French Institute of Pondicherry

The French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP), Built in 1870’s, now a heritage building with an Annexe built for Collections (library & ecology) in 2003 makeup the existing campus of IFP. In spite of this addition, with the growing collections and dynamic nature of work in various departments, the campus currently is a victim of years of adhoc-ism, to a point where it has rendered the spatial utility a forced effort to every room.

We were commissioned to present a road map and vision plan for a reuse / revamp of this 1870’s Franco-indan architecture to a contemporary space. French Institute of Pondicherry is a French research centre in Puducherry, It is an institution and host to extensive archives of plant species(ecology), manuscripts and photographs. It is also a cultural place

The collection was registered in UNESCO's World Memories in July 2005 and has been declared a national treasure of India by the Indian government. The institute was declared a ""Manuscript Resource Centre"" in 2004.

The current spatial organization at the existing campus reveals less about the unique and complex nature of IFP - the institution. In order to understand the nitty-gritty of the workings of various departments, we undertook a survey with the inhabitants for revamp of IFP. Their responses are collated here. The survey revealed, nature of work in different departments their specific requirements. These become the blueprint to set priorities for future course of action. Based on input from analysis, observations and qualitative survey input we have compiled a possible future direction, that will address all the issues.The following proposal is designed to keep focus on preservation of collections, increased strength, flexibility and better ambience for work, and most importantly coherence to display the true potential of IFP as a public institution."