LECO TOOLKIT
A Versatile Solution across Villages in India
Category: Infrastructural Solution
Rural India is on the brink of a plethora of issues that are a matter of concern for the residents, the Government, and various other stakeholders. From lack of having spaces for learning to millions who feel unsafe on rural streets; from the huge numbers who walk long distances to harvest water to lack of importance given to rural sports; rural India is much more than issues of farming and farm lands or overpopulation.
The Team
ARCHITECT
KARAN DAISARIA
Urban Designer & Principal Architect,
Daisaria Associates
ARCHITECT
DEVANSH DAISARIA
Project Architect,
Daisaria Associates
ARCHITECT
SAANCHI JHUNJHUNWALA
Project Architect,
Daisaria Associates
The Challenge
Rural India is plagued by diverse and important challenges. Is it possible to have a modular design intervention to provide different solutions to different infrastructure topologies. An intervention that can be made by the people themselves by joining, aligning and combining as per the requirements of the village.
The Solution
The methodology of the design is a toolkit manual of the LECO block which come in various sizes, shapes and perforations. This solution is modular, replicable, easy to make and cost effective blocks. The design has been modulated and represented for 6 main functions as prototypes of the possibilities. From addressing street safety through light poles, to permeable paver blocks to avoid complete concretisation of rural streets; From portable classrooms and learning pavilions to open gymnasiums in villages that are in dire need of physical and mental fitness;
Expected Impact
With over 21 million tonnes of waste being dumped in the rural hinterlands, they are the highest potential of reusing as aggregate for the LECO block. Every design demands varied number of blocks, and different scales of usage. It is time to rethink the rural street as a catalyst of growth and insitu development. Welcome to the new Rural India, developing but not urbanised.
