The striking ochre yellow and sandstone red walls of the hefty structures for the eArthshala campus in Bihar, a state in east India, distinguish it from its verdant context. Defined by two pitched roofs set within tea gardens in a semi-rural landscape, the buildings for the Besarbati-based NGO Project Potential's learning and social innovation campus appear as two disparate warehouses or temporary spaces. eArthshala advances the NGO's "unique approach to sustainable rural development and grassroots leadership," as described on their website, through community architecture that encourages sustainability beyond national borders. The campus facilitates skill upgradation in local communities through training, exposure to learning journeys and mentorship with projects on education, accessing government schemes and providing awareness on key issues. These activities are supported by the training hall and office studio designed by Surat-based multidisciplinary practice Thumbimpressions.

With a design that engages with its context through a thoughtful layout of open and built spaces, the community buildings are meant to be flexible, allowing for a diversity of activities as dictated by the organisation’s programmes. As the architects note in an official release, the structured yet open nature of the community architecture is an invitation to “accommodate organised programmes but also encourage unplanned moments of exploration, reflection and community interaction, enriching the overall learning experience.” Of the two buildings completed in phase 1, the first is meant to be a multipurpose hall with an open plan and ample openings to let in natural light and enhance the fluidity of the space.

The most distinctive feature of the public space is its bamboo-pitched roof. For the hall and studio, the bamboo structure allows the designers to create an expansive interior space without the use of columns. Elaborating further, the Indian architects note that for the project's construction, they intently worked with local artisans who were employed to construct the bamboo roof with its 'structural elegance' and to build the walls from a stabilised adobe.

The second building, meant to house offices and studios, also employs bamboo construction for a cohesive design language. Extended verandahs allow occupants spaces for relaxation while continuing the tectonic dialogue between the open and the built from the first building. Using materials such as bamboo and adobe for construction not only ensures the design is cost-efficient and sustainable but also optimises it for thermal performance and material integrity. While the design team relates the concern with context and environmental sensitivity to the organisation’s core principles, the rhetoric of craftsmanship as a means to achieve a sustainable design that is contextually rooted is of note here.

For instance, in the campus’ use of bamboo joinery for its pitch roof, this emphasis on the handcrafted and rustic is evident. The architects, in the official release, speak of the ‘crafted tectonics’ of the project, alluding to the use of adobe and handmade for the walls and specifically these trusses. It is not so rare to see the use of bamboo for pitched roofs such as these in vernacular structures. What’s particularly of note here is the use of steel elements alongside the bamboo for structural efficiency. Each building employs different truss designs, which is certainly for different spans in the buildings.

Of late, it does seem like contemporary Indian architecture has been in the pursuit of an inherent ‘Indianness’ that is defined by highlighting, even amplifying principles of contextuality and craft. How that manifests in different projects is always an interesting phenomenon to observe. The insistence on local materials and vernacular design as a cost- and carbon-efficient alternative can be traced back to the notion of swadeshi, meaning of one's country: homemade or domestic. Especially prevalent during a critical turn in architectural discourse in India towards socially oriented ethics in the 1970s, an image of Indian design that prioritised the vernacular, the rooted and the ‘timeless’ was born. Of its major champions, Charles Correa not only wrote about but also provided a version of a future for Indian architecture with the 1986 Festivals of India exhibition, Vistara, which canonised vernacular architecture and provided a cosmogonic genealogy for architecture in the country. In this context, not only is the method of construction for the eArthshala campus notable, but the use of language in the concept note is important as well. The use of phrases such as 'local materials, local know-how and artisanal skills' and ‘crafted tectonics’ play into an aesthetic sensibility for the design that emphasises the image of ‘Indianness’ through craft.

The use of colour for the community centre is equally remarkable, playing into a particular image of architecture from the 70s that emphasised materiality. We can think of Correa’s projects from that era and his use of red sandstone for facade cladding meant to evoke monumentality. For eArthshala, while the facade is untreated, its colours evoke that same earthiness that Correa’s use of sandstone tried to achieve. Through the campus design, Thumbimpressions easily feed an image of Indian design that is becoming increasingly popular in the mediatic representation of the country, the crafted and scarcity-driven. It’s all but a merit that it’s also done remarkably well.

Project Details

Name: eArthshala campus
Location: Thakurganj Block, Kishanganj, Bihar
Client: Project Potential Trust
Donors: Infosys Foundation, Ashraya Hastha Trust, Transrail Lighting Limited, Nilkamal Limited, Hindware Limited, Capri Foundation, Indofil Industries Limited and others
Collaborators:
Structural: Strucart Design Consultants
Electrical, Plumbing: Airtech Consultancy Services
Wastewater Treatment: Lemnion Green Solutions
Architectural Drawings: Harsh Soni, Kaushik Oza
Project Management: Project Potential l Er. Saquib Alam, Gokul Kumar Valperrie
On-site Trainers: Surat Singh, Narayan Paswan
Artisan: Local Team from around eArthshala
Area: 970sqm