Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
During 2018, we undertook a year long research project which culminated in 4 different design schemes and brief making ideas for an educational transition centre for former bonded labourers and their children.
The schemes aim’s were to ease the reintegration of these children and young adults into either mainstream education or paid working life. The project is linked to the long term objectives of Jeevika Free, an NGO based in Karnataka, India; where the development will be located. 30 – 50 children will live on site alongside members of staff and tutors.
Project Overview:
Research and design a facility which provides accommodation and vocational skills training opportunities for between 30 – 50 free’d bonded labourers. The teaching programme will last for 1 year, easing free’d bonded labourers into normal life and work beyond graduating from the centre.
Spaces to include: Classrooms, workshops, recreational spaces, living accommodation, offices, dining hall, storage.
The Issue:
What is bonded labour?
Bonded labour is a form of labour arrangement whereby people are forced to work for long hours and for very little or no wages, without the freedom to seek any other employment until their debt is cleared.
These debts are often fabricated by the owner / slave master through a confusing system of loans and that it is almost impossible to pay off.
This debt then passes down the generations until it becomes paid off, thus bringing extremely young children into the a poor working environment through no fault of their own.
It is most prevalent in rural areas where the agricultural industry relies on local, contracted, and also migrant labourers.
Today, according to The Global Slavery Index, 18,354,700 people in India are estimated to be living in modern slavery.
The Stakeholders:
Jeevika Free NGO – Jeevika Free is a charitable organisation based in Karnataka, India. Their charitable aim is to free bonded labourers by implementing the legal system, whilst raising awareness of the cause between existing labourers. Over the past 30 years they have freed more than 30,000 people from bonded labour. Once freed the Jeevika team work to offer self help classes, aiding the freed labourers with the transition into a stable life.
Kolagala Village – A village local to the site which is highly populated with free’d bonded labourers. Many of the people from the village have grown up in or around bonded labour Spending years, decades or even lifetimes in modern slavery, leaving people with little independence and life experience. Upon freedom from this labour people are expected to settle into a “normal“ life, often with no idea what this entails.
CAUKIN Studio – Research, Design, Construction.
The Solution:
The following four schemes and synopsis outline the brief and design outputs from our research. The different schemes vary in scale and focus on different methods of vocational education, rehabilitation and support for free’d bonded labourers back into normal life.
Proposal 1: Between Two Lives – An architecture in support of transitions into independent living.
Proposal 2: Architecture of Jugaad – Repurposing waste material in the state of Karnataka, India.
Proposal 3: Learning Through Building – Growing and working materials in rural India.
Proposal 4: Design + Emergence – Using sport infrastructure to site and support community projects in rural India.
Project Credits
Research Project: Jeeveka Free Transitional Centre
Project Collaborators: Jeevika Free, Kieron Kamal Prasad