CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – AUROVILLE, PONDICHERRY

POPULATION & DIVERSITY

*In April 2014, Aurovillecounted 2,344 permanent residents from more than 45 different nations. About 40 percent of the permanent residents are Indian nationals.
*From 2009 to 2014, Auroville’spopulation grew, on average, by about 3% per year.
*Besides permanent residents, Aurovillehosts a significant, but varying number of researchers and students who come for short durations to volunteer or intern.,
*Workers and employees from neighbouring villages working in Auroville’seconomic activities and services are estimated to be about 5,000 in number. *On average 3,000 short-
Site location map term, including casual, visitors come to experience Auroville’swork in diverse fields per day.

“The Mother” and Her Philosophy

The Galaxy inspired proposed  Mirra Alfassa(21 February 1878 –17 November 1973), popularly known as The Mother, was a spiritual guru and a
Auroville Site map plan of Auroville collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who considered her to be of equal yogic stature to him and called her by the name
"The Mother".
Total auroville site area marked on map  She founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and established Auroville as a universal town.
LOCATION • She was an influence and inspiration to many writers and spiritual personalities on the subject of Integral Yoga.
 Aurovilleis located at a distance of 160 km south of Chennai on the East Coast of India, just 6 km to north of Pondicherry. By late 1965, Roger Anger, the French architect to whom the Mother had asked to design the future town, brought to
 The geographical centre of the city is 54 metres above mean sea level. her a map of the area north of Puducherry.
SITE PLAN OF MATRIMANDIR

CLIMATE
 The climate is tropical, hot and humid with two monsoons a year: the south-west monsoon from June to August MATRIMANDIR
and the north-east monsoon from October to December.
 The average number of rainy days/year varies from 50-70 days, with an average temperature range of 18ᵒC to 42ᵒC. LOCATION
 The relative humidity varies from 50-80%, with average wind speeds of 3-5 m/sec. Town or city Auroville, Tamil Nadu Country India
It came to be called the Galaxy Plan and
 The area is prone to cyclonic storms with wind speeds of up to 55-60 m/sec. Coordinates 12.007208°N 79.810658°E
looked quite unlike most modern cities
Ground breaking 21 February 1971
Completed February 2008
Architect The Mother Roger Anger
Intrnoductio
 At the very center of Auroville, one finds the‘soul of the city ’,the matrimandir, situated in
alargeopenareacalled‘peace’,fromwhichthefuturetownshipwillradiateoutside.
 At the very center of Auroville, one finds the ‘soul of the city’, the matri mandir, situated in a large open area called ‘peace’, from which the future to worship
will radiate outside.
Foundation stone at sunrise on 21February1971-theMother’s93rd birthday-to completion in May2008.
Site planning Aerial view of matrimandir

HISTORY & GOVERNANCE

 The universal township of Aurovillewas founded on February 28th, 1968, in a ceremony where youth of 124 nations
and the states of India deposited the soil of their countries in a foundation urn to symbolise the coming together of
the nations of the world. At the occasion, the Charter of Aurovillewas read, stating that Auroville belongs to humanity
as a whole.
 The Government of India recognised the importance of the project of Auroville, and passed the AurovilleFoundation-
Act in 1988, whereby it created the AurovilleFoundation.
CHARTER OF AUROVILLE
1.Aurovillebelongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must
be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.
2. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.
3. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future
4. Auroville aims at international understanding, human unity, and peace
PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT
 Within the city area of 516 hectares, the township is planned to have various zones,
namely the Residential, the Industrial, the Cultural, the International and the Peace zone,
in which specific activities are to be focused.
 The city is planned for a resident population of 50,000. However, as previously stated, at
present the number of permanent residents is about 2,300.
 The built up area consisting the buildings for recidencialcultural, manufacturing,
commercial and utility uses, international pavilion and open spaces , would evolve
arroundthe matrimandirwith its garden in the center of town ship
PLAN OF MATRIMANDIR CHAMBER SECTION VIEW THROUGH INNER INNERCHAMBER VIEW AND THE CRYSTAL GLASS GLOBE
CHAMBER OF MATRIMANDIR
PLANNING
The Matrimandir is situated at the center of Auroville next ta Banyan tree.
 The architect Roger Anger found there a solitary banyan tree,a tree regarded as a credin India,in a totally barren plateau over looking the bay of Bengal.
The mother decided to make this the center of Auroville.
 At the center of the town,the mother said there would be a park of unity and a pavilion she named‘Matrimandir’,translated as the mothers shrine.
 The architectgavetheshapeofalotusinfullbloomtomatrimandirwithitstwelvelargepetals,symbolizingthedivineconsciousness.
 The inner chamber is in the upper hemisphere of the structure, which is completely white, with white marble walls and white carpeting.
In the center a pure crystal glass globe, suffuses a ray of electronically guided sunlight which falls on it through an opening at the apex of the sphere
INNER CHAMBER
 Ithasa12mradius.Theflooris covered with a white woolen carpet.
• The wall is 8.65m high. It has 12 facets which represent the 12months of the year and are clad with white marble.
• Its white ceiling also has 12 facets each one resting on one of the wall’sfacetsat30degreesangleupwardstowardsthecenter.
• Two double doors of thick white marble slabs. When losed the doors are more or less invisible.
• It has 12 large steel cylindrical columns of 60cm diameter covered with white lacquer which stand half way between the
center of the room and each one of its 12 corners.
 Each of the 12 petals surrounding the matrimandir has a meditation chamber inside.
 At the bottom of the matrimandir they have provided an artificial lotus pond. Which can also be used as a
meditation space with the natural sounds of water flowing,wind etc. this is also made of white marble with
a crystal in the middle symbolizing the lotus. Meditation chamber view

NAME – PRASHANTH B S
CASE STUDY SHEET NO

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN - VII ANALYSIS

USN - 1AA16AT014
SEM - VII “B”
ACHARYA NRV SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
03
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – AUROVILLE, PONDICHERRY
VISITORS CENTRE Type of building : Institutional building for visitors to Auroville UDAVI SCHOOL Site Includes:
Architect : SushaniIyer
Location: Adjacent to Edayanchavadi village Primary Block
Year : 1988 -on going
Total Site Area: 18 acres Secondary Block
Built up area : presently about 5000 m2
Built up area: 7 acres High School Block
Plot size : 3 acres
Architect: Poppo Pingel Staff’s Quaters
Location : Auroville
Activity Area
climate : hot humid coastal zone Architect’s Ideology: UDAVI SCHOOL LOCATION
UDAVI SCHOOL ELEVATION Sports Area
His idea was to explore “ sustainablilty” but not just to introduce the many renewable Model Making Room
and appropriate technologies developed in Auroville. Tailoring Room
Materials Used: Language Room
RCC Music Open Area
Compressed stabilized earth bricks (CSEB)
Sustainability
Raw stones, Glass, Wood
DESIGN EVOLUTION Materials: locally available materialsNatural Ventilation & Lighting:
The concept of the visitor’s centre had been intially designed by sushaniiyer, but she had absolutely no knowledge and Passive Cooling: the artificial pond in the center.
Roof details
experience about earth architecture and site management.
BRICK VAULT ROOF RCC & CSEB STONE COLUMNS USED Roof: Barrel Vault roofs for acoustic.
The roof consists of four layers
Satprem Maiini joined Auroville to design fully and build this centre, and at the same time create the former AS COMPUOND WALLS
Roof tiles
Auroville Building Centre / Earth unit .
Mixture of cement and thermocolein a ratio of 1:6, Artificial Pond:
Satprem trained Sushani, gave a technical design to the concept and mostly managed the construction site .
this acts as a heat insulating material. Pond of 0.75m depth is located at the centerof the building,
No. of enteries:-1 No. of exit :-1
Asbestos sheet, RCC frame work, Bison Board in the middle, stones are placed as a pathway to the other
Roof: Barrel Vault roofs for acoustic. side.Pond was self-maintained with aquatic plants and fishes.

Brick built water tanks Artificial pond

Water tank is made up of brick, the water tank was replicated from the main water tank located in the (Prayatna Community, 26m high tower, provides water to a number of nearby
communities via its 130000lts capacity overhead tank {with underground reserve of 20000lts}. The water tower was completed in 1998, Architect Helmut Schmid) Auroville.

OLI SCHOOL ( the last school)

VISITORS CENTRE CIRCULATION PATTERN EXHIBITION CENTRE PLAN About
VISITORS CENTRE CONSTRUCTION Location: Kuilapalayam, Tamil Design concept
 Granite block foundations and earth blockstructures: Year : Started in 1971  The core inspiration by mother was free process and integral education, in order to develop concentration and openness
 A composite type of foundation in stabilisedmud mortar Category :Educational Institute to inner and outer development. Also called as The Last School, Oli means light in tamil.
was used because of its advantages. Architect : Roger Anger  The education provided is not the traditional classrooms teaching but rather there are various spaces children for
 The material to be used had to essentially have a greater Distance :5.5 kms from Auroville Interaction and learning through experience ,sharing knowledge.
load bearing capacity than the stabilisedblocks. OLI SCHOOL ELEVATION
 Thus the use of fired bricks was eliminated and locally SUSTAINABILITY
mined rough granite blocks were used instead.  The whole roof system works as funnel through which rain water is collected and
 This foundation was cheaper and less time consuming than the flows through channels and then of sloppy wall in front.
VISITORS CENTRE SECTIONAL VIEW conventional fired brick foundation, and most of it could be  During rain the whole structure looks like a water fall and reaches ground.
done using unskilled labour.  Minimum opens are kept along sides to prevent direct sunlight from entering,
Building with earth has a great past, but also a promising future, especially in Auroville. It is definitely an appropriate, instead natural ventilation is provided through roof top and clearstory openings
cost and energy-efficient, and eco-friendly technology which can promote a sustainable future.  A small water channel is provided inside all along the building as passive cooling
One can note these advantages of earth as a building material: technique and to keep termites and ants away
• The earth is a local material, contributing to sustainable development. View of roof Tunnels View from roof openings View of water channel
• The production of the building components demands a lot of semi-skilled manpower. of roof
• The technology is easily adaptable and transferable. MATERIALS:
• The monetary and environmental costs are much lower than that of most other materials.  The main structure is done with concreteand plastered by Ferro cement. It is curved and was
• The thermal comfort and quality of space are in general better than conventional materials. One has also to made hollow so that it could trap heat and keep interior cool.
master the disadvantages of the material which, normally, are variations in the soil quality, and hence the block  The roof is made up of pre-fabricated fibre. This roof mainly reflects the direct sunlight and
quality and the production of blocks on site. keeps the interior cool.
These reductive aspects can be underlined:  Amphitheatre and water storage tank were made using small clay bricks
• Mechanical qualities are less regular.
• Sensible building details are required. Pre fabricated roof structure Landscaping element and structures
• The constraints of organizing and managing the production of one’s own building material on site.
LUNCH HUB:
COST EFFECTIVENESS Earthen buildings have the advantage of using local resources and being labourintensive.
 The school wanted an outdoor annexe as a lunch hub. The idea was for students to participate in
VISITORS CENTRE SALIENT FEATURES SALIENT FEATURES lunch preparation & washing,
o Integrated site planning for effective management of surface and roof run-off to recharge the aquifer.  A low cost building was needed that resembled the post-modernist design of Last School.
o Landscaping with indigenous “tropical deciduous evergreen forest” –reduced water needs  The structure is made from MS steel columns with a metal sheet roof providing overall stability.
o Decentralised recycling of all waste water including black  The red oxide flooring and Kalimarudu wooden interiors blend in perfectly with the surroundings
o Urban agriculture to grow fruits increasing the aesthetic appeal.
o Solid waste management with segregation / recycling / composting o Wind mill for Water pumping View of lunch hub Hand wash space Open Amphi-theatre
o Use of appropriate building materials and technology like CSEB / Ferro cement / rammed earth / light roofing / natural stone floors / minimum wood use used as sculpture
o Solar passive design; natural ventilation / lighting / solar chimneys o Energy efficient fixtures for lighting and appliances
o Reclamation and afforestation

NAME – PRASHANTH B S
CASE STUDY SHEET NO

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN - VII ANALYSIS

USN - 1AA16AT014
SEM - VII “B”
ACHARYA NRV SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
04