Architect // Interior Designer
Studio - Vastushipla Sangath Musuem

Museum Design
Design Factory India 

Brand Used
iGuzzini
LED Linear
IBL

Location
Bhuj, Gujrat

In January 2001, a very strong earthquake, with epicentre Bhuj, struck Gujarat, killing about 13,000 people and destroying buildings, temples, villages. It is easy to imagine how such a catastrophe impacts mentally, emotionally and physically on all survivors. In all these years, Gujarat, which has both large cultivated areas and wilderness areas, has worked to recover from the damage caused by the earthquake, without forgetting the victims, and to commemorate them, in August 2022 what is India’s largest memorial and museum was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Designed by the Vastu Shilpa Sangath studio, founded by Balkrishna Doshi, Pritzker Prize 2018, the Smriti Van (which can be translated as Forest of Memories) complex covers a vast area of over 190 hectares and is located on the Bhujiyo Dungar. The memorial is surrounded by the world’s largest forest created according to the rules of Akira Miyawaki with over 3,000 plants: a living, breathing monument that also serves as a lung for the city of Bhuj. Every element of it focuses on regeneration, sustainability and hope for a better future.

The museum and the memorial are powered by a 1.1 megawatt photovoltaic system that produces renewable and self-sustainable green energy, which is intended to be a forerunner for future similar structures. The memorial also has 50 ponds, on which plaques with the names of earthquake victims have been placed, to collect water, and the rocks used in these ponds will be the ground to grow new life from their cracks.

The Smritivan Earthquake Museum designed and curated by Design Factory India covers an area of 11,500 square metres and comprises 7 different blocks, further divided into sub-tunnels. iGuzzini luminaires have been used in most of the rooms where the lighting atmosphere is intimate to invite meditation and reflection. There are therefore contained