The poster designed by Namrata Toraskar of Vanamu.
We have planned workshops for different audiences. (see above)
Hemanth (our contractor – https://www.instagram.com/vertical4_construction/ is facilitating the live build and making the site available for these workshops. Construction has kicked off with his team on site.
Working within the site and budget restrictions, Hemanth was able to suggest valuable changes to the design and work with natural building techniques that we are learning from Daoodji Muwal
The Instagram post which is tracking interest and signups can be seen here.
The following narratives came up with the actions taken at step 1.
A series of revised drawings (see above) and a revised estimate for our contractor (Hemanth Kumar) and our team of masons (Yogesh Anna and Co).
Locations of the septic tank and sump tank and their excavation to understand the soil below. soil was dug along with the local well-digging team (Raju from Penukonda), who moved the soil out to the garden area for us to play with.
3. The rings carefully laid in place, with Balakrishna who casts these rings nearby. How the rings are lowered can be seen here
4. The site was marked again, this time with the foundations redesigned based on soil strata; marked with the help of Mira and excavated with the same team that dug the pits.
Arnab, Pooja and Namrata disussing possiblities of enagements.
5. Namrata is carefully leading and managing the outreach and developing content for engagement through workshops, possibly extending the build period to the end of June 2026. Seen below is her class at SMI being introduced to the project.
This post documents the first week of idea initiation. This includes the prior work by Vanamu.org since we heard about the possible shutting down of Samatva in its current rented location and its move to its new site of Nanda.
<insert photos of evidence towards primary disucssions>
This was a design that had one evolution with Nanda that can be seen here, which led to this step 1.
You can access step 0 of the design here on request.
Namrata introduced the idea of community engagement after the graduation ceremony and curated the structure of step 1, from the presentation to the engagement after it.
<Insert Presentation Photo>
That first evolution of the design based on feedback from Nanda alone was presented to the elders’ group present at the ceremony.
You can access Namrata’s presentation here on request
This curation also included the first-ever elders’ meeting, where we, for the very first time, sat in a community circle. This was also the very first time we’ve had the opportunity to have this level of a say and the breadth of responsibility to have a stake. Perhaps a first chance to have a collective positionality about our children’s learning.
<insert photos and videos of the elders circle>
We also met as a site-marking team the very next day on a Sunday morning, where we understood the site dimensions and looked at the spaces marked out. We talked through these spaces, which allowed us valuable discussions on site. A symbolic collective rangoli on the ground, binding us with the site.
<insert site marking photos/videos>, and let’s describe them in a little more detail.
Further discussions with Hemanth (our contractor) and Vijay Kumar (our stonemason) led to several design changes.
<Insert collective photos>
At Vanamu, we assume the role of the architect of the space and the community that builds the space; opening it up to anyone else who would like to foster the space along with Nanda and her home of children.
We thank you for these overwhelmingly rich and diverse inputs from all these above engagements that have led to a shift in framing and, as a mason/architect, to a personal reflection in a series of recordings.
An AI-generated 10-minute read is here and the 20-minute read is here, <open access, >
The revised design can be seen here <open access, names hidden>
This post also opens up the space and time for conversations in any form. around this first step of regeneration. Let’s go “get a yield” towards a community. Vanamu is listening.
