The word university is derived from the Latin universitas magistrorum et scholarium which means “community of teachers and scholars”. A university with community as its core idea will inculcate the values that Sai Baba preached “follow your own beliefs and traditions and respect other’s”. The learning space is therefore not a rigorous one but one which is malleable – a place open to questioning beliefs and soak in ideas of various hues. The learning space intends to create a fraternity of students breaking age, gender and subject choice barrier-moving beyond classroom
teacher and taught silo to simultaneous learning garden.
A settlement starts with water, then comes in the ecology which is followed by the human habitats. The focus of the master plan is not in the built spaces but in the nature that engulfs the buildings. The fingers of green get enmeshed with the built and thereby space is now an ecosystem and not an Anthropocene insert alone. The green fingers are biodiversity inserts which enmesh with the built-in providing for ecosystem services of waste recycling, water harvesting, better air quality, and shade.
Nutrient corridor which will take in all the wastewater after passing it through constructed wetland becomes a biodiversity hotspot harboring various species of invertebrates, waterfowls and aquatic species as well. Riparian buffer around the corridor eliminates soil erosion and pollutants from entering the water streams. Almost half of the site will be developed as forest to become the lungs of university. It will harbor bio-diversity, provide food and timber for construction
