Projects

Toolbox of Care

A comprehensive, multipronged resource on how to build community-rooted social infrastructure in informal settlements through a diversity of approaches - architectural, social, political, and participatory

In its advocacy stage, the Banao project will now explore how to build community-rooted social infrastructure in informal settlements - not just as architectural drawings, but as a web of strategies, collaborations, and processes to adapt and amplify. It will document and share how anganwadis can emerge through trust-building, negotiation, and participatory design, while also offering replicable design solutions through public discourse and partnerships.

D-I-Y (Design It Yourself) manual that folds into a palm sized handbook - with 9 simple design steps to create your own creche even in a small room. Now available for download in Hindi and English on our website’s Open Source section.

Developed in collaboration with SEWA Bharat and supported by Rearc institute to adapt child-friendly design strategies to 150 homes in rural Bihar and enable “care-preneur” women to run their own creches, creating livelihoods and bringing access to education, health and nutrition to children below 6 years of age.

For those who are not too comfortable writing or drawing, we came up with simple stencils and shapes that they found much easier to trace around. 150 designs by 150 women who are building their own creches with their own hands.

Over the past months, we have been busy coordinating with the SEWA Bharat team in Katihar & Gaya in rural Bihar where new creches are being developed in 150 homes by the women “carepreneurs” there - who build their own homes in mud and bamboo.

This has involved creating a simple toolkit manual of our design retrofit strategies piloted in Delhi with SEWA Delhi & Rearc institute which are now being adapted in traditional materials and low-cost building techniques, where every Carepreneur has designed her own creche following 9 simple design steps.

For those who are not too comfortable writing or drawing, we came up with simple stencils and shapes that they found much easier to trace around. These are a few photos of the process of them designing their creches and retrofitting them by themselves. Watch this space for more as we share the toolkit manual and photos of the finished spaces.