Adivasis and tribal people make up the residents of Navapada. Based on a public interest litigation in 1995 there was an attempt to relocate the people that called the forest their home. when they resisted their water and electricity supply was cut off.
As the village grew it slowly formed a pattern which I observed, all the living activities of the people started to happen on the courtyards and verandas of their houses.
As they did not have a source of electricity, it was not easy for them to keep their houses lit during the day hence they spent their day on the courtyards that were naturally lit by sunlight.
Because of this they could give equal space for the two primary things they did indoors without the need of light. that is sleeping and storing their belongings. So unlike the houses in the city, the insides only were divided in two parts where they slept and kept their belongings.
Although some of them had kitchens set up inside their houses, they didn't have gas lines that ran through the village and as it wasn't feasible to carry heavy gas canisters so deep into the village by foot, they started using firewood which was readily available to them by virtue of living in the forest. but as wood creates a lot of smoke the kitchens moved to the living spaces.
as women are usually the primary caretakers of children whilst also being the ones that do most of the cooking. They moved and set up their children's play things in the courtyard as well in order to keep a watch on the kids as they went about their daily activities.
While talking to the kids I recognized another pattern, one that the children followed as they wove themselves through their village, the sense of belonging and community is very strong in Navapada, I often saw neighbors and people who live in the surroundings look after the children as played in the different area as a result the children also freely navigated through the houses, running through the many entrances.
So I created panoramas that zoom in and out from places where these children played and realized that the paths they took were almost fixed and there were fixed ways they moved about the village. I also realized that the environment that they play in is not safe for them
The children move about constantly, almost like a river that flows through the village. They rarely stop in places and most of their games involve zipping across from the different corners of the settlement.
I also realized that there are fixed paths and spaces that the children frequent, these usually happen around large chabutras and trees, or piles of bricks or stones or in between the courtyards of a few houses that might be facing each other.
In the nights they retire to one of the houses in the surrounding areas.
When it rains all the children come around in the nearest house depending on where they are at the moment and the energies in that house are high then.
Initially I had designed house-like modules in which the children could play as well as study but it disrupted the very evident flow of the village.
The idea of a simple structure that provided a safer environment for the children to play as well as study while giving spaces for people to hang about stuck with me . so I made different types of module depending on the energies at the specific location
I made each module particular to the junction it was placed at keeping in mind the footfall and traffic of the children running about as well as if it were a spot for people to hang about.
One of the modules also became a classroom that doubled as a space for people to hang around, integration of education into the children's routine was important. Therefore their play areas also became places of learning and hence the inner walls became the black boards, the brick and plastered mud slopes and ramps became familiar grounds for the children to naturally move about.
promoting the ideas of exploration in these children whilst they learnt.
In larger junctions smaller ramps provided a change in Terrain that the children would enjoy playing about while giving spaces for the people to sit and have conversations, the ramps and plinths extended from the houses in places that mimicked the way the children navigated their space with all their energy
The materials used were smoothened stone for the slides, brick which was plastered with mud as these materials and their materiality was familiar to the people.
In tighter spots, walls and other simple elements guided the evident flow to the village while giving safe spaces for the children to play. For example, these curved walls complemented the twisting spine of the settlement whilst giving a sense of flow and direction. The brick jali created a porosity that the village already thrives on whilst also playing off of the small, semi open vistas of the forest. whilst maintaining the flow of the village, the modules also served as a good change of pace for the people, as they could hang around in places that they had easy access to. I am aware that the forest restricts the use of brick in construction as the settlement is supposedly a temporary shelter. yet i have deliberately broken this rule as the use of brick and stone provide a much needed sense of permanence to the people of navapada. maintaining the fidelity that they have to the forest is an integral part of the process. The modules integrated into the settlement's spine like flow and complimented them while also allowing for activities like drying clothes on clothes lines and storing their daily use objects like pots in an attempt to create an extension of the existing type and space and not losing out on the intimacy of navapada.
