Class Legacy Project

Support the IIT Bombay 1974 Golden Jubilee Class Legacy Project
Join us in our vision to design and build affordable homes
Address the daily challenge for the rural and urban underserved
Your generous contribution will help address this critical issue.
Donate at: https://iitbombay1974.org/iit-bombay-1974-class-gift/

Vision Document of the Class of 1974 Legacy Project

Many people in Indian villages live in poor conditions. To make Bharat a developed country, we must provide decent housing for everyone. This project aims to design and develop technologies to build mass-producible, affordable homes for rural villages, which can also be offered to other developing countries later.

Project Goals:

Create a process by which at any new site, the details could be collected by the locals through an app. This would give options which beneficiaries could select the one preferred by them.
Create a few house designs at minimal cost.
Measure success by the number of houses produced and installed in the first five to ten years.
Continuously improve designs for affordability and comfort, focusing on sustainability, manufacturability and cost-effectiveness.
Incorporate a feedback mechanism to collect user’s experience, comments and suggestions.
Develop entrepreneurs to produce components and assemble houses, targeting a unit price of less than Rs. 10 lakh, with a goal of reducing it with local resources.
Each house will include 2 rooms, a kitchen, a toilet block, sanitation facilities, water distribution, and solar-powered electricity and will be able to add rooms easily.

Funding and Implementation:

The Class of 1974 will fund initial design, development, and prototypes, and support incubatees specializing in various house components.
Target to deliver 100,000 houses in five to ten years, with initial funding from PMAY, CSR and philanthropic organizations, besides some commitment from the beneficiaries.
Fund a Lab/ Center for interdisciplinary research in Sustainable Rural Housing. Create a coalition of IIT Bombay’s Civil Engineering Department, CTARA, IDC, amongst others, with inputs from beneficiaries and others with field experience to develop solutions and with IIT support for incubation.

Leadership and Timeline:

Faculty and alumni from the Class of 1974 will lead the initiative with timelines and budgets to be agreed at the start of the project and evolving with fresh inputs.
From August 1, 2024, teams began work with domain experts to finalize the vision and initial work plans.
Have a Prototype house ready on campus by 15th Jan 2025.
Research and designs will be published, with IP belonging to the institute and licensing patents to encourage bulk housing adoption.
Our vision is to complete design and complete pilot testing in multiple weather conditions in the first two years, followed by manufacturing 100,000 houses in the next seven years.