Frugal Innovation

I was first introduced to the term Frugal Innovation reading Pralahad's "The Fortune at The Bottom of the Pyramid". I was reacquanted recently by a TED talk video by Ragunath Malshekar, "Breakthrough designs for ultra-low-cost products", If you can't spare the 20 minutes, this is what I learned from it:

Frugal innovation is about radical, really radical, reductions in prices that is able to deliver important things to the bottom 4 billion of people in the world who earn less than USD2 per day. I suggest architects move on from the old arguments about Form vs Function - "Less is More", blah, blah...


 

Bus Stop, Ahmedabad

Another speaker was Meghal Arya who presented the building designs for Ahmedabad's successful BRT System.


From Welcome to Ahmedabad.com

Unlike most minimalist designs adorning architectural magazines, this bus stop is not just a retro-modernist expression. Certainly not a couple of architects who whimsically decided that their design would be in a style that recalls the modernist era.


From urban-research.blogspot.com

It's a design by Vijay and Meghal Arya, professors from CEPT University, where form follows function in the true spirit of modern architecture.


From Skyscrapercity.com

According to Prajna Rao

"The station consists of two bays in each direction servicing 200 to 5,000 passengers per day. Built at a height to match the floor of the buses, the station offers level boarding, making it easy for the elderly, children and the physically challenged. Tactile floor tiles also support use of the system by the visually impaired.

The floor and roof are finished with form concrete while tensile ropes and wooden cylinders form the wall-screen. The stations are thus open and airy, making it climatically suitable for Ahmedabad. It also brings down operational costs, reducing the need for fans and other mechanical ventilation devices. Seating is inbuilt and can accommodate 15 to 20 passengers at a time. In some parts of the city, the transit station extends to offer seating and landscaping for people to read, relax and mingle. Such activities around the station enlarge its scope from being a transit stop to an enlivened public space in the city."

From Wikipedia

Mumbai!

I'm in Mumbai for a conference:

A very interesting lecture was given by Prof. Geetam Tiwari, TRIPP Chair, IIT Delhi, who talked about transporting solutions that takes into account the majority of the city dwellers - the poor, the majority of them working in the informal sector. This is her on YouTube;



Her work, especially her support for the Bus Rapid Transport System, is quite controversial. In particular, the Dehli BRT System is under intense criticism from car users who complain that the dedicated bus lanes have deprived them of valuable road capacity and have exarcebated the already bad level of congestion. In defense a supporter of Prof Geetham, Ar Faizan characterized the allocation of the exclusive bus lanes as being a more democratic allocation when taking into account the number of people in the buses compared with the people in cars.

A later presentation by an architect involved in the BRT System in Ahmedabad - a much smaller city - supports the BRT, but not one give nby Prof SM Akhtar. I'm sure this controversy will rage on.


These are links to two of her papers:
1. Public Transport Research Challenges in India
2. Towards a Sustainable Urban Transport System : Planning for Non-Motorized Vehicles in Cities