It is essential to work on the site:
Work on the site.
Stay on the site.
Let the site tell you its secrets.-–Christopher Alexander
Building sites are dusty, hot and uncomfortable. They are loud, there’s no clean spot to sit, the toilet is sketchy and everyone else seems to know exactly what they’re doing. We keep going anyway.
Driving to or from Delhi to raise funds, I go via the site. A quick stop on the way out for inspiration; a quick visit on the way back as a reminder that everything I say to donors is true. We take parents for tours and children for a sneak peek. The site is magical. But, as the quote implies, it reveals its secrets slowly.
Working in an unfamiliar context, with tools we don’t know how to handle and materials meant to be permanent, we’ve made mistakes. We’ve asked for walls we then had to demolish, desired features for which there was no budget and requested arches, curves and niches that weren’t in the plan. Some mistakes were expensive. Some were embarrassing. We keep listening. The site, which seems to like our humility, keeps revealing more.
You have to see it to know you need it. The site has made us realize that unless we experience good design, we can’t picture it, let alone demand it. In India, we are so used to struggling to get inside buildings, access public toilets or use ramps, it’s hard to imagine that things could be different.
That’s about to change. Latika’s new campus will be our gift to the country—an iconic building purpose-built on universal design principles, meant to welcome and work for everyone, beautifully. Lights you can dim or brighten. Doors you can open with your elbow. Braille signs. A breastfeeding pod. Lifts, ramps. Corridors wide enough for two wheelchairs at one time.
Latika’s 2025 calendar takes you through our soon-to-open building room by spacious room, revealing arches and vistas and possibilities, waking a future hitherto unimagined. Along our exquisitely crafted brick walls, light like a rumor runs its fluted scale. The rumor is confirmed. The future is waking. Come. Join us as we rise to this new day.
