its tenure on the street, the design is modular enough to be disassembled. The components are sized and structured to be upcycled into domestic furniture—a kitchen counter, a student desk, or a storage unit. This is our approach to urban furniture: giving objects a narrative that continues long after the market closes.
Community and commerce
While the cart is designed for an individual vendor, the power of this system is in its aggregation. When multiple units are placed together, they naturally define public space, creating temporary markets or gathering points that encourage community interaction. We are looking to collaborate with municipal bodies and independent sellers who want to bring this level of design thinking to the streetscape.
SIAN Architects
We are Surbhi and Deepanshu, and we see architecture as a conversation between land and the people inside. With Madam Narangi, we moved past standard commercial projects to design something that directly impacts how vendors work and feel on the street every day.
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