wholesale market
client: architecture thesis
location: New Delhi, India
year: 2016
This thesis explores the intricate relationship between large scale infrastructure and its surrounding urban context. The instance chosen investigates the relationship between wholesale markets and the farmers and unhoused workers that enable it, particularly in the context of rural migration to cities.
Wholesale markets, as major employment hubs, often attract large numbers of people seeking work, leading to an increase in homelessness due to the lack of affordable, accessible housing. The study proposes an innovative approach: integrating transitory housing for the homeless within wholesale markets. This integration aims to mitigate the impact of markets on urban homelessness and provide a sustainable solution for those affected. As a comprehensive approach, this study seeks to address the challenges of homelessness in cities while considering the unique dynamics of wholesale markets.
Above: Existing Mandi
Below: Proposed Mandi
Located less than 800 metres from the Lotus Temple, the mandi is easy to miss as it’s completely hidden from the public eye and has been designed to be a quitenssentially back-of-the-house architectural structure. In this thesis, the market is reimagined as a space where different segments of the city meaningfully interact with each other.
This thesis recasts the idea of a single redevelopment proposal into multiple projects, programs and activities to benefit diverse users while not deflecting from the idea of a broader transformation of wholesale markets in the Indian context.
The design was chiefly driven by a need to encapsulate and exhibit the sensory spectacle that is the market and coordinate its many people and processes to create a symbiotic urban space.
