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Auroville wants to be the first realisation
of human unity based on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo, where men of all
countries would be at home.
Mother, January 1972
Auroville is planned to have four different
zones radiating out from the Matrimandir at its centre, and the International
Zone is one of them. In this zone all countries will be represented in a
concrete and living way, providing a dynamic base for Auroville's work
on realising an actual Human Unity.
Concept
The 'Unity Pavilion' is meant as a first seed and
catalyst for the overall development of Auroville's International Zone.
It is seen as a transitional space, a focus point and experimental
ground for the emergence of the individual cultural pavilions of the
various nations.
Focus of work
The focus of the work in the Unity Pavilion will
be the collaboration and development of the continental areas and the
interaction of cultures that defy national borders. It will give the
national pavilion groups a platform for working closely and sharing
information. This collaboration brings us to a deeper understanding of
what the International Zone represents: "It is no longer
towards division and difference that we should turn our minds, but on
unity, union, even oneness necessary for the pursuit and realisation of
a common ideal.."
(Sri Aurobindo, A Message to America, 1949).
In this wide context, the Unity Pavilion's work is
to promote understanding between people, individuals and cultures, and
in that way working towards an understanding of human unity that is the
basis for the realisation of world peace.
Educational function
The Unity Pavilion will have an educational
function, through its interaction with universities and educational
institutions on the national and international level. It will also
support ongoing research in the field of Human Unity.
The Unity Pavilion will be open to all nations
presenting cultural activities in the International Zone and in this way
help initiate the realisation of the National/Cultural Pavilions.
CIRHU: Faculty of East-West and Human Unity
There is a need to reconcile East and West in the
pursuit and realisation of the highest and largest ideals of humanity,
and the Unity Pavilion and the International Zone of Auroville are
movements towards fulfilling this goal. Auroville's Centre for
International Research in Human Unity (CIRHU)
has conceived of the International Zone as the location for the Faculty
of East-West & Human Unity. The Unity Pavilion is a first seed
project in this context.
Platform for working together
The complex of the Unity Pavilion will give the
national pavilion groups a platform for working closely every day and
sharing information. The play of cultures, the interaction between
members of the individual pavilion groups, the presence and interaction
with the International Zone Development Group, and the Auroville
International Centres, will stimulate the many-sidedness of the work.
The pavilion groups of the different nations would, through their
interaction, give form to the work that will take place in the
Pavilions, working on the bridging of cultures across national borders,
moving towards not only the expression of the soul of each nation, but
the qualities that these nations and cultures share.
The architects for the project are: Piero
and Gloria Cicionesi.
Proposed programmes and activities
Student exchange programmes
Auroville offers itself as a field of ongoing
experience and training for the youth of the world, in the inner
attitudes and outer methods which are actually the most conducive to the
establishment of a culture of peace upon earth. In this connection, one
of the functions of the Unity Pavilion in the International Zone is to
organise and support student exchange programmes.
International service learning
The Unity Pavilion also initiates 'international
service learning' programmes. These programmes share the common goal of
developing students' civic consciousness and raising it to a global
level, thereby promoting the ideals of human unity and understanding. In
this way, mutual understanding of both the elements of our common
humanity, as well as our social, cultural, political and economic
differences, is enhanced.
Research
In the Unity Pavilion, there will be ongoing
research into topics such as Human Unity, World Peace, East West
Relations, Sustainable Development and Human Potential. In these areas
of study, the Unity Pavilion invites participation by known experts who
can interact with Auroville through lectures, seminars and artistic
creations. The Unity Pavilion would also offer courses to students
relating to the true nature of culture, and would initiate an actual
cultural and educational interaction between students of different
nations that would mean a move towards international harmony. It would
participate in the research towards finding 'the soul of each nation'
and its 'dharma',its truth, as a part of the development of humanity and
the evolution of life on earth.
Exhibition hall
The Exhibition Hall will present themes such as
national and cultural diversity in a clear and dynamic manner.
Exhibitions highlight the positive achievements of national and
international initiatives for understanding, and will also give room to
explore the common roots of man on the communal, national and global
level.
Phases of development
For the initial phase of its development, the
Unity Pavilion will include an entrance plaza, ground and first floor.
On the first floor will be a communications centre cum office space for
the working groups of the International Zone. On the second floor will
be exhibition space and a lecture hall seating 150 people with
audio-video facilities.
The Unity Pavilion Complex also includes the Hall
of Peace, a separate building which will hold George Nakashima's Peace
Table.
The second phase will include a meeting room, archives and storage
facilities.
For further information, estimates and
details,
- updated November 2001
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