Stories are an integral part of the Socio-cultural narrative of a town. Moodabidri, a temple town celebrates the festival of Rathotsav annually, that marks the dissolution of social boundaries as the Lord comes out of the temple in a joyous procession. This story explored with the idea of reversal of roles in terms of contrasting factors such as ‘Static-Dynamic’, ‘Silence-Joy’, ‘Restrictions-Accesibility’ and ‘Banal-Festive’, keeping journey as the core, becomes the spine of the design process.

As much unique and exuberant the day of Rathotsav is, similar qualities are inculcated in the space. The entrance space invites all and the orientation centre provides a ‘never-seen-before’ experience of the town. The other areas aim to establish qualities of dynamism and effervescence through light, water, reflections and sound. The reading space imbibes traditional values while the walls of the discourse area echo spirituality in every sense. The book wagon embodies the energy of the Rath and spreads out spirituality to every corner of the town, just like the Utsav!
The structure built in red laterite stone adopts local craft and techniques of construction to seamlessly merge in the existing context, it creates its own identity but does not overpower the existing fabric. The undulating topography of Moodabidri and the heavy rains become an inspiration and aid in the design.

The design is an ode to the festival of Rathotsav, bringing in the qualities of exuberance, oneness, seamlessness, and spirituality inspired from certain aspects of the festival itself as the static becoming dynamic, the well-curated journey, and the reversal of roles.