Fozia House

Fozia’s House is an experiment to create dignified shelters for the lower-income strata of Karachi, who do not have access to quality design or essential services and amenities. In such a prevalent context, Fozia’s House was a conscious effort to set an example of a Pro-Bono engagement for the entire duration of the project. A participatory and user-centric approach was taken, in which context and site-sensitive strategies were given importance. The design process focused on architectural strategies that emulate vernacular organizational layouts and techniques.

The challenge to take up design as a tool to conduct research is not as widespread in architecture as in other design disciplines. However, the problem area the author considers is the growing crisis in Housing for the lower-income, where issues of sustainable financing and inadequate urban infrastructure are at the forefront of the challenge.