Dhamma Collective Designs for Pause in a Moving Marketplace
Set within the vibrant grounds of Anant Mahotsav, Bhopal’s (India) annual organic market, “Viram 2” is a temporary seating installation by Dhamma Collective that reimagines rest as a participatory, evolving experience. By Aiswarya Kulkarni
Following the first iteration last year, this edition builds on the idea of creating a space to pause, ‘viram’ in Hindi, within the otherwise dynamic rhythm of a bustling community marketplace. Constructed entirely from upcycled packaging pallets sourced from an industrial area in Bhopal, the installation reflects the collective’s commitment to circular design, material reuse, and socially responsive architecture.”
Bhopal, as a second-tier Indian city, holds within it a deeply rooted culture of community interaction, one that thrives in informal gatherings, shared public spaces, and local markets.
Here, oral traditions, news (and local gossip, too!), and cups of chai (tea) and mathri (savoury snack) are passed down, inculcating a sense of community. Yet, in the face of rapid urbanisation and increasingly individualised lifestyles, these everyday social fabrics are gradually eroding. Events like Anant Mahotsav become critical in sustaining this culture, acting not just as marketplaces but as social condensers. It is within this context that Viram 2 positions itself as an enabler of connection.
The intent was to create a resting space that mirrored the market’s liveliness. Instead of static benches, we designed a system that could shift, adapt, and respond to its users. The installation comprises modular seating units mounted on caster wheels, allowing visitors to reconfigure the space based on their needs,” explains Nipun Prabhakar, part of Dhamma Collective, “Benches can be clustered together for collective conversations or dispersed to carve out quieter, individual pockets within the courtyard. In doing so, the design relinquishes control to the community, allowing spatial authorship to emerge organically.”
Material played a decisive role in shaping the outcome. While the team approached the project with initial design ideas, it was ultimately the available resources, the long, discarded pallets, that determined the dimensions and form.
“This responsiveness to material is central to the collective’s ethos, where design is not imposed but negotiated. The pallets, often overlooked as industrial waste, are recontextualised here as agents of social infrastructure,” says Shrish Kaner, of Dhamma Collective.
Visually, the installation carries a sense of playfulness. Bright stripes run across the surfaces, echoing the festive energy of the market and reinforcing the idea that rest need not be passive. Instead, it can be vibrant, social, and interactive, and act as an active pause within movement.
“In a city like Bhopal, where community remains an essential yet increasingly fragile asset, such interventions carry quiet urgency,” stresses Simran Channa, from Dhamma Collective.
Dhamma Collective, a community-driven architecture and design practice, continues to anchor its work in participatory processes, documentation of traditional knowledge systems, and sustainable construction. With Viram 2, they extend these values into a temporary yet impactful installation, one that reminds us that even in the most transient settings, design can foster belonging.
The design team of Dhamma Collective comprises Nipun Prabhakar, Shrish Kaner, Simran Channa, Nilesh Suman, Asmita Khot and Devansh Bilimora.
