Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates

Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Beam, FacadeJetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Image 3 of 19Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Facade, BeamJetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - BeamJetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - More Images+ 14

  • Design Team: Aparna Dhareshwar, Kriti Veerappan, Karan Bhat
  • Construction Team: Soudagar Kulal, Atul Kulkarni
  • Structural Design: Rajiv Shah
  • Artisan Consultants And Coordinators: Kiran Vaghela, Tejas Kotak, Bharat Chauhan, Hemant Dudhaiya
  • Cowdung Mud Plastered Floor: Local villagers
  • Client: Somaiya Trust
  • Country: India
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Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Beam, Facade
© Edmund Sumner

Text description provided by the architects. In Buddhist mythology, Jetvana is the name of one of the Buddha’s most important spatial edifice which when literally translated means: the grove of Jeta, land donated to the sangha for founding a monastery. It was of semiotic significance that the site offered by Samir Somaiya owner of the neighboring sugar factory in rural Maharashtra for the Buddhist Learning Center was thickly forested, an idyllic grove of sorts.

Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Beam, Facade
© Edmund Sumner
Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Image 18 of 19
Diagram

The institute was programmed as a spiritual & skill development center for the native Dalit Baudh Ambedkar Buddhist community. The mandate of Jetavana is to provide a spiritual anchor for their practice of Buddhist thought through meditation and yoga while also imparting training and skill development for members of the community.

Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Facade, Beam
© Edmund Sumner

With the mandate of not harming a single tree on site, the sizable program was split up into 6 buildings each situated in gaps between the heavy planting. Through the design process, two courtyards emerged as links suturing these buildings into a common identity.

Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Image 13 of 19
Floor Plan

Further by inverting the roof profile with a central valley in the middle and rising edges, the interior spaces were visually connected with the foliage outside. The interior spaces hence are also a function of the outside setting, with a lightness that belies the heavy programs on site. The separation of the roof from the walls while providing much-needed cross ventilation also scales the building towards the courtyard.

Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Windows, Beam
© Edmund Sumner

Working closely with Hunnarshala, an institution looking to revive and resuscitate local building traditions we collated a material palate that uses rammed loadbearing walls of basalt stone dust. The stone dust, which is waste from a nearby quarry, is mixed with waste fly ash, a by-product from the adjoining factory that in the past was paying people to cart the waste fly ash away. Repurposed wood from old shipping vessels act as a roof structure, with the understructure made of mud rolls, which are also great insulation. The roof itself is finished with clay roof tiles, remnants from older demolished buildings.

Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Windows
© Edmund Sumner
Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Image 15 of 19
Section

The flooring is a traditional mud and dung floor done by members of the local community, which is known to have antiseptic properties.

Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Beam
© Edmund Sumner

Our approach to the Jetavan project looks to extend the idea of the regional paradigm whilst separating it from the pervasive ‘image’ of what defines the local. The construction process also sets out an approach that looks to further construction techniques based on local materiality not necessarily used natively but is appropriate for its context.

Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates - Image 3 of 19
© Edmund Sumner

Originally published on July 04, 2016. 

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Project location

Address:Maharashtra, India

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
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Cite: "Jetavan Spiritual Center / Sameep Padora & Associates" 01 Aug 2021. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/790646/jetavan-sameep-padora-and-associates> ISSN 0719-8884

© Edmund Sumner

印度给孤独园 / Sameep Padora & Associates

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