Centre for Restitution And Pedagogy, Ahmedabad

KMEA College Of Architecture

Project idea

The Sabarmati River rends the Ahmedabad city into an old city and new city which is elegantly portrayed in the city Fabric of both the cities . The story of spatial experience, as one moves from the old city to new city ,is represented through the spaces in the centre by providing a sequential experience to the eye . As the new city developed , it slowly started to encroach the old city which further resulted in the gradual loss of identity of the old city.
The centre is located in the old city facing the Sabarmati river and is specifically designed for the marginalized sector of the society, as a result of the alteration of the fabric of the city.it conists of a school building, a library, an exhibition space to address the society about the surface issues faced by the community and a night adobe for the economically challenged people that transforms into a cozy reading cove during morning hours.

Why this site?
The site lies sandwiched between the burden of modernity, the memory of historic city and the revived river. The Sabarmati, who has been revived by the water from Narmada has altogether a different narrative to tell, about its mutation from the natural evolution as a river and about its state of stillness. But it is to remember the river is a constant witness to all the events and life of people in the city.The building establish a strong connection with the given section which cuts through the site. It has the ATMA, the Corbusier building on one side and the historical core on the other. So the morphology of the project is derived from this idea, the connectivity between modernism and historicity

Project description

The program is derived from the necesseties of the people who marginalized from the city during the riverfront development of Sabarmati who mainly falls in the lower economic groups.the program consists of an educational building, a library , an exhibition centre and a reading space. The Undergrounds spaces connects all the spaces and narrates the character of Ahmedabad through the modulation of light.

The early rays hits the fraction, Which is Fragmented to bring Integration, The fraction where the rays finds it harder,
To reach the deeper side of the city,
The City controls us unwordly,
Where to go and where to reach,
And we reach down a ghalli of two faces,
Who shows its other part as, the rays start to move away and,
slowly the rays starts to scatter.
We reach down a river,
Then was the wealth Who reflects then and now It was him who was given a soulless life,
Who marginalised the city.

Air which contains the droplets of the marginalising river invisibly exist. It exist even in the tiniest part of the city. But it is what which integrates the city, who has experienced the then and now, the division and unification, the development and its aftermath.

Then the rays arrives to the part,
The part where the ghandian principles are hidden,
The fraction which marks the reborn,
Where the narrow ghallis changed to wide lanes,
The rays are free to move and easy to reach,
But only the privileged ones can access it.


Night Shelter
The night shelter mainly focuses on the people who got marginalised due to the effects of development . The night shelter transforms into a reading space during day giving it a diurnal character.
The Teaching block
The teaching block narrates the story of co existence which is represented through the concept of solid and voids .

Technical information

The design of the building aims to integrate with the city fabric.Brick and concrete are the major materials used for designing since it represents the Modernists building in Ahmedabad as well the old ruined fortwalls in the old city. The teaching block narrates the story of co existence which is represented through the concept of solid and voids . The solids , which are classrooms , are supported using RCC columns while the classroom walls are build using bricks