sPare’s research project (de)Coding Mumbai documents the history of Mumbai’s housing fabric through the evolution of building and development regulations.
● The 2 week exhibition is on display at IFBE’s 10,000 sq. ft. space that conserves an old Ice Factory in Ballard Estate and houses multiple exhibition spaces, a gallery shop, café and restaurant, designed by Malik Architecture.
● sPare’s extensive programming will include lectures, workshops, panel discussions, exhibition walks and a performance presentation.
IFBE launched sPare’s research project (de)Coding Mumbai on 12 June 2022 that documents Mumbai’s housing fabric throughout the years. The exhibit traces the development of the first regulations emerging as a result of the plague of 1896 to modern building regulations today that are structured to quantify real estate and not qualify living environments.
IFBE, which was previously an ice factory in one of Mumbai’s oldest dockyards, has been reinvented by Malik Architecture. The art, design and architecture hub, complements the exhibition and brings forth challenges that are demonstrated in the case studies. Although IFBE may be a new cultural space, the ice factory is 143 years old, has been repaired and its 10,000 square foot space has been redesigned to blend its past and future.
sPare, the research arm of sP+A, presents 18 case studies that document and analyze the trajectories of Mumbai’s building codes. It showcases the last 100 years of regulations for housing in the city of Mumbai. These regulations and codes have shaped the housing and urban form of the city impacting directly the lives of its residents.
Key collaborators and sPare researchers, Aayushi Joshi, Shreyank Khemlapure and Chinmay Shidhore are delighted to announce that the two-week exhibition (de)Coding Mumbai also includes the following events throughout the exhibition:
● An Exhibition Tour by Sameep Padora | 5:30 PM, 15 June
● Built Form Codes for Housing Everyone: Drafting a Design Manifesto, a workshop by Hussain Indorewala | 5:30 PM, 14 June
● Ghar Mein Shehar Hona (Part 3), a Performance Presentation by CAMP | 6:30PM, 17 June
● (de)Coding Mumbai, a keynote lecture by Sameep Padora | 5:30 PM, 18 June
● Understanding Building Regulations, a workshop by Prasad Shetty | 11AM, 19 June
● Mumbaikars, A discussion between the Residents of the Documented Case Studies | 5:30PM, 22 June
● Housing Futures: Mumbai, a panel discussion moderated by Hussain Indorewala | 5:30 PM, 25 June
Understanding Building Regulations, hosted by Prasad Shetty will be open for architecture and planning students, professionals and architecture aficionados to understand how laws, bye-laws and policies are framed. Mumbaikars will invite residents and inhabitants of projects that are documented in sPare’s book to share their experiences, thoughts and views of inhabiting their specific forms of housing. Housing Futures: Mumbai moderated by Hussain Indorewala, will conclude the exhibition with a panel discussion that will bring opinions and ideas on the future considerations for housing in Mumbai. The panel brings together six experts from a diverse set of practices including Jasmine Saluja, Prasad Shetty, Prachi Deshpande Merchant, PK Das and Sameep Padora.
Founder of sP+A Sameep Padora says about his exhibition “As residents of cities like Mumbai, our experiences at the scale of the city, of our neighbourhood, down to the experience of our house are all dictated by some mode of regulation. In Bombay, from the first regulations emerging as a panacea for the plague of 1896 to the building codes today that allow an architecture that enables the spread of disease, it seems that the city of Mumbai has come full circle. We at sPare are happy to present our research that documents and analyses the trajectories of Mumbai’s building codes and development plan. Tracing the interrelationships of housing with socio-political and economic currents we try to make explicit the extraordinary layered nature of the policies and codes that create this architecture of the everyday.”