Anguri Bagh Housing

Yasmeen Lari; Lari Associates; Derek Lovejoy and Partners

This project was part of an ambitious scheme of the government to provide housing units for the low and middle-income groups.

Anguri Bagh Housing, Exterior in 1987: The site covers 47,000 square feet in the residential area of Defense Society, it is bound on two sides by vehicular roads and separated by a canal from the Katchi Abadi (Squatter Settlement). © Kazi Khaleed Ashraf/Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Comprising of 787 low-cost dwelling units arranged in 14 clusters of single, two-storey, and three-storey blocks, the project attempts to provide a large number of low-cost, one- and two-room housing units based on the living pattern of the urban poor of Lahore. Units are of two categories: 1. category one measures - 12ftx45ft, and consists of a room, a covered verandah, and an enclosed courtyard; and 2. category two consists of two rooms, a verandah, and a courtyard. In both cases, the kitchen forms an enclosure within the verandah, the WC, and bath open onto the courtyard.

General view, streetscape in 1987 © Kazi Khaleed Ashraf/Aga Khan Award for Architecture

In spite of the cost-constraints, it was important to create an interesting and lively environment which would suit the lifestyle of the people. The narrow pedestrian streets for example at once function as a children's' playground, a place for socialising where people take their charpoys (string beds) out, a vendors' selling place and provide space for interaction.

Exterior, pedestrian street and overhead walkways connect individual housing units in 1987 In Lahore, people were averse to living in flats and find 'western-style, five-storey walkup apartment blocks' totally unsuitable as they tend to 'separate people from the ground and one another'. The architects, as a consequence, needed to persuade them, how, in order to accommodate all the families it was essential to 'go high'. They agreed to the design once it was explained with the help of drawings and models how each unit, even on the second floor had a courtyard. © Kazi Khaleed Ashraf/Aga Khan Award for Architecture

A government-controlled, public sector company was responsible for the low-technology project. The workforce as a consequence was composed primarily (approximately 70%) of unskilled workers. No factory-produced structural items were used and all work was done of local materials in-situ.

The low-income families for whom the project was intended fell victim to political factors and the units were alloted to people at a middle-income level. The units lay vacant for a long time and only a small amount of the initial investment was recovered: the dream of creating a 'revolving fund' to build more units never materialized and the project – initially meant to provide five similar housing schemes comprising 6,000 dwelling units – stalled as a consequence.

Text Source: Yasmeen Lari, Lari Associates in their application for the Aga Khan Award-Contest, 1980