Скачать или смотреть Navtara—Working Women's Hostel, Rajkot

This project is more than just a hostel; it is a sanctuary, a springboard, and a silent witness to countless untold stories. It is architecture designed not only to house working women, but to hold space for them to see them, hear them, and honor the spectrum of their lives. Every corner is crafted to reflect the complexity of modern womanhood: ambition and stillness, solitude and solidarity, resilience and rest.

At the heart of this spatial philosophy lies the ancient Indian aesthetic framework of Navarasa, the nine emotional states of human experience: Śrigāra (love), Hāsya (joy), Karuā (compassion), Raudra (anger), Vīra (courage), Bhayānaka (fear), Bībhatsa (disgust), Adbhuta (wonder), and Śānta (peace).

This framework becomes the soul of the architecture, guiding form, function, and feeling. Each emotion is mapped into a spatial counterpart: serene meditation nooks that evoke Śānta, vibrant communal lounges that radiate Hāsya, assertive structural elements that embody Raudra and Vīra, and quiet, contemplative gardens that hold Karuā. The result is a spatial composition that goes beyond utility to create an emotionally intelligent, empathetic environment, a place where women can arrive not just to sleep, but to live, to grow, and to thrive.

In a world that often demands women to shrink, this hostel offers them space to expand, to be. To be bold. To be vulnerable. To be whole.

This is not just a building. It’s a rasaalaya, a house of emotions. A living architecture that breathes with the lives of the women it shelters.

Design By: ‪@StudioZEDO‬