Brief

Course : Field studies in Real Estate, Urban Planning & Design
Professor : Richard Peiser

Cities and their surrounding areas are overpopulated, and burdened by a plethora of planning needs. These residential areas need to be adaptable, and responsive to the environment.

This course is designed to provide students with a grassroots understanding of the development challenges to be overcome in order to create contemporary urban environments. It explores areas related to sustainable design and planning, financial feasibility, and real market demand.

Students of this field-study course will develop a proposal for a future JSW Realty township, located on a challenging terrain in Maharashtra, India. They will engage with and explore ways to create design for a post-COVID society.

The Final Project

Harvard Graduate School of Design students Andriani Wira Atmadja and Nadege Giraudet chose to work with JSW Realty for their final project of the Real Estate, Urban Planning and Design course.

The Township Project is a sustainable residential prototype on a steep terrain in Raigad, Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

The students share their experience along with infographics from their final project:

"Our proposal focuses on sensitively engaging the site’s hilly topography and existing nature as part of the building and landscape strategy. The topographic contours become the guide to orient building footprints, creating long and narrow volumes that can be accessed from varying ground heights."

"The feedback that JSW Realty provided to us was very helpful in shaping up our project. Their emphasis on a sustainable approach motivated us to incorporate green infrastructure and energy systems into our proposal. Throughout the project, we were constantly being reminded of ‘continuous improvement’ - which inspired us to not be satisfied with the status quo, but rather we should think creatively to establish more innovations in real estate projects."

“The project presented us with a number of exciting challenges in developing a prototype for a self-sustaining township while addressing environmental conditions of the area. It gave us a chance to think holistically about the design, infrastructure, landscape, and planning.”

"It was a valuable learning opportunity for us, and JSW Realty had been extremely accommodating in the process. We were able to learn and talk to many people from multiple disciplines; including the real estate sector, architecture, and construction management."

"Working on this project of such scale has allowed us to have a better understanding of how residential developments are structured, prioritised and built. In the process, we realized that the development should not be static - but it has to be flexible and dynamic to changes. This mindset has put our focus to plan an ‘expandable’ development that responds to the future densification and growth of the region while providing long-term benefits to the surrounding communities."

“JSW Realty was a mentor for us throughout the project. They willingly shared resources that could advance the project and introduced us to some experts in the field. They made themselves available to give feedback and answer all of our questions. We were fortunate to work with JSW Realty.”