One of the fastest-growing areas in India is Gurgaon, a new business district on old farmland 20 miles south of New Delhi. It is home to a new spate of high-rise multifamily housing, a relatively new typology in India, to accommodate a growing middle-class workforce. Washington, D.C.–based Sorg Architects, led by New Delhi–born Suman Sorg, FAIA, has three projects in the area: Sector 62, a 250,000-square-foot commercial tower; the Grand Arch, a 12-building mid- and high-rise residential complex; and Skyon, a 22-acre site anchored by a 44-story pinwheel-shaped housing tower. But in contrast to the U.S., “the expectation of the buyer is not tight space in a packed, smaller apartment, but rather stacked houses,” Sorg says. In the Grand Arch, slated for a 2013 completion, the average unit size is 2,500 square feet—including maid’s quarters—with nary a double-loaded corridor (requirements for daylight in every room mean “you have to create a lot more skin,” Sorg says). But the demand is there: the first 250 units in the complex sold in 48 hours.
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