GANDHI SMARAK SANGHRALAY
AHEMDABAD, GUJARAT
Phenomenology is a philosophical framework that focuses on how space is experienced as it is lived, before it is named, drawn, or theorized. In architecture, phenomenology shifts attention away from form and visual spectacle toward human perception, movement, memory, and sensory engagement. It emphasizes how light, shadow, material, scale, sound, smell, texture, and movement together shape the way a space is felt emotionally and physically.
Different philosophers have interpreted phenomenology in varied ways. Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, viewed it as a method to study pure experience by examining how things appear to consciousness. He introduced the idea of bracketing (epoché), which involves setting aside assumptions to focus on lived experience. Edith Stein expanded this idea by emphasizing empathy and intersubjectivity, suggesting that experience is relational and shared rather than isolated. Vrinda Dalmiya interprets phenomenology through an Indian and feminist lens, grounding it in ethics, care, and culturally embedded lived experience.
The Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya is situated on the West Bank of the Sabarmati River within the Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where Mahatma Gandhi lived from 1917 to 1930. The museum houses personal belongings, books, letters, and photographs of Gandhiji and stands as a living testimony to his philosophy, values, and way of life.
Designed by architect Charles Correa, the project was initiated in 1958 and inaugurated in 1963, marking Correa’s first important commission in private practice. Conceived in post-independence India, the museum reflects a search for architectural expression rooted in simplicity, humility, and context rather than monumentality. Through a phenomenological lens, the project prioritizes lived experience, human scale, and a deep connection to nature and climate.
The spatial quality of the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya is simple, human-scaled, and authentic. The building is low-rise and single storeyed, spreading horizontally across the site with minimal vertical presence. Its loosely arranged spaces create a strong sense of openness and freedom. The use of open and semi open spaces allows the museum to accommodate many visitors without feeling congested.
The museum is organized on a modular grid system of six by six metre units, repeated across the complex to form a total of 51 blocks. While each block is symmetrical, the overall composition remains asymmetrical. This organisation helps in further expansion of the space simply by adding more blocks.
The five enclosed modules house the museum exhibits Letters, Office, Meetings, Books, and Photos and Paintings. These spaces are defined by brick walls and horizontal wooden louvres that regulate light and ventilation. They surround a shallow, open-to-sky water body, creating subtle variations in light, temperature, and spatial experience.
The semi-open corridors connect the enclosed spaces and lead into open courtyards, which act as pauses within the museum. These courtyards establish a strong connection to nature and the surrounding landscape.
While the enclosed spaces hold information and artefacts, the semi-open and open spaces remain non-prescriptive, allowing for pause, interaction, movement, and reflection. There is no spatial hierarchy; each space is treated equally, giving visitors the freedom to interpret and experience the museum in their own way.
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The building follows an open and non-prescriptive circulation system. The semi-open corridors create multiple possible routes, allowing visitors to choose their own paths through the museum. As the spaces are interconnected through several semi-open transitions, movement remains fluid and unrestricted, with no fixed direction of circulation imposed.
Phenomenologically, the choice of colours and materials plays a key role in shaping the spatial experience. The restrained material palette of brick columns, concrete beams, wooden louvres, ceramic roof tiles, and Kota stone flooring reinforces a grounded and earthy atmosphere. Structurally, the building follows a simple column and beam system with H-shaped brick columns. The H shaped columns are designed to conceal wirings and systems going throughout the structure. The beams are slightly modified to make a gutter system which pours all the water into the water body and the surrounding landscape.
One might expect a museum to be large and monumental, but this landscape-like, understated space instead reflects Gandhiji’s ideals and philosophy. This is expressed through the exposed material palette, the low-rise built form, and the calm, restrained environment, creating a quiet setting that encourages reflection rather than grandeur. Every element, from the low walls, plinths and benches to the human scale of spaces, reinforces humility and closeness to the earth, echoing Gandhiji’s philosophy.
Compared to Correa’s Jawahar Kala Kendra, which feels monumental with its 8-metre-high walls, the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya offers a village-like environment with walls only 2.1 metres high. Both these projects are museums by the same architect but different languages, philosophies and intent. It also gives us an insight into the trajectory of correas practice and how over the years his projects influenced his methods and thinking. While both projects use central courtyards to encourage interaction, the Sangrahalaya remains understated and contemplative rather than overwhelming. A space for introspection rather than grandeur.
In contemporary times, the museum continues to be perceived as calm, intuitive, and timeless. Correa’s philosophy of simplicity aligns closely with phenomenological ideas of slowness, reflection, and bodily engagement, allowing the architecture to support memory and emotion rather than spectacle.
All in all, the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya emerges as an architecture of experience, humility, and reflection. By prioritizing human scale, sensory engagement, and a deep connection to nature, the project successfully embodies Gandhiji’s ideals and remains a powerful example of architecture that is not just seen, but truly lived. The strength of the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya lies in the convergence of Gandhi’s ethical philosophy and Correa’s architectural thinking. Both prioritize humility over monumentality, experience over image, and life over form. This alignment allows the building to be experienced as calm, intuitive, and timeless, an architecture that quietly supports reflection rather than demanding attention.
BIBLOGRAPHY :
https://archeyes.com/sabarmati-ashram-museum-gandhi-residence-charles-correa/
https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-123736