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The new town hall
is finished and ready to move in.. a few impressions to share..
During the township's first thirty-plus
years, the residents of Auroville performed their various administrative
tasks in a wide variety of places. Reports on developments, meetings
and other such activities were often written by hand, or typed on
cranky old typewriters in keet huts, community kitchens or somewhere
outside. Community meetings were frequently held in the most unusual
places, under Banyan trees, at sports grounds, on theatre stages,
in school rooms, etc etc.. Thanks to the good graces of Bharat Nivas'
management, who allowed the residents to make use of several unfinished
buildings in their compound during the last ten years, the situation
somewhat improved; though it remained still far from ideal, let
alone efficient.
Admittedly, in the very early days the
Auroville folks mainly worked the land, got acquainted with the
local population and tried to put together some sort of basic infrastructure
in support of their pioneering lifestyle. An organisational set-up
was far, far from their minds…
Now, with Auroville's population steadily
on the rise, the need for such a set-up is blatantly obvious and,
in the general synchronicity of things, it's therefore not surprising
that a first building for a future Town Hall complex is nearing
completion:
First step towards an Auroville Town Hall
The materialisation of the Centre
for Urban Research (Annex to the future Town Hall) became possible
with the approval by the European Commission of a project held by
Auroville's Future that aimed to create a well equipped centre for
Auroville's town planning & development activities. The need
for working in closer collaboration among the various Auroville
working groups and services has always been felt by those active
in the township's budding administration & development circles,
and hence the idea of creating an even larger building emerged.
Auroville's Financial Services joined immediately, being the ones
in urgent need of an outlet in a central location of the town. Enabled
through a generous donation from of Stichting de Zaaier, the Landfund
and Project Coordination services joined in as well.
Parameters
The construction of the building started in
May 2001 in the administrative zone of Auroville, very close to
Matrimandir. Intense meetings had to take place before the final
design, size and future users were agreed upon. They resulted in
the following:
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The building has a covered surface of 1300
sqm plus 350 sqm of verandas distributed over 3 floors
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At ground level there will be a conference
room, equipped with the most advanced audiovisual facilities,
with seating space for some 100 people
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An area of 100 sqm will be used by the Auroville's
Financial Services
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On the first floor there will be the main
offices of Auroville's Future's 'City Networking' and its administration,
Land Fund, Abundance, Project Coordination, Development Council,
Working Committee, and Housing Service, - with a large meeting
room to be shared by all
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On the second floor will be located facilities
for planners, engineers, architects, surveyors and coordinators
of various planning activities, as well as a multipurpose library
for documentation & research on topics related to planning
and development
At the time of writing, September 2002,
the main structure of the building has been completed. Work is going
on with the tiling of the floors and final painting. An innovative
system to share the energy supply is being implemented, which will
include the use of solar panels at a later stage. Studies are ongoing
to have a hardware & communication network system in the entire
building. The building will be equipped with a wastewater treatment
unit which will be a demonstration unit of a new type developed
by Auroville's consultants in water management.
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