The sixteen acre area known as Bhendi Bazaar currently suffers from the stresses of a centuries old infrastructure and equally decrepit housing stock. The streets are chronically congested, basic utilities such as sewage treatment are virtually non-existent, and families live in cramped tenements without adequate ventilation or light.The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust purchased a significant portion of the Bazaar’s crumbling buildings with the mission of a complete redesign of the area. New government regulations specific to cluster development allow for a significantly increased FSI. Thus the greatly enhanced scale of the new development includes improved housing for all of Bhendi Bazaar’s current inhabitants, a sustainable infrastructure and several large and very large scale buildings—the sale and rental of which provided the funds for this enormous undertaking. Additionally, under the new plan the Raudat Tahera mausoleum and Saifee Masjid—two religiously significant buildings currently cut off from one another—have been united in a central protected complex.

Perkins Eastman has determined that street size and layout needed to be expanded and reconfigured in order to reduce congestion while optimizing open space opportunities. Key components of the built environment—such as ground floor retail— that directly affect commerce and social activity needed to be preserved. The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Project provides current residents with a vastly improved quality of life—unifying the mosque and mausoleum in a secure complex and adding a significant source of revenue through its sale towers.