Butterflies Resilience Centre: Sustainable Design in Jaunapur
We designed this centre for the Butterflies NGO to be a living teacher of sustainability, using site-excavated earth and repurposed vintage materials to create a joyful, climate-responsive home for children.
An introductory look at the Butterflies Resilience Centre, situated within the urban village of Jaunapur, Delhi. The film shows how we designed a space for healing and growth, promoting an environmentally aware lifestyle with simple means.
An aerial top-down view showing how the Butterflies Centre is designed as a long, narrow building with two internal courtyards. This structure brings light and air into the deep plan, creating a network of interconnected spaces from the basement to the rooftop.
Two boys stand in a doorway at the Butterflies Centre. We sourced about 80 percent of the doors and windows from local second-hand stores, giving each opening a unique character and a story of its own.
Looking up from one of the whitewashed courtyards. These light wells are essential, drawing daylight and fresh air deep into the building and allowing for visual connections between floors through openings like these traditional *jharokhas*.
Another view from a courtyard, this time with earthy-toned walls and bright green window frames. The play of color, light, and shadow creates a dynamic and cheerful environment for the children living here.
This video shows the rotating vertical louvers on the building's facade. Hand-painted with warm colors on the outside and cool tones on the inside, they serve as a functional sun-shading system and a piece of interactive art.
The view from inside the cafe at night, looking at the backlit, hand-painted louvers. The artwork creates a magical atmosphere, blurring the line between the interior and exterior and sparking the imagination.
Rita Panicker, the Executive Director of Butterflies NGO, shares her experience of the building's atmosphere. She speaks about the positive energy from the natural light and free-flowing air, and how the artistic louvers add to the innovative design.
Architect Chetna Singh explains the concept behind the 'Donor's Tree' installation. Each leaf is uniquely shaped, symbolizing the individuality of every child, and the artwork serves as a beautiful tribute to the community that supported this project.
I share my personal inspiration for this project, recalling my own childhood in a rambling old house. I wanted to create a place of exploration where children could find their own corners, from the courtyards to the rooftop perch.
About Butterflies Resilience Centre: A Home with Heart
Building with a conscience means looking at what is already around us. For this centre, we didn't just buy new supplies; we salvaged about 80 percent of the doors and windows from a 1912 haveli. When you look at the entrance, you aren't just seeing a door; you are seeing history repurposed to give these children a familiar, solid sense of home.
Sustainability often sounds like a technical challenge, but for me, it is about observation. At the Butterflies Resilience Centre in Jaunapur, our process began with the land itself. We excavated the basement for foundation work, and rather than discarding the earth, we compressed it into blocks to build the walls. It is a simple cycle: the ground gives us the structure, and the structure gives us shelter.
To beat Delhi’s heat, we avoided the high-energy cost of air conditioning. Instead, we relied on passive cooling. The deep plan of the building is pierced by white-washed courtyards—our version of the traditional Aakash Chowk—which draw fresh air and daylight deep into the basement level. These spaces act as lungs for the building, keeping it comfortable even during the dry summer months.
For the facade, we integrated rotating vertical louvers. Hand-painted with warm reds on the outside and cool blues and greens on the inside, they are more than just a sun-shading system. They create a canvas that the children can interact with, blurring the line between an architectural element and art. Whether it is the 'Donor’s Tree' installation or the rooftop space designed to be a 'new ground' for play, every inch of this project was intended to make architecture an instrument of khushali (well-being). When we build, we aren't just creating a space; we are defining how people grow within it.
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