In Buddhist mythology, Jetavana is the name of one of the Buddha’s most important spatial edifices; translated literally, it means “the grove of Jeta.” Jetavana was land donated to the sangha to found a monastery. It is symbolically significant 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.

The institute was programmed as a spiritual and 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.

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

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 are, thus, also a function of the outside setting, with a lightness that belies the quantum of built program on site. The separation of the roof from the walls, while providing much-needed cross-ventilation, also scales the building toward the courtyard.

Working closely with Hunnarshala, an institution looking to revive and resuscitate local building traditions, we collated a material palate that uses rammed load-bearing 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 an adjoining factory that in formerly used to pay people to cart the waste fly ash away. Repurposed wood from old shipping vessels acts as the roof structure, with the understructure made of mud rolls, which also provide great insulation. The roof itself is finished with clay roof tiles, remnants from older demolished buildings. The flooring is a traditional mud-and-dung floor made by members of the local community, which is said to have antiseptic and insulating properties.

Our approach to the Jetavana project looks to extend the idea of the regional paradigm while 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 that are based on local materiality and appropriate to the context, even if they are not necessarily used natively.