This memorial museum is located in the ashram where the Mahatma lived from 1917 to 1930. Housing his books, letters and photographs, this modest and humanlyscaled memorial uses brick piers, stone floors and tiled roofs to find a contemporary expression for the spirit of swadeshi.

The commission was the architect's first important work in private practice. In order to reflect the simplicity of Gandhi's life and the incremental nature of a living institution the architect used modular units 6 metres x 6 metres of reinforced cement concrete connecting spaces, both open and covered, allowing for eventual expansion.

Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya at Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad
Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya at Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad: Photograph by Pranlal Patel

The modular simplicity of the structure is continued in the use of basic materials: stone floors, brick walls, wooden doors and louvred windows devoid of glass, and riled roofs. The units are grouped in a consciously asymmetric manner to be analogous to the Indian village with its pathways and seem­ ingly randomly placed buildings and its meeting points; in this instance the central water court.

Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya at Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad
Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya at Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad: Photograph by Pranlal Patel

The initial construction con­sisted of 51 modular units. Some of the units are enclosed by walls; the exhibition spaces so created counterpointed by areas for rest where the visitor can sit ... Since its inaguration by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1963 the units have been added to, extending the existing pattern.