The building process provided employment for many members of the village community

The building was co-designed in close consultation with the teacher, children and community

The building was designed with a second roof to shade and cool the whole structure

Decorative floor mosaic based on traditional rangoli design

The Anganwadi Project (TAP) is an Australian NGO which sends architects to India to work with disadvantaged communities to design and build preschools. I began working with TAP in 2018, travelling to Anantapur in southern India with fellow architect Alison Stout, to complete a project in a small rural village called Bondalawada. We stayed there for six months developing the project with the teacher, children and wider community and TAP’s partner in Andhra Pradesh - the Rural Development Trust.

When you work on community projects is as an incoming architect you soon learn that you are not an ‘expert’! You’re just a well educated person with a certain skillset and mindset that can be very useful if you listen carefully and focus on the real needs of the community. They are always the experts in the local conditions and in their own needs and resources. TAP’s immersive process gives participating architects the all important time for deep listening and observation during the design process and a chance to fully engage with the community, building trust and social investment in the project.

The budget for these projects is very small and the construction time frame is tight, so being innovative and adaptive is especially important. Harivillu 1 Anganwadi was designed with one key innovation - a ‘second roof’ which shades the main structure and drops the internal temperature by about 10°C. This is critical in a climate where the temperature regularly tops 40°C.