Author: Aryan Paranjape
Site Location: Saswad
Institute:IES’s College of Architecture
Advisor: Prof. Sanket Mhatre

Description

A landscape is rarely inhabited by one life alone. At Saswad, seasonal vegetation, wildlife and agricultural communities depend upon the same territory, yet each experiences and responds to it differently.

The thesis began with a simple question: Who are we designing for? Studying how people move, how wildlife adapts, how the landscape changes, and where these patterns meet revealed that the challenge was not a lack of space, but a lack of understanding.

This shifted the approach from “What should be built here?” to “What can design heal here?”

The project proposes a capacity-building centre organised around dialogue, understanding and care, bringing together a Public Interface, Research Wing, Rescue Unit, Rapid Response Garage and Dormitory. Each addresses a different need; from community support and field research to emergency response and sustained engagement. An adaptable Info Cart extends this intent beyond the centre.

The architecture follows the site’s contours, seasonal rhythms and existing patterns through clustered, permeable and minimally grounded interventions. Water systems, vegetation and open spaces become active parts of the proposal rather than residual landscape.

Inspired by the Chabutara, the project asks how architecture can make room for different lives without allowing one to overshadow another.

Ultimately, Habitat Continuum seeks to create a shared territory where different needs can find space, support and belonging.

Drawings

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