Solutions to win over challenges of living in Vertical Cities

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Up above the world so high 
Like a diamond in the sky...
Mumbai believes she can touch the sky and she has. Being a Mumbaikar and having lived in this city for over 25 years, I have seen the sky line rapidly ascending towards an upward graph but not without the the leaks, cracks and a gamut of constructional health disputes. Until recently, Mumbai was known as the city of high rises but the trend is currently making inroads across Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. World class builders engaged in the Indian real estate industry are coming together to share their expertise to build engineering marvels. 
Rapid growth of urban population, aiming to decongest urban sprawl,  demands for the growth of vertical cities, and this exponential growth of vertical infrastructure, pan India, has given rise to a new generation of vertical living spaces but not without its challenges.

# Constructional and health perception of building for its longevity.
Vertical  buildings with their population of caregivers  require special sensitivity to the challenging aspects in building healthcare design—noise/vibration control, air quality, temperature and airflow, vertical transportation, life safety and security among them. It's clear that for long lasting high-rise healthcare it is imperative to incorporate, at the designing level, choice of good quality building material and integrating the services.


 # Understanding society repairs and waterproofing.
Major or minor, every repair costs money to the residents living in the society. Along with that comes the discomfort, time spent in the meetings, discussing and attending the repair. If the repair is successful in the first attempt then all is good. If not, it leads to more attempts and sometimes more problems. Not to mention the additional expense of the re-repair. Just like the increasing repair work for a vehicle with passing time, the repairs for your society building also increases with its age. However, as the golden saying goes ‘Prevention is Better than Cure'. A bit of planning and maintenance in advance can avert these repairs with major savings in the expenses.


#  Watching out for the signs of stitch in time.
Recently I attended 'Building a Healthy Society' awareness event, hosted by Dr  Fixit, where panelist Mr Pankaj Shah (Repair and Structural consultant) mentioned that a building talks to you so watch out for the tell tale signs. Watchfulness punched with a bit of planning and maintenance in advance can avert these repairs with major savings in the expenses. A  simple regime to prevent this kind of surprise repairs is to do an inspection of the property periodically, and conduct the waterproofing of the building wherever required. Summers are the best time to notice any kind of cracks and damages in the building as the heat of summer exposes all cracks. Also, it is a great time to fix the cracks and fix it using the right products as the sealing and adhesion takes place better during summer. Attentive planning and maintenance can increase the lifespan of the vertical rises which would be the backbone to healthy structures and safe societies.


 #Disciplined Interior designing of individual apartments. 
I have always believed and followed in my practice that responsible interior designing, respecting the constructional health of the building, is a vital contribution in keeping the gross health of the building intact. In a vertical, stacked living, each apartment owner has individual choices and requirements, in tandem with the trends, hence it is very vital to make alterations keeping in mind the health of the structure. Just as it is important to have a beautiful home with stylish decor it is all-important to maintain the same with new coats of paints or wall art, repairing the flooring, cleaning out and refilling the grouts, cleaning flooring with non chlorine agents and watching out to repair the advent of any leakage issues as the decor ages.

# Leakage and Water Damage
Raindrops on roses and hot pakoras with steaming tea can be fun during the rains but not if your roof or walls are leaking and you wish you had waterproofed it in time. Rainwater and even capillary water action can cause severe damage to a structure and compromise its longevity. Roof and the joints, where the vertical surface meets the horizontal surface, is the most important step to waterproofing so as to abort the percolation of water and moisture. Chajjas, balconies and roofs need to be audited for waterproofing regularly.



 Living in a high rise that springs into the skyline and having designed interiors of numerous sky scraping apartments, I have strongly come to believe that just decorating your home is not enough. My belief was corroborated by the panelists of Dr Fixit's 'Building a Healthy Society' conference, that to have a home which is beautiful- one that you can thoroughly enjoy- you must protect its skin and bones. Home is our escape so we need to keep it fixed while it speaks to us.


 Note: 
You could write to us at teamatpatterninchaos@gmail.com if you need any further help in finding solutions for your home/building health or any queries you have that we could help you whilst you check the tell tale signs.



About Post Author

Architect, Photographer, Bookworm.
Lifestyle and Design Hunter. In search of Pattern in Chaos.

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1 comment:

  1. Unknown6 March 2017 at 21:12

    Very important issue discussed in this article with consummate ease of articulation. The rampant menace of water seepage and leakage in vertical buildings is too massive a problem to combat with in practical dimensions. Every one including myself are mute victims of this nuisance and however hard tried though, the problem continues. After decorating the apartments with fervor and incurring huge time, effort and money, all goes waste because of the never ever ending problem of invincible water seepage. Thus this article and the purposeful recommendations therein assume significant importance. Good and meaningful reading indeed.

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Architect.
Photographer.
Bookworm.
Lifestyle and Design Hunter.
In search of Pattern in Chaos.
teamatpatterninchaos@gmail.com
Expert design advisor at www.homeonline.com
Design writer at Better Interiors

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