New Delhi Railway Station | Archohm Consults
Social Research & Strategy
Project Background
New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS) is among the busiest transport hubs in South Asia, serving over 500,000 people daily. Its redesign—led by Archohm Consults—is a major infrastructural undertaking by the Indian Railways.
C4SD was invited to lead a life-centered research study as Social Consultants that brings human behavior, emotions, and everyday negotiations into the heart of architectural conversations. Our role was to uncover invisible systems, map informal use patterns, and provoke design decisions that are more inclusive, humane, and context-aware.
We asked: What if design at NDLS began with those who remain unseen in drawings?
A behavioral design and ethnographic research project to ground the architectural redevelopment of New Delhi Railway Station in the lived experiences of its everyday users—especially those often overlooked in planning: informal workers, migrants, sanitation staff, and transient populations.
Objectives
To embed lived experience into the architectural vision for NDLS
To identify and map behavioral patterns, systemic frictions, and design blind spots
To produce research insights that guide more empathic, actionable, and grounded built environments
Key Features Delivered
Ethnographic fieldwork across formal and informal station users
Stakeholder and system mapping across transit, commerce, care, and survival
Sensory and behavioral zoning of key public spaces at NDLS
Use of geo-tagged observations layered on Google Earth for spatial insight
Development of a 15-point design provocation framework for architects
Our Approach
Immersion & Field Research
Conducted fieldwork across platforms, entrances, waiting zones, back-of-house areas, and informal corners of the station
Engaged with diverse stakeholders—passengers, vendors, cleaning staff, auto drivers, GRP officers, children, and informal residents
Documented spatial use through sketches, audio, photography, and interaction mapping
Behavioral & Spatial Mapping
Created heatmaps of sensory triggers: sound, heat, congestion, trash, and activity cycles
Tracked care zones, commerce flows, and resting behaviors across time and space
Geo-tagged behavior patterns on Google Earth to help architects visualize friction and flow in real time
Strategic Provocations & Design Insight
Synthesized findings into 15 design provocations, each including a core observation, design direction, and reflective prompt
Provocations centered around themes such as dignity in wait, informal livelihood, gendered safety, circular waste systems, and spatial generosity
Delivered insights through a visual and narrative report to guide future planning
Results
Introduced behavioral design and ethnographic insight into an architectural planning process at national scale
Made visible the informal systems that sustain NDLS daily—from waste cycles to survival economies
Provided Archohm and Indian Railways with context-rich provocations to steer human-centered design decisions
Set a precedent for participatory and research-informed infrastructure redevelopment in India
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