Service Facility
Reception Pavilion
In order to complete the Matrimandir, three new construction projects are being undertaken: the Service Facility; the Reception Pavilion and the West Bridge.
The Service Facility will replace the existing Matrimandir offices and workshops which are all presently located within the Lake area.
The Reception Pavilion will welcome everyone; residents and visitors alike who come to the Park of Unity for contemplation.
The West Bridge will cross the Lake from the Reception Pavilion to the Park of Unity
Once upon a time, not far from the Banyan Tree, there was the Central Kitchen for all the people living and working in the centre area of Auroville, including Matrimandir. Over the years the need for the kitchen declined and the buildings were transformed into the Matrimandir offices and also a reception area for the many visitors.
On the eastern side of the Matrimandir, workshops were built and then a generator room and workers’ facilities and all the buildings required to store materials, tools and machines. All these temporary buildings are located in the future Lake area and the time has come to move them to permanent facilities across the Lake.
Workshops to remove
The new facilities are being built to last and designed to harmonise with the beauty of Matrimandir and its Gardens.
A plot has been allocated to Matrimandir to build this new Service Facility.
This plot is located on the north- eastern shore of the Lake at the end of the Administrative Zone. The Architects have been chosen and the construction is almost ready to start. This new building has to be ready before the last section of the Lake can be dug, at the latest by early 2027
The future Service Facility
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In future everyone visiting Matrimandir and the Park of Unity, from both inside as well as outside of Auroville, will approach the Peace Area through the Reception Pavilion.
Roger Anger has left some ideas and sketches for the future Reception Pavilion, which will be located on the outer shore of the Lake on the West axis from where a beautiful Bridge will span the Lake to the Park of Unity. This Pavilion will complete the beauty and perfection of the Peace Area.
It will be the base for the security and the guardians who look after the Peace Area day and night. There one will find comfort facilities as well as other very practical requirements.
But more importantly it is envisaged that the Reception Pavilion will provide an atmosphere that will help all those approaching Matrimandir to cast off the hustle and bustle of daily life, to prepare for outer as well as inner silence and to get into contact with their inner being.
This project is now coming into focus. The architects have been chosen, preliminary designs presented and these are being further developed before moving onto the planning process.
Bridges symbolise overcoming obstacles, making the work on the bridge over the lake a fitting expression of this project.
The Lake will create an isolating zone between the City Area and the Peace Area which can only be accessed with permission, according to The Mother.
The Bridge will cross the Lake from the Reception Pavilion to the Park of Unity on the Matrimandir’s West axis
The Bridge is envisaged as the only access to/from the City Area for all residents and visitors alike entering and leaving the Park of Unity for contemplation.
The Bridge will be mainly a pedestrian bridge but it will be able to accommodate large numbers of people at a time to correspond to the capacity of the Amphitheater, which is 5000 people as well as electric vehicles for those with mobility issues.
The Bridge will also conceal such infrastructure services as water pipes and electric cables.
The Project is still in the conceptual stage but will have to be taken up soon as the Lake will soon be excavated on the West.
An underground store room is being built underneath the Garden of Youth, to provide future storage for gardening equipment such as ride-on lawn mowers, bobcats and a small tractor/trailer.
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