Latur – Banegaon reborn., 1995

“Malayala Manorama Banegaon” is the chosen name for Banegaon of old. With the loving support of its readers, India’s largest selling language daily adopted the ruined village and helped to raise it from the ashes of September 30, 1993. Twenty-eight of its 860 members were dead. But the rest marched on.

Benny Kuriakose was entrusted by the Malayala Manorama to design and carry out the rebuilding of Banegaon. His approach to the design was to arrive at a layout with the villagers’ involvement, and one that would satisfy traditional relationships and yet have the potential to change lifestyles.

The village consisted of houses for families – a temple, staff quarters, Panchayat office, Medical clinic, Village office.

The village was designed with a lot of open spaces. Each house opens into a common area where the family can rest, children can play, farmers can park their bullock carts, tractors etc. The houses are constructed to withstand future earthquakes using special earthquake resistant techniques. The house is located at one corner of the plot so that the family can extend their houses according to their traditional lifestyles.

The temple was specially added as a place where the villagers would regularly meet and come one with family. The temple is the focus of the entire village. There is also a panchayat office where the regular village meetings would be held and decisions would be taken.