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Alamelu Pasupathy
alampas@gmail.com | Furniture & Interior Design | PGDPD
Furniture for the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) Indian Homes
Sponser: Ford Foundation - NID Diploma Scholarship,
Guide: P Rama Krishna Rao
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Keywords
Domestic home furniture
Urban lower middle class
Market based approach
The project aimed at designing domestic home furniture catering to the needs of the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ Indian population, who stay in very small spaces in the most adverse conditions. I had to understand their furniture needs, the possibility of the material and process that could fit into their affordable means.
Lack of space is an evident phenomenon in India today and Indians are trying to adapt themselves to the space in the best possible way. The most affected is the urban sector. High income urban groups, though affected by the phenomenon, have solutions in the market that they can afford to avail. Hence, the project was proposed for the urban lower and lower middle class, who are main victims of the phenomenon and do not have affordable options in the market.
With the city of Ahmedabad being chosen as the demography, the project delved into understanding the city and its relation with the particular target group. After studying different parts of the city where the target group exists, one scheme was chosen to study and understand the user in the target group. This led to an understanding of the user, which along with other supporting research and study, resulted in inferences on the user characteristics and the criteria for furniture needs of this particular segment. These criteria were given a conceptual form, leading to a product that fitted into the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ living space. This was an attempt to address the unattended needs of this sector by providing affordable solutions for the beneficiaries. The understanding achieved in terms of both design criteria and user characteristics can be utilized to redefine furniture as tools that can provide comfort, ease of living and define the space in which it is put.
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