SANKALPA- Imbibing Spiritual Consciousness through Architecture

Project idea

AIM: To create a lifestyle through architecture that aid people in evolving into spiritually-conscious beings to create a better future for themselves, where the goal is always an individual’s well-being.

OBJECTIVES:
- To create a stable source of income for the residents
- Incorporation of farming as a part of the town’s master plan
- To treat the site’s terrain and optimize water collection
- Defining an architectural typology that can be incorporated throughout

The project is multi-layered in terms of various scales and details into architectural aspects of a way of living that is in harmony with the natural environment empowered by bamboo, nature’s gift to mankind. A settlement that appreciates individual space and encourages community living, with various functions incorporated together to form a harmonious relationship with the natural environment.

Project description

A SPIRITUAL NEED IN TODAY’S TIME
One of the most prominent outcomes of the Modern era is the growth of the city. Cities that cater to large masses of urban dwellers by providing various facilities tend to have a maximum number of people suffering from social anxiety and loneliness. It is thus essential to derive a city with culture, sensitive towards individual, sociological and environmental factors. This is not possible without creating a conducive environment that fosters such growth.

In this era of Materialism, a lot of urban dwellers find themselves disconnected
from their inner self, there is a yearning for a spiritual connection

SOLUTION? AN INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY
A planned residential community designed from the start to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork. The members of an intentional community hold a common spiritual or social vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle with a set of mutually decided values that form the bedrock of the community.

Technical information

The vision of this thesis is to develop a homely environment for the community and the visitors in this area. Developing the area with functions and spaces that provide amenities to the people, the centre of the town is the most active and dynamic part, that is the education and research zone and the bamboo industry, that radiate information, knowledge and skill, majorly in bamboo in terms of food, construction, handicrafts, pharmacy, energy generation. A farmer’s market and visitor’s centre that allows the visitors to experience the town.

The project encourages vehicle free zones and believes in utilizing the naturally abundant resources for energy generation: solar and wind energy, for which the mode of transport would be solar powered golf carts, bamboo ropeway system and windmills. The uniqueness of the site will in itself act as a
magnet for visitors, young adults, and retiring individuals, with a population threshold of 30,000 residents, the model of the town is such that if an individual contributes half of their week working for any of the town activities, they get free food and they can spend the rest of the week in whatever activity they prefer, a model which urban settlements rarely provide.

The central most point of the residential zone is a meditation pavilion. The residential zones consist of single to double occupancy dwelling units that branch out and cluster around community spaces that consist of kitchen, living and dining spaces which connect, further to smaller pavilions that serve various other purposes such as yoga, theatre, town kitchen, creche, library, co-working zones, acting as sub-centres for various activities.