Discursive Non-Discursive

The urban village phenomenon is an extremely unique arrangement in India. From colonial annexation to urban annexation, the dwellings in these zones have undergone years and layers of structuration. The architectural discipline has always maintained a safe distance from them by positioning itself as outsiders, objectively observing and critically analyzing. However, almost all the attempts to tangibly engage with these zones have fallen apart. By binding them as special zones or Laal Dora zones, the discipline has conveniently dodged confrontations.
This research can be viewed as a confrontation with the non-designed of Chirag Delhi. It challenges the notion of Lal Dora, to unsurface the genius loci of user-generated dwellings. In the process, inventive and unique organisational principles, space sharing and resource sharing concepts were discovered. The illustrations give a brief insight into the latent spatialities of Chirag Delhi.