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The academy is used for meetings between the region' tribes.

A series of courtyards is interlocked with a chain of corridors. The courtyards, much like the jaalis, help to cool down the building; and since the mosaic tile floor doesn’t absorb heat, you can walk barefoot on it at the height of summer. 

Grover was stumped by one of the demands made by the gentle founder of the centre. “Devy told me that although the academy was meant to house only 40 people at one time, it should be able to accommodate over 6,000,” he discloses.
That was one mathematical calculation that flummoxed the architect, but he found a solution in the way tribal communities use space. “My old studio was in a basement; and when we were holding discussions about the academy building, more than 50 people would turn up to meet me. They would come in and sit quietly on the floor, all around me – using very little space. So I thought if the academy was a largely open space with very few walls, it could accommodate many more people.”

The material palette includes brick, cement, sand and kapchi (a machine-crushed stone aggregate which is above 6 mm in size). The structure is also propped up by RCC pillars clad with brick. There is a progression of smaller arches leading to big ones across the structure. “No concrete is used in the building, which is completely made of kiln-fired bricks – so you need a progression of arches to give stability to such a structure,” explains Grover.

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The academy uses the maze of corridors to display art, artefacts, musical instruments, weapons, clothes and pottery that defines the lifestyle of the tribal communities spread across India. All of this has been sourced from the tribal villages. One of the inner courtyards has a free standing pergola, under which the people at the academy read, hold discussions and meet in the evenings.

Openness and adaptability were central to the project. Multifunctional zones allow the focus to be changed as and when needed, blurring the boundaries between the inside and outside.

While the corridors are used to display tribal art, they can also be converted into seating space for the tribal people whenever there is a large meeting.

Tejgadh’s Tribal Academy is a complex building that responds to the site. For instance, one of the rock outcrops has been transformed into an amphitheatre. Brick screens or jaalis help cool down the exposed brickwork. And the chattai windows are painted by the tribals using natural dyes from crushed flowers, in a colours such as pink, blue, lilac and purple.

Some of the beautiful wooden windows, which have hand-woven chattai stuck on them, frame the countryside with its hills and dense forests. “We wanted the tribals to construct the building completely,” says Grover, “but funding agencies wanted detailed drawings. They use indigenous technologies passed down through generations and are not used to making drawings. Instead, we got them to do the finer details, like the windows.” 

Thanks to Grover’s sensitivity, a fusion of traditional design, modern technology and folk art has resulted in a space where the tribes of India can feel at home.