Make Public Buildings Beautiful Again: Step Inside The Adisaptagram Society Hall

I have a bone to pick with Indian public buildings — especially the cookie-cutter buildings built in the 21st century. I think they are poorly designed, unnecessarily big, incredibly boring, and often outright ugly. Only — they don't have to be. The Adisaptagram Society Hall in Chinsurah — a former Portuguese colony and trading port on the Hooghly river 35 km north of Kolkata — is proof of that.

The building was the outcome of a government tender to build an auditorium and community centre in Adisaptagram to hold private and public events. It was originally planned to be built in the typical format of a government convention hall, but the local councillor thought that they could do better than a 'decorative' cookie-cutter façade. What they wanted was a space that would add functional and aesthetic value to the building with a contemporary architectural approach.

Kolkata-based architectural firm Abin Design Studio, led by architect Abin Chaudhuri, took on the challenge and designed the community hall within the government constraints. The building was redesigned with minimal changes to the existing footprint in a way so that it could be built by the local contractor with no room for budgetary overshoot and in accordance with bureaucratic red tape and Government protocols.

The result was a peri-urban district community hall equipped with a small auditorium and multi-function halls to hold social events and gatherings for the local populace. In designing this community space, the architects drew inspiration from the surrounding context — taking cues from the local terracotta temple forms and emphasising the idea of layering through patterned fenestration and façade cutouts.

Built as an opaque mass with minimal glazed surfaces, the building responds to the hot and humid climate of the region through arched openings on its exterior surfaces. Direct interface with the road allows barrier-free access, with a layer of the façade angling outward in order to create a shaded, porous gathering space. A set of gallery steps smoothens the transition between the built form and its environs, incorporating a landscaped mound that also serves as a visual buffer.

Designed with simple and effective details which could be carried out by even an inexperienced local contractor, using local materials and methods to work within budget, and drawing from the wealth of indigenous architectural traditions of Bengal, the Adisaptagram Society Hall hopes to invoke a sense of appreciation for architecture in the community. It reinforces the notion that there is always room to improve conventional presets. It stands out as proof-of-concept that intention matters — that intentional, deliberate design solutions can and will lead to architecturally sound and beautifully designed public spaces that honour constraints, celebrate their context, and push forward culture. Public buildings do not have to be big, boring, and ugly. In fact, they can be beautiful — if only we want them.

Learn more about Abin Design Studio here.

Follow the Studio here.

If you enjoyed reading this, here's more from Homegrown:

Whose Future Is It Anyway?: Is Bland, Uniform Minimalism Erasing Mumbai's Identity?

Architectural Harmony: How George Nakashima Merged Modernism and Spirituality In India

From Residences To Ice Factories: The Changing Face Of Indian Art And Culture Spaces