Formal outcome of the HUDCO-GREHA Proposal for Restructuring Technical Education to meet the requirements of Human Settlements, designed to restructure Architectural Education which would have "provide(ed) Bachelors Courses in Habitat Planning, Habitat Management and Architecture, three year Diploma Course in Habitat Engineering and training in building skills with special emphasis on social aspects, low-cost technologies and extension methods will promote a hierarchy of skills required for facilitating housing and human settlement development in a desirable manner."

Design Studio

The design studio is the arena where theoretical and practical learning, in all the subjects forming part of this syllabus, is to be synthesised by means of exercises. Since the syllabus is focussed on the three mission contexts – organically evolved settlements, planned settlements, and spontaneous settlements – the design exercises would be grounded in the real problems drawn from the students’ immediate environment. Thus the developed design skills would have direct relevance to field situations affecting the majority.

Studio exercises to develop an understanding of ‘place’ – as space for human habitation ‘occasion’ – as rhythm of human activity ‘community’ – as the collective expression of needs and aspirations of people.

The mission contexts are seen as a progression of principles of habitation which emerge from an understanding of life support systems interlinking nature and the built environment.

Semester 1 and 2 focus on the mission context – organically evolved settlements. Exercises would deal with;

  1. rural homestead
  2. village cluster – from hamlet to village
  3. consolidation of habitation with increasing complexity of human activity
  4. development of an urban structure and ethos

Semester 3 and 4 focus on the mission context – planned settlements. Exercises would deal with;

  1. building design as a conscious expression of social order
  2. types of buildings
  3. systems of infrastructure
  4. open spaces in neighbourhood design

Semester 5 focuses on the mission context – spontaneous settlements. Exercises would real with;

  1. Adaptation processes of socially marginal groups
    1. with a rural base (squatter settlements)
    2. with urban aspirations (unauthorised colonies)
  2. Adaptive processes for buildings/neighbourhoods
    1. rehabilitation/upgrading
    2. incrementation

Semester 6 is devoted to a project which is individually selected by each student base on one of the mission contexts.

Materials and Construction Workshop

  • This course seeks to combine basic technical knowledge of materials with the creative use of building skills and construction techniques. The focus is on the three mission contexts, starting with commonly used indigenous/natural materials and techniques, and progressing to processed/industrial materials used in the urban context.
  • Traditional materials and methods of construction as well as appropriate new technologies will be given emphasis. Modern materials and their uses would also be learnt selectively. Direct uses would also be learnt selectively. Direct use and familiarisation will be ensured for each student through the Building Centre workshop activity.

The course is organised to explain general principles in the classroom (lecture) hours, familiarise students with live situations through the Building Centre workshop activity, and to integrate the theoretical concepts from the classroom with practical experience from the workshop, through small group tutorials/studio exercises.

Theoretical concepts are covered under the following heads:

  1. Materials: building materials commonly used, their performance characteristics in terms of various tasks, testing procedures, standards and codes.
  2. Components: the discipline of assembling different materials into building components; standards, codes, testing procedures for strength and safety.
  3. Process: building construction as a process integrating skills, tools, materials and components.

Studio/Tutorial exercises to be organised around in entities of building materials, components and processes, prepared by students to be sent to field situations, corresponding with the mission context, to record examples from the built environment, study availability of building materials, and understand the construction process.

A representative list is as follows:

  1. Materials – earth, bamboo, thatch, timber, stone, brick and clay products, lime and cements, concrete, metals, ceramics, glasses, bitumen, asphalts, asbestos cement products, fibre glass, plastics, composite materials from agricultural and industrial waste, points and preservatives.
  2. Components – foundations, plinths, floors, walls, roofs, stairs, door/windows, hardware, plumbing and electrical fixtures/fittings, roads and pathways, tanks, drains and service ducts.
  3. Process – construction equipment, including tools for various trades and simple site machinery; sequence of building operations and coordination of various trades; building trades and market mechanisms; preparation of information for construction activity, including drawings, specifications and bills of quantities.  

    Semester 1 and 2, inventories will be drawn from 3 examples of rural/semi urban locales representing different regional types, such as coastal areas, plains hilly regions.

    Semester 3 and 4, inventories wild be drawn from examples of urban locales which represent regional variations in planned settlements.

    Semester 5, inventories will be drawn from local spontaneous settlements.

    Semester 6, the student will use the Building Centre workshop for experiments/exercises relevant to the individual project.

Environmental Engineering

  • This course is to provide an understanding and basic technical knowledge of life support systems for maintaining public health. The course content is focused around each mission context, with an emphasis on appropriate and energy conserving techniques.
  • This course is reinforced by a broader theoretical base in ecology of human settlements covered under the course for Planning Theory in Semester 3.

The course is organised in three sets which integrate Environmental Engineering through the subheads of Climate, Water & Waste and Energy. The course runs for the first semester of each academic year. Each semester three will be a practical component through the Building Centre workshop where students will undergo training in constructional skills related to the delivery of public health services.  

Environmental Engineering I

  • Climate: Global climatic factors, concepts of thermal comfort, passive strategies for a appropriate climatic design, micro-climate control.
  • Water & Waste: Water cycles, natural & developed sources, quality and purity, health & water, traditional techniques of treatment & storage, methods of upgradation: Organic & non-organic waste, pollutants, appropriate methods for disposal or re-use of wastes.
  • Energy: Renewable and non-renewable energy sources, energy scarcity & eco-balance, social forestry, composting, biogas – design of system, stoves & chulhas, rural electricity: supply, measurement of need, motors & pumps.

Environmental Engineering II

  • Climate: Psychometric chart, calculated heat gain & loss, means of thermal control, solar geometry, evaporative cooling-system design, principles of air-conditioning. Micro climate and urban form.
  • Water & Waste: Decentralised and centralised systems of water delivery and sewerage disposal. System economics.
  • Harvesting rain, bulk water treatment.
  • Urban waste: types of waste, hazards, disposal, re-use. Centralised & decentralised systems for waste disposal. Storm water systems and roads.
  • Plumbing fixtures and fittings for simple buildings.
  • Energy: Public utilities, electricity distribution system, electricity demand, tarifs & rules. Internal electrification of simple buildings – circuits, wring, fixtures & fittings, safety.
  • External distribution lines, street lighting – system design & integration with building form, external surface treatment. Daylighting design, artificial illumination system, equipment and end-use efficiencies. Principles of solar heating, photoelectric, wind energy: sample appliances.

Environmental Engineering III

  • Case studies: Water consuming strategies & technologies for developmental needs. Integrated systems of energy & waste recycling.
  • Spontaneous settlements and urban waste, scavenging and recycling of scrap & goods. Systems of incremental extension of urban services – management, finance, operation.

Structural Theory and Design

The principal objectives of the structural syllabus are:

  • it should equip the student with the skills to choose a structural system relevant to the building form, functional requirements and the materials and technologies available.
  • the student should be able to estimate the preliminary sizes of all members.
  • the student should be able to design and detail some very simple buildings without expert help.

New analysis and design methods (such as matrix methods, yield line analysis, limit state design etc), particularly those amenable to computerisation, should be adapted.

More advanced concepts which are very rarely used, such as “influence lines”, should be avoided.

The course extends over five semesters, starting with the introduction in the 2nd semester and ending with design exercises in the 6th semester.  

Introduction to Structures (semester 2)

  1. Concepts of strength, serviceability and durability in relation to the building use, life-span, materials and technologies at hand and the resources available.
  2. Nature of loadings (dead, live, wind, ice, earthquake etc.), their effects on various type of structures and their statistical basis of derivation.
  3. Concepts of safety factors for materials and loadings and their statistical basis.
  4. Examples of structures which illustrate various structural concepts such as biaxial tension and compression (cables, arches), bending (including cantilevers), shear, torsion, frames and trusses, skin structures (shells, domes and nets).
  5. Inter-connection between the materials chosen, the building forms, structural principles adopted and the massing.
  6. Properties of solid and hollow sections (area, moment of inertia, elastic modulus, radius of gyration) and their effects on the strength and stiffness of a member.

Theory of Structures I (semester 3)

  1. Tensile/compressive structures – cables, arches, columns.
  2. Concepts of elasticity and plasticity.
  3. Concepts of static and kinematic determinacy.
  4. Forces in statically determinate, pin jointed plane and space frames, method of sections, graphical methods.
  5. Theory of plane section bending and derivation of shear, bending moments, slopes and deflections of beams (simple, opencast’, cantilevers and propped cantilevers) using calculus and plastic hinges.
  6. continuous beams and portal frames using moment distribution and plastic methods.
  7. Strain energy and virtual work of rigid and deformable systems.
  8. Deflections of structures – virtual work method, moment area method, graphical methods.

Theory of Structures II (semester 4)

  1. Bending and shear in two way slabs using elastic and yield line methods.
  2. Buckling in columns.
  3. Force deflection method and generation of stiffness matrices for 1, 2, 3-dimensional structures, both determinate and indeterminate.
  4. Proces and displacements by inversion of stiffness matrix, including effects of loads, temperatures, restrain and support movements.
  5. Analysis of skin structures such as shells, domes and nets using surface stresses and strains, bubble analogy and empirical modelling.
  6. Introduction to finite element theory (basics only) and its importance as a global, computer based method.
  7. Approximate methods of analysis for axial forces, bending, shear and deflections in multi-span/multi-storey frames.
  8. Introduction to pre-stressing and post tensioning.

Structural Design I (RCC) (semester 5)

  1. Introduction to limit state design: loads, stresses, safety factors, compression, flexure, shear, torsion, bond, combined axial and bending.
  2. Simplification of the structure in terms of sub frames and elements.
  3. Design of rectangular, T and L beams.
  4. Design of slabs: one way, flat slab, ribbed slab.
  5. Design of short and slender columns under axial forces and biaxial bending.
  6. Design of bases.
  7. Concrete mix design, cube testing, shuttering, admixtures.
  8. Rules governing reinforcement detailing.
  9. Deflections, crack control and durability.

Structural Design II (Steel, Timber, Brick) (semester 6)

  1. Properties and stresses of steel (elastic and plastic).
  2. Standard steel sections: cods, flats, L, T, Channels, Universal Beams and columns, box sections, tubes and castellated beams.
  3. Design of ties, struts, beams columns, trusses and bases.
  4. Riveted, bolted and welded joints.
  5. Fire and corrosion protection to steel.
  6. Properties and stresses in timber.
  7. Design of timber trusses, beams and columns.
  8. Nailed, glued and bolted joints.
  9. Fire, damp and termite proofing of timber.
  10. Properties and stresses in brickwork.
  11. Design of brick walls and piers under vertical and lateral loads.

Settlement Planning

The intent is to provide theoretical basis, together with a range of techniques, for solving problems inherent to the process of urbanisation, with special reference to Indian conditions. Urban agglomerations are grouped under three heads/mission contexts. The first two courses deal with organic evolution of steel elements and the processes of planning for these. The third and fourth course deal with formal planning theory and techniques applicable to planned settlements. The fifth course deals with planning for spontaneous settlements which are peripheral to the formal planning process. The sixth course seeks to deal with policy issues at an elementary level.

Evolution of settlement planning (semester 1)

  1. Significance of continuity in human settlements.
  2. Historic determinants of human settlements in terms of migrations, socio-cultural beliefs, geographical location and climate, technology, political power.
  3. Commonalities and contrasts in alternate settlement patterns based on time and location – ancient, medieval, and modern – and their cultural significance.

Evolution of settlement planning (semester 2)

  1. Principles of settlement planning as evidenced in ancient texts in India.
  2. City as distinct spatial entity.
  3. The theoretical constructs of Geddes, Ebenezer Hoard, Mumford, Doxiadis and others.
  4. Planning of settlements in the colonial era.
  5. Existing towns and new development – area of contrast and spatial friction.
  6. Prospects of integration of old and new development.

Planning Theory (semester 3)

  1. Aims and objectives of settlement planning.
  2. Levels of planning in India and their inter relationships. Various models of the planning process – choice theory/advocacy planning/action planning – their application in the Indian context. Components of settlement and models of urban structure. Land use planning: locational attributes – ecology, man-nature interface, human activity systems and choice of space qualities, urban land policy.
  3. Movement network: Inter and intra settlement linkages with reference to efficiency of communication, environmental impact, and resources.
  4. Models of urban and regional planning.
  5. Ecological planning.

Planning Practice and Controls (semester 4)

  1. Urban Development Plans – types, scope, and objectives. Database for development plans – survey research, analysis and presentation of physical and socio-economic data, administration of field surveys, use of aerial photography and remote sensing. Introduction to traffic engineering, characteristics of urban and rural roads. Traffic characteristics in villages, owns, cities and highways.
  2. Strategic choices for urban structuring.
  3. Planning Controls – FAR, density, ground coverage, setbacks, parking standards, etc.
  4. Building bye-laws – health and safety standards for human habitation.

Non-Formal Urban Housing (semester 5)

  1. The informal sector: Definition and magnitude
  2. Urbanisation trends and growth of informal sector
  3. Role of informal sector in the development process
  4. Non-formal housing and the informal sector of economy
  5. Physical profile of squatter settlements
  6. Various approaches towards squatter settlements: Environmental improvement schemes, Resettlement schemes, Sites and services approach
  7. An appraisal of present practices and possible guidelines
  8. The unauthorised settlements: Causes of origin and perpetuation
  9. Social, economic and physical profiles
  10. Possibilities of integration with city
  11. Incorporation of informal sector in settlement planning through – Housing policy land policy.

Housing Policy and Housing Finance (semester 6)

  1. Introduction to real estate economics
  2. Income distribution and housing finance
  3. National Housing Policy – its rationale and implications
  4. Shelter options in relation to financing schemes
  5. HUDCO norms and patterns
  6. Loan schemes of banks and other financial institutions
  7. Employee loan schemes of Government and Corporations
  8. National Housing Bank – the prospects

Building Management

  • This set of courses deals with the optimisation of productivity and quality in the built environment.
  • The courses are organised in sequence to start with estimation of building costs, followed by control of quality, programming of work, and management of workforce. The last course deals with the relationship between technical parameters and user satisfaction.

Estimation (semester 2)

  1. Scales in drawings and dimensioning.
  2. Methods of calculation of surface area and volumes for building works.
  3. Surveying data recording and interpretation thereof.
  4. Criteria of measurement.
  5. PWD accounting and procedure of works.
  6. Preparation of Bill of Quantities.
  7. Analysis of rates.
  8. Specifications.
  9. General conditions of contract, tendering.

Construction Supervision (semester 3)

  1. Mobilisation of building resources.
  2. Responsibilities of designers, builders, and owners.
  3. Specifications for contract items and modal requirements.
  4. Quality Control at various stages of construction, including checking of drawings/specifications, testing of materials, and awareness of building pathology.
  5. Provision of essential items like water, electricity, and equipments.
  6. Procurement, storage and inventory control of materials for construction.
  7. Optimum utilisation of workforce, materials and equipment.
  8. Costing and billing.
  9. Safety measures and precautions, including health and hygiene.

Construction Planning and Scheduling (semester 4)

  1. Definition of tasks.
  2. Break down of structure of activities, and their inter-relationships. Workshop training for optimisation of construction technologies.
  3. Study of construction sequence for various works, including preparation of bar charts.
  4. CPM/PERT scheduling:– Critical path and mile stones
  5. Resource scheduling and resource levelling.
  6. Supply of critical items.
  7. Constraints affecting construction schedule.

Supervisory Management (semester 5)

  1. Concept of formal organisation.
  2. Organisational structure – line, staff, department.
  3. Inter-organisational relationships – Contractors and their agents suppliers. Other public organisations. Designers – architects, engineers, consultants
  4. Duties and responsibilities of supervisors.
  5. Personnel management: detailing of manpower and job specifications, skill qualifications and training, recruitment and control labour, relation: elements of labour laws, management of health, safety, accidents, reporting and action.
  6. Dealing with the workforce: motivation and work, including intrinsic and extrinsic rewards; organisational communication; management of conflict, including grievance redressal; performance appraisal.

Public Participation in Decision-making (semester 6)

  1. Definition of various publics in a development situation, including individuals, groups, organisations, and unorganized sector.
  2. Communication of design decisions to the publics – demystification of technical information.
  3. Analysis of public responses.
  4. Negotiation and bargaining – definition of bargaining base.
  5. Devising alternate solution sets, incorporating different configurations of physical survey data, social survey data, design criteria and public preferences.
  6. Redefining the optimum.

Theory of Design

This set of sources seeks to define the basic considerations which govern design decisions.

The courses are taken in the 3rd, 4th and 5th semesters, starting with examples taken from history, followed by explication of the analytical processes leading to the generation of design solutions, including aesthetic appreciation.

Course I-History (semester 3)

  • History as an illustration of design principles expressed through significant cultural periods. The variety of influences, including materials, construction technologies, prevailing beliefs and values, which are sought to be resolved into built form. Distinction between unchanging (perennial) aspects of architectural expression and the dynamic aspects subject to periodic change.

Course II-Principles of Design 1 (semester 4)

Design as a rational and self-conscious exercise in defining form:

  1. The utilitarian matrix of form.
  2. Generators of creativity – connectivity/dissociation, originality/imitation, intuition/rationality.

Course III-Principles of Design 2 (semester 5)

  1. Resolution of diverse criteria to signify meaning.
  2. Modes and criteria of evaluation.

Mathematics and applied mechanics

This course is to provide the student with basic knowledge of application of elementary mathematical principles, leading to a basic understanding of force systems and equilibrium.

Students will be taught practical applications of principles through interactive tutorial clauses as a sequel to the theory classes.

Mathematics (semester 1)

  1. Limit and Continuity.
  2. Differentiation, Integration.
  3. Definite Integrals.
  4. Differential Equations.
  5. Matrix Algebra.
  6. Transposition and inversion of matrices.
  7. Basics of vector Algebra.

Applied Mechanics (semester 2)

  1. Friction, Potential energy and virtual work.
  2. Centre of Mass, moment of inertia.
  3. Momentum, Bernoulli equations.
  4. Analysis of stress and strain.
  5. Equilibrium and resolution of forces at a joint.
  6. Bending and shear of beams.
  7. Torsion of shafts.
  8. Standard deviation.

Drawing and Communication

This course is for skill training in;

  1. Visualisation and re presentation by means of graphic imagery.
  2. Idea articulation by means of written words.
  3. Understanding media, including 3 dimensional scale models, photography, audio-visual techniques.

The course is taken in semester 1 and 2. Teaching would be organised as studio exercises in;

  1. principles of composition – point, line, plane, mass, space, colour, texture, scale, proportion, rhythm, harmony, character.
  2. drawing skills – freehand sketching mechanical drawing, including plans, sections, elevations, 3-D projections, calligraphy and clattering, measured drawing of built examples
  3. representation skills – diagrams, ideograms scale models, audio-visual projection

Survey

In order to define the conditions, both physical and socio-economic, within which building can effectively take place, the courses in surveying are organised around the two themes:

  1. Land
  2. Human activity in the context of (1) rural habitat and (2) urban habitat

Survey 1- Physical Survey of Land (semester 1)

  1. In this semester students are to be equipped with the basic tools and techniques of physical survey of land – plane and geodetic survey. This will include:
    • theory of measurement and errors
    • linear distance and traverse computation levelling and use of theodolite
    • mapping of data and contouring
    • computation of area of and earthwork quantities
  2. Statutory requirements of planning surveys, including Cadastral maps. In the second and third semesters, students are to be trained to relate the physical dimensions/spatial order of the built environment with basic demographic and attitudinal variables.

Survey 2 – Rural Habitat (semester 2)Emphasis will be on:

  1. boundary records/revenue records landmarks/bench marks
  2. sampling techniques questionnaire design interview – types and methods of data collection and analysis
  3. ethnographic survey

Survey 3 – Urban Habitat (semester 3)

  1. Emphasis will be on descriptive statistics, either published or generated by practical exercises.
  2. A basic set of techniques to be employed would be:
  3. measures of central tendency
  4. dispersion
  5. ratios, rates and relationships
  6. This course will provide a background for the course on planning techniques which is taken in the 4th semester.

Computer Application

This course is intended to familiarise students with the versatility of the computer.

The course begins with the appreciations of the equipment, and through a process of practice classes imparts the basic knowledge of preparing simple programmes.

  • Introduction to computer – Hardware – Software
  • Languages
  • Uses of computer – Wordprocessor – Data handling – Graphics – Softwares for structural design, quantity surveying and project planning (CPM/PERT)
  • Applications – Practical on 3
  • Programming – Lectures and practicals on making programmes.