Talaricheruvu Rural School / CollectiveProject

Located in rural Andhra Pradesh, a hot and dry region in Southern India, our proposal re-envisions a fifteen-year-old "L" shaped school building into a vibrant and empowering learning environment for the children of cement factory workers. The existing structure, sited in the rear corner of a barren two-acre property, was structurally sound but in semi-disrepair, with no shade other than a few trees along the site wall for the students to escape the intense sun during afternoon breaks. The interior spaces, with little natural light and ventilation, were divided into sixteen oversized classrooms, a library that doubled as a faculty room, two labs and external bathrooms that were difficult for the children to access due to distance and a circuitous path. The client brief, given by the Penna Foundation, was to create a prototype design that could be implemented at other regional cement factories, using well-designed spaces and extracurricular programs as an attractor for teachers who otherwise do not consider relocating to the remote area.