• Is it easy to locate?

Signage, • Legal help / slum

visibility? documentation?
• What kind of building facade? • Flood or disaster help?
Plain, inviting, hidden?
Note: Try to ask a staff member or local
• Is it welcoming or intimidating? citizen what all services they come for.
• What's outside? Parking? 6. Interaction Between Public & Staff
Vendors? People waiting?
• Is there direct face-to-face
• Where is the main entrance? interaction or glass counters?
Easy to find?
• Any language barriers?
• Are there steps, ramps, gates,
• Do people seem comfortable or
security?
nervous?
• Are elderly/disabled able to
• Are staff helpful or dismissive?
enter easily?
7. Materials & Construction
• Any threshold space like
verandahs, lobbies, or shaded • Flooring: concrete, tiles,
entries? damaged?
• Where does the public go first? • Walls: plastered, peeling paint,
(e.g., help desk, counter?) notice boards?
• Are rooms labeled? Or do people • Ceilings: ventilated? Fans/AC?
look confused?
• Light: Natural or tube lights only?
• Is it open layout or fragmented?
• Windows: grilled? Openable?
• Where do officers sit vs public
waiting? 8. Climate Response

4. User Experience • Hot inside? Cross ventilation?

Cool spots?
• Is the waiting area shaded?
Ventilated? Any fans or benches? • Any shaded spaces or
verandahs?
• Any queue system, token
system, or just chaos? • Is there water drainage outside?
Slope?
• How long are people waiting?
What do they say? 9. Civic Commons / Informal Use

5. Types of Services (Ask / Observe) • Do people gather outside to wait,

talk, discuss?
• Garbage complaint / water
issue? • Any vendors or chai stalls?

• Building permissions? • Any posters, protest boards,

graffiti?
• RTI help?
10. Problems to Note
• Voting / Aadhaar updates?
• Confusing layout?
 • No toilets / dirty toilets? • Is it clear where to go for different
services?
• No shaded waiting?
• Any maps, signboards,
• No complaint tracking system?
directions, or floor plan?
• No space for community
• Languages used? (Only
gatherings?
English/Marathi/Hindi?)
11. Opportunities for Design
• Any handwritten signs taped up?
Write quick thoughts like:
D. Temporal Changes
→ “This corridor could be opened up as a
seating nook” • Is the crowd heavier at certain
→ “A shaded step/plaza could invite times?
people to stay longer”
• Are certain areas used
→ “No space for youth/women—can
differently in morning vs
design a forum room
evening?
Spatial Behaviour of People
• Any areas that seem unused or
• Where do people naturally abandoned?
gather? (corners, under trees,
• Does the space transform on
near a wall?)
voting days or civic events?
• Do people sit on steps or stand
E. Psychological Feelings
awkwardly?
• Do people feel watched,
• Is there any gender divide in who
controlled, welcomed,
waits where?
ignored?
• Where do people speak
• Is there a sense of trust or
privately vs publicly?
tension in interactions?
• Do people come with help (a
• Is the atmosphere more like a
family member, child,
school, bank, or market?
translator)?
F. Sensory Qualities
B. Informal Layer / Street Edge
• Smell: Garbage? Dampness?
• Are there hawkers, vendors, tea
Food?
stalls?
• Sound: Crowded noise? Quiet?
• Does the edge of the building
Fans humming? Street noise?
invite daily use or is it dead
space? • Temperature: Is it stuffy, breezy,
hot?
• Any notice walls, protest
posters, public information? • Light: Is natural light used well or
is it artificial only?
• Any evidence of informal
seating (stones, railings, G. Maintenance and Care
walls)?
• Are walls clean or covered in
C. Signage & Wayfinding posters?
 • Broken furniture, fans, or • Entry from main road or side
windows? lane?
• Dustbins provided and used? 2. Massing & Form
• Any water leaks, mold, peeling • Is it a blocky box, L-shape,
paint? courtyard, linear strip?

H. Technical Services Presence • How does it respond to sun

(shading, orientation)?
• Location of water tanks, drainage
lines, electrical boxes • Are there shaded overhangs,
double walls, terraces?
• Fire extinguishers? Emergency
exits? • Is there any vertical hierarchy
(like central tower or stepped
• Are electrical wires exposed or roof)?
safely hidden?
3. Material Palette & Texture
I. Inclusivity Checks
• Flooring: Stone? Cement? Tile?
• Ramps for wheelchair users? How is it aging?
• Sign language/interpreter • Walls: Plaster, paint, cladding,
available? exposed brick?
• Separate toilets for men/women? • Roofing system: RCC slab?
Clean and functional? Trusses? Metal sheeting?
• Space for elders or people with • Any local materials used?
babies? (Laterite, basalt, lime?)
J. Civic Symbolism • Finishes: Polished? Rough?
• Does the building have a flag Painted? Raw?
post, statue, emblem? 4. Spatial Organization
• Any mural, artwork, or plaque? • Public vs private zones—how
• Anything that connects the clearly are they divided?
space to history or public • Is the circulation intuitive or
memory confusing?
1. Site & Urban Context • Are there natural gathering
• How does the building sit on the spaces? (Courtyards, nooks,
site? (orientation, setbacks) shaded spots?)

• What’s around it? Road width, • Can you draw a bubble diagram
pavements, trees, vendors, of spaces?
homes 5. Light & Ventilation
• Is it part of a bigger complex or • Where is natural light coming
stand-alone? from? (windows, skylights,
jaalis?)
 • Are there cross-ventilated • Are spaces comfortable to
zones? walk, sit, gather?
• Do spaces feel bright or dim, • Would a child, woman, or elder
open or stuffy? feel invited here?
• How are openings placed—do 10. Symbolism & Identity
they frame views or dump light?
• Any symbols, murals,
6. Thresholds & Transitions emblems, cultural references?
• Steps, plinths, ramps, • Is it just a service box or does it
verandahs—how are levels represent the spirit of
handled? governance?
• Is the transition from outside to • Does the architecture build trust
inside gradual or abrupt? or alienate people?
• Are waiting zones just corridors
or designed pause points?
7. Structure
• Can you read the structural
system? (columns, beams, load-
bearing walls)
• Is the frame exposed or hidden?
• Are spans short or wide? Any
trusses?
• Any expression of construction
joints, connections, or rhythm?
8. Climate Responsiveness
• Are walls thick or thin?
• Any passive cooling techniques?
(vent blocks, chajjas, shaded
courts)
• Use of jaalis, ventilators, high
ceilings, etc.?
• Rain protection? Drainage
layout?
9. Scale & Human Experience
• Does the scale feel institutional,
domestic, or monumental?
• Ceiling heights? Corridor widths?
Door sizes?