These buildings were intended to be multi-purpose centres which serve as a base for rural development workers, provide working places for women to run income generating projects, and to become a focus for community activities.
The centres were to be built by government agencies and/or voluntary organizations, with UNICEF assistance, in selected villages in all States of India.
The main features of the construction programme were that the centres should be built with community involvement, be of low-cost design, use local materials and indigenous construction techniques, and be owned and maintained by the village community.
Since the constructions were to be undertaken in fairly remote areas, and since no standard design could respond to the diverse climatic and cultural conditions across the country, the design exercise was initially reduced to sets of illustrated design guidelines which were distributed to the construction agencies. Visits were also made to many of the proposed sites to work out specific design solutions with the local people and the state government officials.
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- Between the Earth and the Sky - an Architectural Journey In Portfolio of Works, MN Ashish Ganju. London, 1998.