FOCUS OF PROJECT:

The Zeus Special Economic Zone strives to be among a select group of ecologically, socially and economically sustainable projects conceived and implemented in India.

The primary focus of the development is to create a Processing Zone composed of an Information Technology based Commercial Office Complex which will be directly responsible for employing over 100,000 (One Hundred Thousand) people. A portion of the site will be used for a Non-Processing Zone to support the activity of the Information Technology commercial office complex. This Non-Processing Zone will be composed of a residential component along with other support facilities such as educational institutes, hospital/ medical clinic, hospitality, retail, research institutes, service utilities, police and fire substation, government offices and banking facilities.

 

SITE DESCRIPTION:

The project site is located on a contiguous plot of land in the Greater Mumbai Region of Mulund / Thane. The site is 134 acres. While adjacent to high density neighborhoods, there is no human habitation on this land currently and it has periodically been used for salt harvesting in the past. On the East, the site is bordered by the Mumbai Creek Inter-tidal zone with protected mangrove forests. In the central portion of the site is located the Mulund Dumping Yard. This is a highly toxic environment; other than heavy metals and other pollutants, there is the real possibility of methane buildup and the risk of fire.

 

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN:

The Zeus Special Economic Zone Environment and Sustainability Statement has been prepared as a Guideline for attaining specific milestones towards making this project one of the most Environmentally, Socially and Economically Sustainable projects to be conceived and implemented in India. This project address the following concerns;

 

A. Apostrophe A+uD has taken due diligence in the conception and design of the project so that it will not have any adverse effect on the natural, built and social environment of the site and the vicinity.

B. The project will serve to mitigate the adverse quality of the existing site and create a series of ecological habitat zones where none exist currently to enhance and support the natural ecology of the area. This conversion is part of the larger framework of creating a sustainable environment that is at the heart of the entire project.

C. Ensure that the project will have a minimum impact on the existing infrastructure of the city. This includes the impact on traffic congestion on the roads, access to water, use of electricity and dumping of sewage and waste will be minimized to the maximum extent possible.

D. The design of the project will utilize the most modern and innovative technologies available internationally to ensure that it is able to generate the maximum amount of energy (electricity) using alternative, non-polluting and renewable methods of energy production such as solar power and wind power so that the infrastructure is not unduly taxed.

E. Consumption of energy is minimized through various aspects of building insulation, building automation, energy saving features and systems within the buildings and passive design features that are incorporated into the overall building form.

 

F. The project will also have significant provisions to harvest natural rainwater and recycle grey-water effluents on site so that both the consumption of water from the city infrastructure is minimized.

G. Showcase the tremendous positive benefits to the existing human, social and economical networks within the immediate neighborhood of the project to the far reaching impact it will have on the overall social and economic development of the country.

 

PROCESS:

Graduated thresholds are not clear cut boundaries but zones that blur built edges to create charged spatial relation communications. These inhabited edges function within an unobtrusive spatial collage to allow for flexible egress/ingress, incorporation of landscape elements and multiple experiential pathways to exist.

 

Landscape creates opportunities for variation and infinity. Constant velocities of regular patterns define the construction. Margins taper and edges collide as spatial systems interweave. Linkages bisect and connect individual projects while defining building typologies. As one pattern ends, another begins and thus a variegated infinity of moments and experiences unites the project.

 

Signature spaces exist as the programmed voids of the project. They are the uncommon grounds that hold, nurture, and communicate to the surrounding spatial elements. They define the most memorable sequences of the construction for the pedestrian.