The Nomad Nexus | Redefining Community Living through Flexi-Co-Living Architecture
Year: 2025 Design & Honor Awards | Category: Student Project
This project envisions a flexible, three-dimensional community in Kapashera, blending living, working, and social spaces to revive neighborhood life. It addresses local issues through innovative architecture and community engagement, fostering social cohesion and economic growth. The co-living system offers adaptable living and working units based on users’ needs, budgets, and partnerships, with options to rent extra spaces. Designed to build a sense of belonging and identity, it offers affordable, vibrant living while encouraging new opportunities. This open-ended proposal accommodates future advancements and serves as a potential prototype for the entire village.
Design Challenge
This project challenges the prevailing notion of the complex interplay of commercial, and housing infrastructural factors that demand a nuanced understanding and holistic approach for effective integration. This design argues to address these multifaceted issues plaguing migrants in a densely populated city by exploring the vital role of architecture in mixed-use typology and giving the site and migrants a new identity.
Kapashera faces significant challenges due to high migrant influx. Overcrowding leads to inadequate housing and strained infrastructure. Residents often live in informal settlements with poor sanitation, unreliable water supply, and limited healthcare access. Traffic congestion and insufficient public transport hinder mobility. Employment is dominated by the informal sector, resulting in job insecurity and exploitation. Educational facilities are overcrowded, impacting children’s futures. Environmental issues like pollution and lack of green spaces affect quality of life. Social integration remains difficult, with cultural clashes and isolation prevalent among the diverse migrant population.
Project Information
Student(s)
Khushali Chaliawala
School
Savannah College of Art and Design
Project Location
Kapashera, Delhi, India
Completion Date
5/23/2024
Professor
Huy Ngo
Ryan Bacha
Ernest Abuin
