Auroville Library

A Spacious and Centrally Located Library

The new 630m Auroville Library building located on the Crown Road near the Solar Kitchen, designed by long-time Aurovilian architect Suhasini Ayer, was completed in 2010 and has been operational since late 2011.

Architect: Suhasini Ayer-Guigan

Construction and Design            

Essentially the building, which was constructed through a grant from the Central Government, is a framed structure (as per Tamil Nadu PWD regulations) and the campus will accommodate further buildings of ground + 2 to meet the needs of the city as it grows. It has been designed for an initial Auroville population of 5,000, in such a way as to provide ample book shelving space, office space for cataloguing books and book maintenance, a reference section with computerized browsing facility, tables for reading and laptop usage, and a small children's library, all in such a way as to provide climatic comfort without the need for modulation using electrical/mechanical means. All infill walls are of rammed earth, and finishing materials used have as much as possible been taken from natural/local sources to minimise the inclusion of industrial products with high embodied energy. Courtyards, transitional spaces and semi-covered spaces are shaded to allow for multiple usages; all trees with ecological/ aesthetic value on site have been retained without damage during construction, and a few additional trees have been planted for further shading and aesthetic reasons.

The new building allows the Library to be more easily accessible to users thanks to its central location. It also provides more space for books and easier access to the collections, so represents a major improvement over the previous Library circumstances. The interior design and the equipment of the new building have been also completed thanks to a grant from the Central Government.