Designed for IIA Cochin chapters magazine Ten77o, this illustration is composed like a Cul-de-sac, with rows of buildings focused towards a central driveway. Inspired by photographer Gautam Basu’s award winning photo taken at a slum in Kolkata, the center, focuses on the hard life of a family living inside a discarded concrete pipe. 

The rows of buildings surrounding the Cul-de-sac range from the Agraharams of Kerala, one of the finest examples of communal living in our culture, to Alejandro Aravena’s Verde villas, designed to rehabilitate the disaster struck communities in Chile and the Aranya housing for the poor by B V Doshi. While the center focuses on a very real yet seemingly dystopian society and failure on our part as responsible citizens, the surrounding buildings shows us the possibilities and more importantly our responsibility as architects. 

This Illustration was made using pen and ink on paper, further modifications were made in Photoshop.