Credit: Serge Salat, Urban Morphology Institute, based on material produced by Sasaki architects.

The Trees is a brand-new urban neighborhood with a variety of uses that was constructed on top of an existing Godrej soap manufacturing site in Mumbai's developing east. The design thoughtfully repurposes a historic landscape feature while also incorporating industrial structures and site elements. On the 34-acre site, a comprehensive program of residential, retail, hotel, and commercial uses are precisely choreographed while also being fully integrated with an approachable and thoughtfully designed public realm. The Trees, a full-service community with a variety of services housed in both new and renovated manufacturing buildings, deliberately integrates culture, technology, history, and landscapes to meet both practical and aesthetic objectives. Godrej's culture, goods, and style of thinking are all represented in the Trees master plan. As such, it illustrates unit 32 on designing mixed use neighbourhoods with a thriving local economy.

Introduction

The Trees is a new mixed-use urban district located on the expanding eastern edge of Mumbai built upon an existing Godrej soap manufacturing complex. The design both incorporates industrial buildings and components of the site and strategically re-purposes a heritage landscape structure. The master plan carefully choreographs a robust program of residential, retail, hotel, and commercial uses on the 34-acre site fully integrated with an accessible and well-conceived public realm. Intended as a full service community including a wide variety of amenities housed in refurbished factory buildings and new structures, The Trees carefully intertwines culture, technology, history, and landscape to align with both functional and aesthetic goals. The Trees master plan embodies Godrej’s culture, products, and way of thinking, which are synonymous with quality and a collective consciousness for sustainability.

To retain components of the site’s built and natural heritage within an aggressive mix of new programs, Sasaki first conducted a careful inventory and analysis of the existing conditions. We evaluated existing factory buildings and industrial remnants for suitability of reuse using criteria including structural conditions, interior volume, architectural character, and location. We also catalogued and evaluated existing tree species for overall heath, transplantability, shade provision, locations of species “families,” and color characteristics. The plan retains the existing central green spine of Rain trees, a mature Samanea saman species that grows to over 50 feet in height.

mobility and transportation

The green spine emerged as a structuring device for the highly pedestrian-oriented development. A high-rise periphery surrounds the green heart and central spine to provide a protected inner “retail garden” full of small scale courtyards and passages. These are layered and sequentially complex—a reference to traditional principles of Indian landscape architecture. The overall design embraces seven core principles—identity, community, connectivity, flexibility, heritage, sustainability, and financial strategy—to achieve a vibrant mixed-use district that fosters social, cultural, economic, and environmental cohesion.

Analysis of climate and stormwater mangement

After a careful analysis of Mumbai’s monsoonal climate, Sasaki developed a complex strategy of stormwater management for the site. With the aggressive goal both reducing stormwater runoff by half of and a 50% net energy reduction—resulted in a fully integrated landscape solution that maximizes surface permeability and maximum re-use of rainwater/graywater.