Sonali                                                Gallery

Sonali came to Auroville in 1999 having been graduated the same year from the University of Pune in India. She joined ‘Kolam’ , an architecture unit headed by
Anupama Kundoo and worked there  for 5 years .Later she became the executive architect of Kolam and was associated with Anupama in realising many projects in and around Auroville .
In the year 2008 she started her new studio ‘ Metamorphosis’ and is still continuing the challenge of Auroville architectural practice which includes many projects from house extensions to collective housing projects , office buildings etc.

“I had  the  background of architectural education and almost no background of practical work experience .
I was fascinated to see the variety of experimentation and research done by early Auroville architects and non-architects under the challenging master plan with a dream to build the city the earth needs.
When I started working in Kolam I enjoyed getting involved in the hands-on work learning about the building materials and practices. The reward of the work was the process and it gave me immense satisfaction watching the behaviour of  building materials and the elements of the design taking shape.
Over the years as I’ve been growing as an Aurovilian and understanding Auroville  deeper, the approach towards architecture is emerging. I dedicated my early years to explore the place as a whole and understand its different layers, the social and spiritual aspect .
This experience helps me now to face the challenges of working on the physical form better. I started doing small scale projects and took pleasure in working and learning from each of them.
Recently  I’ve had the opportunity to design the most challenging residential projects in Auroville which were also social experiments stimulating  the idea of  living in the city which is still missing in the existing architectural scenario.
I try to involve the climatic , ecological aspects design and also like to explore with different building materials and technologies.
My approach  to architecture is the quality of space and balance of different elements of the design to create a balanced environment.”

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