Insights by Mr. Dhamodharan, Director of Operations, FHD Group 

Written by Sriram Ramakrishnan & Vignesh Srinivasan, FHDGroup

In this post, we will deep dive into our design efforts in the aspirational affordable housing sector, through a showcase of GM Ambitious Enclave project in Bangalore. GM Ambitious Enclave is an aspirational affordable housing project with over 1.85 Million Sq.ft of residential units on a 10.6-acre site near Electronic City in Bangalore. On completion, this community will house 2,330 apartments in 6 tower blocks of 15 floors each.

GM Infinite is a renowned real estate developer in Bangalore with over 5 decades of rich experience in the construction of hospitality, real estate, commercial and infrastructure. Earlier to this project, we had also designed two award-winning projects for GM Infinite (E-City town&Elegance Tower).

FHDGroup’s take on Aspirational Housing

With a growing section of middle-class families, India is looking for something more than a cheap budget home. Families are looking for housing that lets them aspire towards comfort and growth all within their budget. FHD Group, a pioneer and market leader in the new sub-type called aspirational housing, believes this will be the mainstream of future Indian affordable housing.

For more info on Aspirational Housing and what are the parameters that make it, check out the article ‘Transforming Affordable Housing to Aspirational Affordable Housing (AAH)

A Vision for Quality

We have worked earlier with GM Infinite on two award-winning projects – E-City town and Elegance Tower. As the name suggests, Ambitious Enclave is more of an aspirational housing than merely affordable housing and in line with Prime Minister’s Pradhan Mantri Avaas Yogna Scheme to provide housing to everyone. To quote the first line from the project brochure “A home for those who are defined not just by where they are from, but where they are going” is indicative of the intent and vision for this project.

Units range from 1BHK for 450 Sq. Ft to 3 BHK for 900 Sq.Ft. Key Vastu principles have been used to organize spaces. Care has been taken to bring light and ventilation for comfortable living. The pedestrianized zone around housing provides a safe, clean, pollution-free environment for the family and kids.

Site selection

We’ve provided strategic design insight during site selection for several projects for many clients and have helped contribute to project success. For instance, by ensuring that the site selected for affordable housing is close to social infrastructure (such as schools, banks, healthcare facilities, etc.), the developers help build a more anchored community of home-owners. And by reducing commute times between home, work, and schools, we can reduce everyday inconveniences and support end-user well-being. 

Electronic city is a strategic locality and home to IT/ITES companies such as Infosys, Wipro, HP, TCS, and several others. GM developed 4 projects in Electronic city including GM Techi Town, and GM Ambitious Enclave. Schools in proximity include Delhi Public School, VIBGYOR, Christ Academy, among several others. Hospitals in the vicinity include Vimalaya, Spring Leaf, Ramakrishna Health Care among several others. With a variety of job opportunities and facilities in the vicinity, Ambitious Enclave holds a prime locality for homeowners.

Master planned for efficiency

The 10.6-acre linear site is planned along the North-South axis with facilities along the principal axis and blocks oriented on the East & West directions. By organizing the blocks along with these principles and increasing the heights to G+14, the developer was able to achieve their targeted FSI of 4.12 as well as offer adequate open spaces and landscaped areas for the residents.

Unlike typical affordable houses, Ambitious Enclave provides a variety of landscaped outdoor spaces. The central park is a great hangout space for the family; the play area is ideal for children; lawns are suitable for fitness activities. 11% of the site area dedicated to OSR, is efficiently used to respond to and meet the needs of end-users.

As designers of over 25 million sq.ft of affordable housing projects across multiple cities in India, we wanted to share strategic insight on how to transform affordable housing projects into aspirational affordable housing solutions suitable for India’s growing middle class.

Be sure to read Part 2

To read the second post in this series, click on this link : [Showcase on GM Ambitious Enclave -Aspirational Affordable Housing (Part 2)]  and find out more about additional design aspects of this project.