Datta Vihara Shrine

Karan Darda Architects - Pune, India - 2025

Key words: Ambience, Basalt, Community, Contemporary, Deity, Mandapa, Shrine, Spiritual, Tradition

TEMPLE SHRINE - Photography: © Abhishek Chavhan - Architectural captures

This shrine project in Maharashtra exemplifies a careful negotiation between tradition and contemporary needs, transforming a small 400 sqft site into a spiritual and communal landmark. While initially envisioned as a conventional temple, dialogue between client and designers led to a broader interpretation: not only a shrine to Lord Datta, but also a cultural and social gathering space. Its design draws upon classical Hindu typologies such as the garbhagriha, mandapa, and pradakshina path, yet these are reinterpreted with modern minimalism, ensuring accessibility to a wider demographic. The addition of a shikhara with a skylight highlights the deity with natural illumination, imbuing the space with symbolic and atmospheric depth.

Importantly, the scheme integrates an amphitheater and shaded seating areas using local Maharashtrian features such as the otta and osari, rooting the project in its cultural context while encouraging social interaction. Materiality reinforces this duality: yellow lime plaster evokes chandan, linking the sacred with sensory experience, while basalt flooring grounds the building in timeless solidity.

Critically, the project succeeds in balancing reverence with relevance. By positioning the shrine as both a place of devotion and community engagement, it transcends nostalgic imitation and embraces adaptability. It becomes not just a sacred space but a multifaceted civic anchor, embodying continuity, inclusivity, and cultural identity.