Vibrant Spaces For Learning And Living

YWCA Campus in Dwarka, New Delhi.

- Sharmila Chakravorty

Relocating to a new city for work or education, especially for women in our country, can be quite a challenge. There is the question of safety, of the quality and availability of living spaces, and that of alienation in an unknown city. Hostels do serve the purpose to some extent, given that in essence they are transitional spaces that accommodate students and residents for a very specific period of time, repeating the whole process over and over in time. And perhaps by that logic, they are usually poorly designed spaces. But the YWCA Campus designed by Morphogenesis in the burgeoning sub-city of Dwarka in New Delhi is perhaps an attempt to dispel this perception.

The design brief for the Campus intended for use largely by women was to accommodate two distinct yet interrelated functional programs – residential facilities for working women, and academic facilities for their vocational training. Responding to these prerequisites and limitations, the design strategy applied focusses heavily on sustainability – in true Morphogenesis style.