A Humble Locale

A community space that uplifts the neighbourhood by providing it the necessary sociocultural experience using local materials, techniques and influences.

- Meghna Mehta

Built at the edge of a rural landscape ravaged by illegal quarrying, the Sharanam Centre for Rural Development enables a grass roots NGO to expand its community-led transformation of chronically underdeveloped villages outside Pondicherry. Constructed from the red soil of the site and having employed and upskilled hundreds of local village workers the project looked to directly tackle pressing environmental and social concerns.

Context, Brief and Concept

In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, SARVAM, a non-profit NGO based in Pondicherry, initiated their grass-roots rural development programme in two nearby villages of Puthurai and Perambai. Poverty, violence and alcoholism have been deeply entrenched here for generations. Considering developmental indices such as pure drinking water, sanitation, health, electricity, education, livelihoods - both villages were at the bottom of the scale.

By mid-2006 SARVAM’s initiatives had begun to progressively transform community life. To broaden their reach a decision was taken to create a dedicated campus to host wider rural communities in active programmes covering all aspects of village life including education, health, sanitation, housing, income generation and special initiatives for women, widows, the elderly and the disabled. An organic design brief comprised core facilities such as a large multi-purpose hall, administrative offices and a community kitchen. A well-wisher had donated a 5-acre rural site accessible to 30-40 local villages and Cadbury Schweppes agreed to fund the project.