Building hope changing lives

For most architects, the dream of transforming city skylines with their creations is something that keeps them motivated, but for Alok Shetty, the dream was different from the rest. This 28-year-old architect from Bengaluru was recently named the “Young leader of tomorrow” by the Time magazine for the smart flood-proof homes that he designed for slum dwellers.

According to the Time magazine, Alok Shetty was chosen as one of the “next generation leaders” who are “working hard to change their worlds today.” The architect was credited with “building hope in India” by providing simple solutions to complex problems. Alok, who started his own architectural firm Bhumiputra Architecture at the age of 19, was born in a family of builders. He says, “ My father and grandfather were in construction business and when I growing up I used to accompany them to construction sites, where I picked up the nitty-gritties of building homes. We have always lived a simple lifestyle and had a very comfortable upbringing, so as I was growing up I realised I wanted to do something for those who were not so privileged.”

Alok, who did his Master’s in Architecture at Columbia University, came back to his city in 2012 with a practical approach to solve the housing problems in slums. As part of the social outreach programme of his company, when he started interacting with young kids from the slum, he understood that most of the children who were coming to him for academic training faced a lot of problems back home. He says, “In the process of teaching kids from underprivileged backgrounds, we learned about a major problem that they face during heavy rains.

As part of the ‘adopt a child for education’ programme, we interacted with these children and realised that their homes were destroyed during rains and they had no access to clean surroundings. To tackle this problem I decided to come up with a solution of affordable housing that would provide them hygienic living conditions.”

After a research for one-and-a-half years, Alok came up with the idea of flood-proof low-cost houses for those who couldn’t afford to build a home. He says, “The planning and execution of  this project took some time. To test this project, we designed 10 houses using recycled construction material. We designed two kinds of low-cost houses — the first was built using scrap material and the construction cost for it came to Rs 18,000 and the second type was built using new but affordable material and the overall cost for that was approximately Rs 28,000.”

To reach out to the slum dwellers during heavy monsoon, Alok joined hands with Bengaluru-based non-profit Parinaam Foundation and constructed the first set of portable houses for the slum dewellers using bamboo foldings, recycled wood and metal straps. Alok informs, “Each house is a 100-square-foot living area with galvanised rooftops to protect from heavy rains.

This year Bengaluru had a record-breaking rainfall so that was a test for these homes, and according to our calculations they can easily last for five years. We are still in the process of creating a patent for these homes. However, the Prime Minister’s Office has reached out to us for planned urban development in the slum areas of other cities.”

Now that his work has gained international recognition, Alok is more determined to come up with sustainable housing ideas for those who live under the poverty line. He shares, “More than anything, when we were working on this project this was our way of giving back to society. We are a very young firm, right now we are a team of 20 people. We want to bring together more bright minds from the country and do something that will help the lesser fortunate ones.”

“Right now we are working towards creating these homes on a bigger scale. Also, we are designing mobile schools and portable toilets as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Project) started by the Prime Minister,” he concludes.