Ayurvedic Therapy and Training Institute

Kerala,a tropical paradise in India is known for its rich traditions of Ayurveda,one of India`s traditional systems of medicine.Ayurveda provides an integrated approach to preventing and treating illness through lifestyle interventions and natural therapies.

The program was a center for practicing Ayurvedic therapy on patients from all over India and abroad.Students interested in learning this system of medicine train under the practitioners as apprentices,much like a `gurukulam`.The project required spaces for therapy,teaching and accommodation for practitioners,students and patients.

The site chosen was a spectacular back water stretch in north Kerala.It was the tip of a peninsular land formation girdled on three sides by water.

The Institute was conceptualized as a linear form hugging the coast-line resting on stilts.The boundary between land and water becomes the place where therapy and training of students takes place.The accommodation sits inland among rice-fields with the `bund walls/retaining walls` forming the approaches.Being made of laterite stone it gives a sense of rest and of being solidly rooted to the ground as opposed the floating institute.
The existing vernacular traditions in Kerala architecture were taken as the base upon which the project evolved.

Ayurvedic Therapy and Training Institute by Vigneswar V.S. in India won the WA Award Cycle 2. Please find below the WA Award poster for this project.