Ambitious Illinois Institute of Technology B.Arch students Seth Ellsworth and JaYoung Kim were inspired by the good, the bad and the ugly in their design for the TATA Tower in Mumbai. The good: The TATA company manufactures the world’s cheapest cars (they cost $2,500), some of which run on alternative fuels. The bad: Mumbai’s infrastructure is old, and public transportation can’t handle the city’s swelling population. And the ugly: Thanks to that last fact, estimates say 25 percent of the city’s landmass will be used as parking space by the year 2030.
The TATA Tower has several ambitious goals. First, it seeks to house both residences and offices for the TATA employees in Mumbai. These employee’s cars (TATAs, no doubt) will be housed in a parking garage the full height of the tower – one that the students hope will be a prototype for high density parking in other cities to free up ground space. They estimate that 930 residences can fit in the tower, as well as 4,050 parking spaces.
The tower will also house several green uses. Parks and green spaces will be interspersed throughout the tower for residents’ enjoyment. It will also be the site of an urban algae farm, which will be harvested to generate energy.
Under the tutelage of professor Antony Wood, these students have designed a sophisticated and practical structure for 21st century Mumbai.
