This text explores some reflections Andreas Ruby started to develop when participating in the workshop "Limites x Limites", organised by Aidec and ConstructLab, which questioned the uses and design of a future park in Geneva's iconic neighbourhood "Jonction".

Koliwada's are fishing hamlets in Mumbai city and unlike most settlements, they extend beyond terrestrial boundaries. The waters of rivers, creeks and seas, all form part of an amphibious habitat that is integral and deeply familiar to the Kolis.  

Our project with the Koli community of Dharavi - Sacred Waters/ Águas Sagradas - made it all the way from Mumbai to São Paulo, for the @14th International Architecture Biennale at the Oca, Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo!

The Breaking Ground Workshop in Geneva involved some interesting comparisons with density levels in Mumbai. Learnings from one space were strong inputs in discussions at another.

Drooging around the informal economy, exploring the city’s streets that are dedicated to the production of goods and objects

This animation presents what Dharavi could look like if it was allowed to continue develop incrementally. All designs in the video were conceived by contractors living and working in Dharavi, Mumbai, as part of the Design Comes as We Build project.

This series of articles seeks to shed light on the origin of the unplanned settlements that are home to more than half of Caracas’s population, but whose stories have never been told. Multiple inhabitants were interviewed and shared their stories of struggles, overcoming hardships, constant improvement and self governance that are the origin of unplanned settlements in Venezuela.

The homegrown neighbourhood is an expression of local organizational skills and maximum optimization of resources in the creation of built environments. In this series we attempt to understand its chief personnel, their tools and the processes involved in the making of such settlements.

Following up on the biggest news we had in our yearly update, we want to share more about how we got to kickstart our dream project in Dharavi Koliwada. Here we go.