AR2026
Dissolving Boundaries: Children’s Library at Loving Community Focus Vizualizing and Communicating Unit Assistant Aakash Dave
Faculty of Architecture AR2026 Spring 2021
2 nd Year Bhavyakumar Satwara Dhwani Prajapati Falguni Mevada Hetvi Prajapati Mansi Kothari Nishtha Contractor Parth Kerai Parth Panchal Yashasvi Brahmbhatt
3 rd Year Dixit Tank Yash Shah
22
Anand Sonecha The studio focused on the Loving community in Vastral, formed in 1968 by people affected with leprosy, who have migrated from different parts of India. The neighborhood has 450 residents, from which a few still have reminiscences of the disease, even if cured. Most of the people living in this community work for factories nearby, drive rickshaws, and many beg on the streets. Today, around a hundred children are living in the community, their homes having a single room with families of up to six members. The houses don’t have enough space for the residents and no proper space for children to study. The studio was centered on the design of a small children’s library—- a place where they can meet, study, or be by themselves and which can also act as a meeting point for children from different neighborhoods. The social stigma revolving around such communities pushes them towards isolation and they end up like islands in the social fabric of the city. The studio triggered discussions on how these boundaries between the Loving community and the neighborhood can be dissolved. The studio explored how equitable and inclusive spaces can be created, and discussed ways in which architecture can be a means to improve lives.
