Amber Synopsis

SYNOPSIS :  Theme Park in Lahore

FUN DAZE DREAM LAND

Proposed Topic
As children, we grew up looking in awe at carnivals and their rides.  Even now that we’ve grown up, there is still a special place in our hearts for these parks.  What makes parks and carnivals so special that they remain so popular thru all these years?  Maybe it’s the sense of adventure or maybe it’s being transported to another world, or maybe it’s simply because it takes us back to our younger days – when life was more worry-free and freely flowing.
A 'theme park' is actually a distinct style of amusement park, for a theme park has landscaping, buildings, and attractions that are based on one or more specific or central themes.
Proposed Problem
This amusement park would be an effort to blending traditional amusement park entertainments—roller coasters, water parks, carousels, and live entertainment—with hotels, movie theaters, restaurants and shopping facilities. The basic theme would be the development of cartoons with time. This would bring all the cartoon characters at one place helping to grab the interest of all the ages. It would be a project based upon providing entertainment to both parents & Child together without getting any age group bored. This would be assisting in parenting yet drenching out finance for the profit earning.
Feasability checking for the project
Europe and USA are in the middle of an economic crunch and there can be no better time to develop an entertainment tourist attraction in this part of the world. With the diversified cultural heritage, a high variation of social classes, an ample amount of tax rebates and cheap labour marks Pakistan a highly feasable location.
A feasability report suggest that one should build his park where there is a pre-existing market of sufficient size and quality to support the proposed level of investment. There could be no better place for such theme park than Lahore. Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in Pakistan. Lahore is also referred to as the cultural heart of Punjab as it hosts most of the arts, cuisine, festivals, film making, music, gardening and intelligentsia of the country. This city boasts a average growth rate of 5.6% which is at par with Pakistan’s economic Hub ‘Karachi’. Jullo area is the proposed site for this set up.
Methodology
This proposed project would be determined using two methadologies i.e comparitive and Design & Demonstration. The proposed project of the theme park would be compared with the previous theme parks operating in this world i.e the famous Disney land & the universal studios. Secondly using the second methadological approach I would be researching and incorporating latest styles of architectecture into the project and taking the theme park to a new direction, hence creating and describing a new project.

SYNOPSIS : Co-housing based residential society

Proposed Topic
Cohousing is a type of collaborative housing in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own neighborhoods. Cohousing residents generally aspire to “improve the world, one neighborhood at a time”. The goal is to create a place “where lives are simplified, the earth is respected, diversity is welcomed, children play together in safety, and living in community with neighbors comes naturally”
The Charachteristics that serve to distinguish cohousing from other types of collaborative housing are the participatory process in all the managerial issues related to the society leading to the feeling of ownership in all residents, the neighborhood design promoting social sustainability of the society, the common facilities build up the trust factor of residents on each other (to the extent that when on duty people even leave there child with other families), the Non-hierarchical structure and decision-making involving everyone through a consesus brings up the feeling of being heard and finally No shared community economy cancel outs the allegations of building up property for undue profits by drenching out working classes finances.

Proposed Problem
This cohousing community is a type of intentional community composed of private homes supplemented by shared facilities. The community is planned, owned and managed by the residents – who also share activities which include cooking, dining, child care, gardening, and governance of the community. Common facilities include a kitchen, dining room, laundry, child care facilities, offices, internet access, guest rooms, open space, courtyards, a playground and recreational features. This cohousing society facilitates interaction among neighbors for social, practical benefits, economic and environmental benefit.

Feasability
1- Pakistan’s population was estimated at 148 million in july 2004, with a population density of 187 persons/km². Its urban population, estimated at 33.5%, makes Pakistan one of the most urbanized countries in South Asia (ADB 2005). Karachi has an estimated population of 11.97 million people with a density of 3.394person/km², while Lahore has 6.49 million people, with a density of 6.396 person/km² in 2006. Therefore with the current statistics Residential societies are highly feasable in Lahore and Karachi.

2- Also there is growing fear that the combined effects of poverty, population growth, social and economics inequality and wasteful consumption patterns pose a serious threat to the basic resources that future generations will need for their survival and well being. Hence socieites with Values and advantages of economic saving, environmentally sustainable, social justices and interaction among people are highly Favourable and desired for the upbringing of the present society as well for its future.

3- Another Research Paper (Urbanization challenges in Pakistan – developing vision 2030 by Murtaza Haider P.H.D) states that there is an estimated backlog of six million housing units in Pakistan. Inadequate housing, over crowding, poor indoor air quality, lack of affordable land, and ad hoc treatment of informal settlements within urban areas are some of the challenges facing urban Pakistan today. The urban development authorities have systematically shifted public land to a privileged few by sanctioning public land to land development schemes initiated by the military and other privileged groups in the civilian setup. Land has thus become the primary instrument of wealth creation in Pakistan. This process has created severe inequalities in urban centres. Low-income communities have been shunned to largely undesirable parts of the cities.

A new housing and land policy is needed for urban centres in Pakistan. The primary goal for such policy should be to address the systematic bias towards the low-income households who have suffered at the hands of the urban development schemes. The new housing and land policy should recognise the right to shelter for all and not just a privileged few. A housing policy that gives equal treatment to the housing development plans put forth by the community-based organisations is the need of the hour in urban Pakistan. Surely Co-housing is the type of society giving all the advantages hence reducing the economic disparity among the social classes.

Methadology
This proposed project would be determined using a collective of three methadologies i.e case studies, comparitive and Design & Demonstration. A single case study from the present residential set-ups i.e. EcoVillage at Ithaca, NY, Tierra Nueva Cohousing in Oceano, CA, Winslow Cohousing near Seattle, Sonora Cohousing in Tucson, AZ, Sunward Cohousing near Ann Arbor, MI  would be done. Secondly, the proposed co-housing scheme would be compared with the previous co-housing schemes operating in this world. Finally using the third methadological approach I would be incorporating latest styles of architectecture and aspects of different architectural styles into the project and designing a state of the art residential society based upon co housing, hence creating and describing a new project also.

SYNOPSIS: Development of Intra- city Railway Network

Proposed Topics
The Lahore Mass Transit project, planned in the 1990s but shelved last year, has been given a new lease of life with an agreement signed between the Punjab government and China during Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to Beijing, Pakistan Today has learnt. The project will provide fast transportation facilities to 0.6 million passengers per day. The Lahore Mass Transit Project, earlier called LRMTS, will cost $1.7 billion and around 85 percent capital would be provided by China. Under the agreement, a 27km long railway track will be laid from Gaju Matta on Ferozpur Road to Shahdra, of which seven kilometers will be underground

Proposed Problem
The project is aimed to minimise congestion on public transport routes, provide a high-level of service, speed, frequency and easy accessibility to reduce dependency on road vehicles, facilitate safe and environmentally-sustainable transport.

But the question arises that with the current economic situation of Pakistan are we ready to spend money without assesing, evaluating and exploring better solutions? Are we ready to invest such huge amounts from an already reduced budget?

Methadology
In this project the methadologies involved would be evaluation & Exploratory Methadology. Using evaluation methadologies I would be asssesing the effectiveness of the design or policy chalked for this current project. It would be to ensure that the project is the most cost-effeective design and is focusing on a large percentage of the masses and traffic influx in the city. Secondly using the exploratory methadology staying within the scope i.e cost-effective Rail trasit network I would be exploring avenues to provide with better, energy efficient, sustainable and yet energy efficient Solutions for the current scenario.