Cultural centre in the promotion of art and craft in Raghurajpur, Odisha

Abstract

The Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has proposed the Cultural Centre in Raghurajpur to display the artworks being produced in the village. Raghurajpur in Puri district of Odisha is a small village where every family is involved in some art-form. This heirloom has passed on through generations and hence holds a significant value in their cultural system. Every house holds a style different from others which makes the practice of art more unique. Art and crafts are the only sources of income for the dwellers of the village. The village receives national as well as international visitors, majorly art lovers and trainees. In recent years tourist has aided the economic condition of the villagers. This has affected the cultural practices of the village. The pressure for production is leading to the dilution of the traditional preparations of the art form. An architectural intervention is needed to create a platform for knowledge sharing and interaction between visitors, trainees, and villagers with the revival of cultural knowledge systems with a core objective of celebrating the cultural ethics of the context and the users. The intervention should reflect the philosophy, stories, ideas, and lifestyle of the village with aesthetics that complements the rural context of the village.