Children of Urur-Olcott Kuppam, a fishing hamlet in Besant Nagar, have a new hangout. It’s however not just a play area, but an exercise in social, participative and green architecture.
Besides being at the centre of an effort to improve the lot of these children, it was partly created by these children themselves. And, the tables and chairs are made of re-cycled or up-cycled materials.
As part of a national-level architectural competition, five students of architecture from Sathyabama University teamed up with Akarmaa Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation, and converted a structure, standing forlorn on the soft sands of the beach, into a learning centre for these kids.
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The project to transform this abandoned and dilapidated structure into an attractive space for children was crowd-funded.
Already, one creativity workshop has been conducted for these children and they are looking forward to the next one.
“Our first event was a drawing-and-colouring workshop for children from Urur-Olcott Kuppam. On Saturday, we are planning to organise a tuition class,” says P. Pradeep, a third-year student of architecture.
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The other members of the team are Andreya Fernando, Pravin Nagaraj, Rithika Senthilkumar and Jerome Kishore. They also got the help of other classmates.
“Through crowd-funding, we received around ₹70,000 which went into setting up the learning centre,” says Kaushik Kumar, a faculty at Sathyabama University and a co-founder of Akarmaa Foundation.
Bamboos went into creating the framework that supports a thatched roof.
When the structure began to take shape, children were encouraged to breathe life into it. Children gave a coat of paint to the walls. A variety of colours have been used.
The tables and chairs have been made with discarded tyres and wooden planks.
The space, which can accommodate over 20 people, is yet to receive its finishing touches.
The team has kept the learning centre open to ensure that the community develops a sense of responsibility towards it.
“We want them to own the place and not keep it locked,” says Kaushik, adding that the centre can also be used to conduct panchayat meetings and organise get-togethers for women.
The members have also approached NGOs Bhumi and Teach for India to conduct regular activities for the children of the community.
“We have created the space, got the necessary permission and they have the volunteers. Though we started this as an academic project, we now have plans to establish similar learning centres in other communities,” says Kaushik.
For more details, call 9789999667 or visit akarmaafoundation.wordpress.com