MatrimandirDone by, ARATHY PRASAD MANIPAL UNIVERSITY

ARCHITECT: ROGER ANGER

CONTENTS

Location Map

Introduction

Site Plan

Plan

Section

Construction Details

Lights, Ventilation.

LOCATIONTamil NaduPondicherry Auroville center

Introduction At the very center of Auroville, one finds the ‘soul of the city’, the

matrimandir, situated in a large open area called ‘peace’, from which the future township will radiate outside.

The spacious inner chamber is the upper hemisphere of the structure is completely white, with white marble walls and white carpeting.

In the center a pure crystal glass globe, suffuses a ray of electronically guided sunlight which falls on it through an opening at the apex of the sphere.

“The most important thing is this : the play of the sun on the center. Because that becomes the symbol, the symbol of future realizations.”

There are no images, no organized meditations, no flowers, no incense, no religion and no religious forms.

The mother named the four pairs of pillars which support the matrimandir after her four aspects of personalities. They are maheshwari, mahakali, mahalakshmi and mahasaraswati.

SITE PLAN

The Matrimandir took 37 years to build, from the laying of the foundation stone at sunrise on 21 February 1971 - the Mother’s 93rd birthday - to completion in May 2008. It is in the form of a huge sphere surrounded by twelve pedestals. The Geodesic dome is covered by golden discs and reflects sunlight, which gives the structure its characteristic radiance. Inside this central dome is a meditation hall known as the inner chamber - this contains the largest optically-perfect glass globe in the world. The Matrimandir, and its surrounding gardens in the central Peace Area, is fully open to the public.

PLAN

SECTION

CONTRUCTION DETAILS

The Matrimandir is situated at the center of Auroville next to a Banyan tree.

The exterior is completely covered with a thin sheet of gold. It is placed as small square tiles on the discs.

The architect Roger Anger found there a solitary banyan tree, a tree regarded as sacred in India, in a totally barren plateau over looking the bay of Bengal. The mother decided to make this the center of Auroville.

At the center of the town, the mother said there would be a park of unity and a pavilion she named ‘Matrimandir’, translated as the mothers shrine.

The architect gave the shape of a lotus in full bloom to matrimandir with its twelve large petals, symbolizing the divine consciousness.

The flattened discs is covered with 1400 golden discs to symbolize a radiating golden sun.

The golden disc which is Covered with small tiles of gold Leaf covered with glass tiles

The inside of the matrimandir is completed covered with white marble.

There are winding staircases inside leading to the main meditation chamber. Inside the chamber is complete silence.

The chamber has 12 pillars to symbolize unity and a crystal ball placed at the center through which the sunlight is captured through three mirrors places at the top of the structure which directs the sunlight. No other form of light is present.

A certain type of material is placed at the interior wall which lets the sunlight from outside to slightly brighten the interiors.

The whole structure is completely made of concrete.

GOLDEN DISCS ATTACHED TO THE PORTHOLES

First came out the four pairs of pillars supporting the entire structure.

They are the extensions of four pillars and are joined by ring beam at 1st and 2nd levels. Chamber floor level and at the very top.

The construction crane was required to lift the prefabricated concrete beams into place each weighing half a ton.

Altogether they form the space-frame which gives matrimandir its spherical shape and supports its outer shell and inner skin.

The beams were casted in matrimandir workshop and hoisted to their exact position and secured. The nodes which join 6 beams together were cast-in-stu using Ferro cement shuttering.

The outer shell consists of ferro cement triangles ( with a hole at the center to install a porthole ), which were fabricated lifted in place and then grounded.

A membrane was then applied to the whole surface to waterproof it, but 10 years later it had to be removed entirely and re-applied when they found out that it was not adhering to the surface anymore.

The skeleton of the Structure with the four Pillars.

CONTRUCTION OF THE OUTER TRIANGLES

ATTACHING THE GOLDEN DISCS ON THE OUTER SURFACE

INNER SKIN

• From the outside the matrimandir looks like a radiant sun but from inside the mother wanted it look like a translucent sphere which lets in a golden pink light.

• To create this a special white fabric (made of fiber glass woven in a sophisticated manner) has been stretched over 756 triangular frames (made of aluminium profiles especially extruded for this purpose).

• Colored foil of the precise colour will be placed on the outer shell’s 668 portholes to filter the natural light that enters in through them in the daytime.

• At night time the colored light is provided by 1320 electronic modules (each one will power 4 low consumption light emitting diodes of the three fundamental colours whose respective intensity can be adjusted).

INNER SKIN

INNER CHAMBER

• It has a 12m radius. The floor is covered with a white woolen carpet.

• The wall is 8.65m high. It has 12 facets which represent the 12 months of the year and are clad with white marble.

• Its white ceiling also has 12 facets each one resting on one of the wall’s facets at 30 degrees angle upwards towards the center.

• Two double doors of thick white marble slabs. When closed the doors are more or less invisible.

• It has 12 large steel cylindrical columns of 60cm diameter covered with white lacquer which stand halfway between the center of the room and each one of its 12 corners.

INNER CHAMBER

Each of the 12 petals surrounding the matrimandir has a meditation chamber inside.

At the bottom of the matrimandir they have provided an artificial lotus pond. Which can also be used as a meditation space with the natural sounds of water flowing, wind etc. this is also made of white marble with a crystal in the middle symbolizing the lotus.

LIGHT AND VENTILATION

It had no windows and is fully air-conditioned. This is done to attain complete silence inside the chamber.

The only light is that comes from a vertical beam of light which is slightly golden.

This is normally the ray of the sun which is reflected down into the chamber by a heliostat which computerized tracking system keeps it precise.

Electrical spot lights create a similar effect at night and on cloudy days.