The Design Village institute decided to move out of its existing campus to a larger premises to accommodate the growing number of students. An abandoned Kattha (catechu) factory in the same neighborhood emerged as a viable alternative as it was in line with the vision of the design institute.
The Kattha factory used as the canvas had all the right mix of things in all the wrong physical conditions.
Lighting was vital as natural light had to be brought into this dark dilapidated dungeon. The layout was important because the institute in its essence is essentially a school of design with multiple interaction spaces. It is attempting to break away from the traditional model of fixed classrooms to an idea of mixed and versatile ones.
It is constantly trying to give neutral spaces of varying scales and sizes so as to be adaptive and adoptive. Students are expected to own them, belong to them and live them in this journey of self discovery, as per their will. Sets of steps are a symbolic and the fundamental archetype used here, thereby bringing in opportunities of synergy among people across the campus.
