The inaugural edition of the Aranyani Pavilion, titled Sacred Nature, was set within the gardens of Sunder Nursery,the large-scale spiral installation drawn from the spatial and spiritual logic of India’s sacred groves. Constructedfrom upcycled invasive lantana and layered with over 50 plant species to form a living canopy, the Pavilion embodied a dialogue between restoration and remembrance, acknowledging colonial ecological histories while gesturing toward renewal.
Founder and Creative Director of Aranyani, Tara Lal is also the conservation scientist whose conceptual vision shaped the pavilion and its central spiral form. Rooted in her long engagement with ecology and sacred landscapes, the pavilion draws inspiration from spirals found throughout the natural world.
Founder and Creative Director of Aranyani, Tara Lal is also the conservation scientist whose conceptual vision shaped the pavilion and its central spiral form. Rooted in her long engagement with ecology and sacred landscapes, the pavilion draws inspiration from spirals found throughout the natural world.
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Founder and Creative Director of Aranyani, Tara Lal is also the conservation scientist whose conceptual vision shaped the pavilion and its central spiral form. Rooted in her long engagement with ecology and sacred landscapes, the pavilion draws inspiration from spirals found throughout the natural world.
50
7,700
Lantana camara is one of the world’s most invasive species. The British and Portuguese brought Lantana to India in the 1800s as an ornamental plant. The Pavilion’s outer shell was built from upcycled Lantana camara. The pairing of invasive material below and indigenous species above is deliberate: a living argument that damaged land, when tended to, grows back. This is Aranyani’s decolonial ethos made material, reclaiming what colonial introductions overtook.
The central point of the Pavilion’s spiral pathway was conceived to hold a shrine, establishing it as a sacred focal core within the spatial journey. This rock was not mined for this purpose, it is an off-cut, considered waste and unusable for construction.
WEIGHT: 9-tonnes
CLASSIFICATION: Metamorphic Rock, Soapstone
SOURCED FROM: Amangarh Quarry, Eastern Aravalli Range,hilwara, Rajasthan
The Pavilion hosted a public programme of performances, talks, workshops, and guided tours that extended its ecological and decolonial themes.
NEW MODELS OF ECOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP
ARCHITECTURE IN THE TIMES OF ECOLOGICAL CHANGE
WHAT WE WERE NEVER TAUGHT
HEALING SOUND BATH WITH LIFEYOGA
SLOW LIVING: A CONVERSATION WITH DR. VANDANA SHIVA
The Pavilion was always imagined as something living—its time at Sunder Nursery only one chapter in a longer journey. Designed to be dismantled, it will find a new home at the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls School in Jaisalmer, becoming part of an educational landscape shaped by ecology and care. The plants will find new homes in community gardens, urban forests, and restoration sites through partnerships with Swechha and Gardens of Hope. The shrine will be donated to Sunder Nursery, where it will remain within the gardens as a permanent part of the landscape.
