{"id":273808,"date":"2026-02-04T16:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/273808\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:08:10","slug":"native-plants-top-aranyanis-upcycled-lantana-pavilion-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/273808\/","title":{"rendered":"native plants top aranyani\u2019s upcycled lantana pavilion in india"},"content":{"rendered":"

aranyani unveils its first architectural pavilion in india<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the gardens of Sunder Nursery in New Delhi<\/a>, Aranyani presents Sacred Nature, the inaugural edition of the Aranyani Pavilion, on view from February 4th to 20th, 2026. Conceived as an annual architectural commission, the pavilion<\/a>, designed in collaboration with T__M.space, marks the first time the conservation and creative initiative translates its ecological research into a built, walkable structure. \u2018The Aranyani Pavilion explores sacred growth through geometry and material. It emerges from a dialogue between digital design and physical craft, allowing the architecture to grow from its context rather than be imposed on it,\u2019 the architects tell designboom. \u2018The spatial trajectory is intentionally slow, encouraging reflection and a quiet awareness of material, landscape, and movement.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The spiral structure is built from upcycled Lantana camara, an invasive shrub introduced to India through colonial trade routes in the eighteenth century. Now covering more than 13 million hectares and threatening large areas of forest, lantana is recast here as a structural lattice, fabricated by Ekarth Studio. Above it, a living canopy of more than forty native plant species, including edible, medicinal, and culturally significant varieties, forms a functioning microhabitat. <\/p>\n

\"living
all images by Lokesh Dang<\/a>, courtesy of Aranyani<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018sacred nature\u2019 by t__m.space guides visitors along a spiral path<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Set within the historic landscape of Sunder Nursery, the pavilion by T__M.space<\/a> takes the form of a spiral walkthrough installation. Its spatial logic draws from India\u2019s sacred groves, community-protected forest sanctuaries that functioned as early biodiversity reserves long before modern conservation law. As visitors follow a continuous, inward-moving path, the architecture modulates light, shadow, texture, and sound, echoing the layered rhythms of a living forest. The journey culminates in a central shrine anchored by a stone monolith, recalling the ritual cores of sacred groves where stone markers traditionally signify a symbolic meeting of earth and sky.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Founded by conservation scientist and creative director Tara Lal, ecological restoration and creative arts initiative<\/a> Aranyani has worked across diverse ecosystems, from the Himalayas to the Aravallis, through its field arm, Aranyani Earth. The pavilion extends this practice into the urban realm, using architectural form to make ecological processes legible and experiential. \u2018Aranyani is named after the forest goddess, who appears in the Rigveda. That we have forgotten Aranyani, and can name more products than forests or trees or springs, says a lot about the times we\u2019re living in,\u2019 Tara Lal shares with designboom. \u2018The restoration work we do at Aranyani, this pavilion, and the ten-day programme that will follow, is a small way of calling her back.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"living
Aranyani presents Sacred Nature in the gardens of Sunder Nursery in New Delhi<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

building with lantana as a technical and ecological act<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond its symbolic charge, the pavilion is also a demanding technical exercise. Spanning nearly 600 square meters of ground, with a footprint of 200 square meters and an inner space of approximately 100 square meters, the structure required thousands of lantana branches to be sourced, sorted, and assembled. Its bamboo framework provides tensile strength and structural clarity, while the lantana lattice acts as a porous skin, allowing air, light, and sound to pass through.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lantana, typically cleared or burned, is neither disguised nor aestheticized. Its presence is deliberate, structural, and unresolved. By placing invasive material in direct dialogue with indigenous planting above, the pavilion stages restoration as a layered, ongoing process rather than a finished solution.<\/p>\n

\"living
Aranyani Pavilion is on view from February 4th to 20th, 2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

a pavilion with an afterlife<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sacred Nature, named after the forest goddess of the Rigveda, one of India\u2019s oldest sacred texts, also operates as a platform for discussion and exchange. A public program of talks, workshops, performances, and guided tours extends the ecological and decolonial themes of the pavilion, bringing together voices from environmental activism, architecture, business, and the arts. Speakers include environmental activist Vandana Shiva and historian Sathnam Sanghera, alongside practitioners working at the intersection of ecology, design, and cultural production.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

After its presentation in New Delhi, the Aranyani Pavilion will be permanently installed at the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls\u2019 School in Jaisalmer, an award-winning example of climate-responsive architecture by Diana Kellogg Architects. There, it will function as a living classroom for students and researchers. Its edible and medicinal plants will be transferred to community-led environmental projects in Delhi, including the Basti Gardens of Hope in Nizamuddin and Swechha\u2019s urban forest initiatives, extending the material life of the pavilion into local landscapes and communities.\u2018This installation is inspired by sacred groves I travelled to, and I hope it invokes in you what those groves invoked in me: wonder,\u2019\u00a0 Tara Lal tells us.<\/p>\n

\"living
a living canopy of more than forty native plant species forms a functioning microhabitat<\/p>\n

\"living
the spiral structure is built from upcycled Lantana camara<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"aranyani unveils its first architectural pavilion in india \u00a0 In the gardens of Sunder Nursery in New Delhi,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[21463,437,434,435,436,438,146,85,46,21316],"class_list":{"0":"post-273808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-architecture-in-india","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-temporary-pavilions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}