A Village School Finds New Life Through Adaptive Design

Saraswati Vidyalaya is an extremely cost-effective rural government school, situated on the banks of the Tansa River, educating 180 students from 8th to 10th grade in the tribal village of Kelthan, Palghar, Maharashtra. Facing the wrath of nature, the village school partially drowned in the 2019 floods, causing irreparable damage to its infrastructure. Therefore, making it hazardous for students and teachers to occupy the premises.

Editor’s Note: “Once submerged under floodwaters, Saraswati Vidyalaya now redefines resilience and renewal. Built with the hands and hearts of its own people, the school stands tall on stilts, elevated, sunlit, shaded, and deeply rooted in tradition. Crafted from earth and bricks, it is an ode to sustainability, proving that survival lies in flourishing.” ~ Anusha Sridhar

A Village School Finds New Life Through Adaptive Design | unTAG

The journey of Rebuilding Resilience began in 2020, when the architects, alongside a local NGO, decided to intervene through a participatory process with school teachers and students. The school was proposed to be built in two phases, ensuring regular classes during construction while simultaneously facilitating fundraising.

Site Context

The redesigned village school, planned with utmost sensitivity to regional climate and context, incorporates solar passive strategies. Proposed in the northeast corner of the 1-acre site, the built form helps in maximizing the school playground.

The school is proposed on stilts to provide the least resistance to floodwaters. The first floor of Phase 1 has three well–lit, cross-ventilated classrooms with a North-light roof, alongside a staffroom, girls’ restroom, and toilets. These classrooms look out at Mandakini Hill and lush paddy fields, a visual delight for students. The community kitchen is kept on the ground floor, serving midday meals to students. The stilted ground floor plate weaves a multi-functional social space, hosting school activities, community gatherings, medical camps, and awareness drives.

A locally sourced material palette helped in achieving an unbelievable construction cost of Rs.1200 per sq.ft. (13.5$. per sq.ft), ensuring a low carbon footprint for construction. With a concrete framework, the body of this sustainable school is built in locally baked red bricks, laid in Rat-trap bond. This reduces the brick quantum while providing thermal insulation to classrooms.

Brick Jalis at strategic locations act as visual filters and also ensure breeze flows. The builders used the filler-slab technique on the ground floor, inserting locally crafted earthen disks in a free-flowing ceiling pattern to reduce concrete quantity and enhance vernacular aesthetics.

The ground floor features recycled Indian stone flooring, crafted from waste stones sourced for free from local vendors, forming a pattern inspired by the meandering Tansa River. Insulated puff panels for the roof ensure the classrooms stay thermally comfortable throughout the year. Roof-mounted solar panels make the school net-zero and self-reliant in its energy needs.

Facade as a Biophilic Interface

The school façade, imagined as a biophilic interface, has green planters as an important design element, maintained by school students. Students have partially used the surrounding open space to grow seasonal vegetables for midday meals. The students, alongside farmer parents, contributed to the construction through shramdaan, as hands-on site training of alternative techniques was given by architects, adding to the skills of locals.

Saraswati Vidyalaya now exemplifies how to reimagine and build rural schools sensitively, cost-efficiently, and aesthetically. Phase 1 has led to an immense social impact, with an increase in student intake, encouraging the underprivileged tribal parents to exercise their right to education. An endeavor to uplift and empower the local, through local and with local.