Shehla Hussain

Designing for Disaster Rehabilitative Housing in India Shehla Hussain

Exploring the scenario of post disaster rehabilitative housing in India, the book delves into identifying the need for quick, effective shelter. While taking into account the function of a home, in a community, within various and unique cultural contexts, the design aims to respond to the needs of communities displaced by natural disasters. The housing system looks to address realistic situations such as government policies that may fall through and the less-than-ideal circumstances in which people are provided shelter. The new home is hence treated as an owner driven experience, independent of as much external reliance as possible. Traditional spaces are intrinsic to the design which allows for manipulation by owners to address their long term needs, personal tastes and immediate concerns post the disaster. The house hence ensures that appropriate and humane spaces are not compromised both at the intimate scale of a single home as well as when numerous homes are tightly arranged to form a community. It aims to imbibe a sense of belonging, security and ownership, at a time when the sense of the same is lost.