Deciphering Auroville

Module: Semester V Technology

-Pranay Kotadia

The town of Auroville is built as an experimental township in Viluppuran district in Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfasa, the Mother and designed by architect Roger Anger, it is a place where men and women across the countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. According to Mirra, Auroville is envisioned to build unity and oneness amongst the humans. The town is developed around a spiritual centre, the Matri Mandir, which was conceived by the Mother’s symbol of man’s aspiration for a utopian society. Radiating from the centre there are four zones-residential, industrial, cultural and international which caters to different necessities of people.

As a part of the semester V technology module, this three day visit was scoped to look at this town through the lenses of community and history, timeline and planning, architecture and space, construction and technology, resources and systems . This approach of using different lenses helped understanding the Architecture at Auroville .The derivations through these lenses have their own future trajectories which also intersected and intrigued us to dig further in understanding the life at large here.

Our very first day started with the visit to the Earth Institute where Architect Lara talked about the material experiments done by the institute over the years. It plays a major role in the research and promoting earth as a sustainable material for construction. The institute hosts a collection of different kind of soil samples used to make different types of mud blocks and structural systems. While being seated in the seminar room, we realised that the space is characterised by vault and arches made of earth blocks. The scale, geometry and materials left impact on us of the architecture which is more humble in its nature. The institutes hold workshops for students and volunteers from across the globe to build with earth. The institute with its practices and approaches has made an impact at the local as well as the global level.

The next we visited was Svaram, the musical house. Physically, Svaram gets divided into two parts on both the sides of the street. One side is laid out with a formal plan of a retail shop, sound healing zone and the administration area whereas the other side consists of the workshop and ground with musical instruments allowing interactive and informal events to take place. These instruments are made from locally sourced as well as imported material. The timeline and the planning work in coherence which is evident here through the shift in construction technology based on contemporary practices although the buildings belong to the same zone.

The day ended with our visit to the International house which as a practice hosts students, working professionals and others from around the globe who come to Auroville for volunteering. We interacted with Architect Manu Gopal who spoke about the evolution of the architecture through different composite ideas within the site. It becomes one of the first in Auroville to be completely off the grid and self-sustaining in terms of electricity and water. The site consists of two buildings which are diverse in terms of their architecture. The language of the second building emerges from a simple question of how can this structure be economized for people in India? This question came only after analysing the value of the first building. The second building which has a steep sloped roof was completed in four and a half months for a cost of almost twenty lakhs while the first building having a double roof so as to provide thermal comfort for its users was almost three times more expensive. This is also a commentary on the affordability of houses in Auroville.

The next day started with the visit to the African pavilion and the Tibetan pavilion. Both of them are situated in the international zone: the zone for different nationalities to come together yet have their independent smaller communities. One of the most striking features of the African pavilion is the construction details which uses bamboo, steel and jute bags. Being of a pavilion typology (here pavilion refers of a more temporary in nature structure) and neutral programmatically, the African pavilion becomes a perfect space for multifunctional activities. On the other hand the Tibetan pavilion made up of earth block walls holds a more bold expression through its volumes and does not read as a pavilion typology. This intrigued us to the question what is a pavilion in this international zone?

Next we headed towards Bharat Nivas, the pavilion of India. Out of the various built forms on site the Kala Kendra and Sri Aurobindo Auditorium were seen. Kala Kendra is a space where all artists from different backgrounds can meet, interact and work together. The circular plan and movement creates a sense of curiosity throughout the space. The curved ramps and the play of different levels dominate the spatial experience for the user viewing the exhibition. The building is built on a trough which also holds rain water for its use within the site. The Aurobindo Auditorium opposite Kala Kendra is a large space which is the heart of all the cultural events at Auroville. The most striking element, the concrete diagrid roof which spans upwards and inclined at an angle dominates the landscape around and the walled spaces inside. Apart from programmatically functioning for its original objective, it also becomes a space where all the Aurovilians socialize.

Post lunch we visited the Solar kitchen. Functionally, it is divided into three parts; the kitchen, the dining hall and the boiler room. The dining hall extends to a courtyard merging the interior and the exterior. The solar bowl located on the top becomes one of the most important components. The solar bowl is made up of 96 prefabricated ferrocement modules and 11000 mirrors. During a clear sunny month the steam supplied by this solar bowl reduces the kitchen diesel consumption for steam production drastically. This project primarily ideated from the community eating practices and sharing of resources for the Aurovillians. The day ended with walking around the Visitors centre. This campus introduces the visitors, users about the Auroville and its spiritual aim. It also demonstrates technologies and experiments with building material such as bricks, ferrocement, rammed earth and concrete which caters to the different type of users programmatically.

On the last day we visited the Wall house and the Verite guest house. This another experimental structure designed by Architect Anupama Kundoo becomes a perfect example how design, materiality and construction techniques work in cohesion. The construction techniques used are not necessarily inspired from the local context and the built form sits softly in the immediate surrounding. The more private spaces of the building get separated by a vault which has the semi-private programs underneath. Initially the living space completely opened up into the landscape, however later on louvers and rotatable fenestrations were installed for protection against four legged animals. The large porous fenestrations further blur the physical and visual boundaries. The transparent corridors, open to sky toilets also challenges the idea of privacy and zoning of activities for any project.

The last site we toured was the Verite’ guest house. Aishwarya who is an Architect by profession and now volunteers at the guest house took us on an elaborated tour across the campus and familiarised us with the different practices at the centre that adds to the physical as well as spiritual sustainability. We were asked to remove our footwear in order to get the tactile experience of the spaces. The tour started with the discussion amongst the students on what is the idea of sustainability. Of the different structures seen within the site, the spatial nature of the meditation centre represented calmness through the water bodies and courtyards incorporated in the design. Various other structures on the site are also insertions in nature and the entire campus radiates positive energy.

The dominated lenses of seeing sustainability through architecture, construction and resources slowly opened up to a deeper understanding of core community living idea of Auroville. The idea of sustainability in built forms are actually one of the ways of responding to the former idea. One may identify the various structures to have similar or different language but the essence of Auroville at large is seeking oneness in this no man’s land. However, this root vision branched out into various forms of aspirations for Aurovillians over the last 50 years. Though we may have framed for ourselves the specific questions around the Architecture of this place in these three days, it definitely left us pondering over how to read, frame and situate this experimental township in the global context for the coming years and decades.