Human and ecological systems are interlinked and their resilience depends upon their joint functioning and interaction. River Matters, on the urban scale, is a riverside regeneration intervention for the Mithi River of Mumbai, mitigating the effect of floods on the human settlements behind it. On the building scale, it provides the city with bathing facilities where safe water is provided through bio filtration, harvesting it from the river and monsoon stormwater. During emergency floods, the walkways detach as floating pontoons to provide access to the building which becomes an elevated shelter for the people living in the precarious settlements. The choice of this typology was determined by three main concepts:

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TREATMENT, where that of the body is choreographed alongside that of the river, one becoming the reason for the other.

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NEGOTIATION between the realms of land and water, of human and ecological systems, defining where this boundary lies, and expanding this area of negotiation to stage an intervention where architecture can represent and encourage the dialogue between the stakeholders.

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ACCESS, representing the basic human right to safe water and safe land.