As glass towers rise across Mumbai, the city’s layered, lived-in identity is fading. This project reimagines housing in Lower Parel through a low-rise modular system that brings back what once defined community life—courtyards, balconies, shared thresholds, and street-level interaction.

Drawing from chawl typologies and Mumbai’s informal urban culture, the design restores everyday connection at a human scale. An abandoned industrial building is revived as a cultural center and public market, anchoring memory and public life. With materials like brick, concrete, and steel, the architecture resists global sameness and rebuilds place-based identity.

More than a housing proposal, this is a framework for designing with memory, material honesty, and cultural relevance—offering a grounded alternative to the city’s vertical, disconnected future.