Dissolving Boundaries: Childrens Library at Loving Community

The studio focuses on the Loving community in Vastral, formed in 1968 by people affected with leprosy, who have migrated from different parts of India. The neighbourhood 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 comprising 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 centers on the design of a small children’s library. A place where they can meet, study, or be by themselves and also acting as a meeting point for children from different neighbourhoods. The social stigma revolving around such communities, push them towards isolation and they end up like islands in the social fabric of the city. The studio will trigger discussions on how these boundaries between the Loving community and the neighbourhood can be dissolved. The studio explores how equitable and inclusive spaces can be created, and discuss ways in which architecture can be a means to improve lives.