lOSpitai Chopda Taluka, India

Architects: Per Christian Brynildsen

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For the initiative of young architects in planning and building an
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institution for which society had made no provision. Using only the

very limited available resources - techniques, labour and materials -

they created a 'paradise garden', an attractive and friendly sheltering

enclave, within a barren and hostile environment. Out of minimal

architectural form, they devised a design of stark simplicity that

radiates calm

In the dry season, the Lepers Hospital is set

in the middleof a rugged, desert-like terrain.

Leprosy, or Hansen's disease, affects 13 kilometres from Chopda in the Jalgaon

about 3 per cent of the population in District of Maharashtra. When two young

South Asia. Though now treatable with Norwegian architecture students came to

antibiotics, the illness is still wrought visit in March 1983, Mrs Lerberg and her

with superstition and fear. When the husband, Leif, asked them to draw a site

signs of leprosy can no longer be hidden, plan, the first step in realizing their

the afflicted are often expelled from their ambition to build a hospital.

families, and among tribal peoples some In the midst of a study trip to India

lepers are even killed. Begging is the only and Nepal, Jan Olav Jensen, himself

way for thousands of these outcasts to the son of former missionaries in India,

survive, walking the roads between the and Per Christian Brynildsen sketched a

villages and towns of the Indian site plan for the Lerbergs, and then

subcontinent. agreed to return for as long as needed

The Lepers Hospital, a refuge on to design the hospital and supervise its

the border of the hilly, forested Satpura construction. While in Kathmandu they

preserve overlooking the cultivated plain drew preliminary plans and sent them

oftheTapti River, is the first treatment on to Chopda and Lasur for approvals.

centre for leprosy in the region. The Three weeks after they returned to

project was initiated by Clara Lerberg, Chopda in June 1983, construction

A B O V E The architects'conceptual

who, after fifty years as a missionary with began with the digging of the hospital's sketch depicts a sanctuary that contains

the Norwegian Free Evangelical Mission foundations. a 'paradise garden' in an otherwise

bleak setting.
in India, wanted to provide care for the Maharashtra is known in India as the

indigent lepers who would appear, land of caves, forts and temples, but the O P P O S I T E In the rainy season the
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landscape of Chopda Taluka becomes rich 1
dressed in rags and begging, at her door. Jalgaon District is quite remote from these V)
and green, but wildlife and the constant ce
To support the project, local authorities landmarks. The rainy season lasts four
threat of thievery are elements that the

donated a site outside Lasur village, about months and often causes flooding; the Lepers Hospital must protect against.
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rest of the year is hot and dry and the A B O V E The simple, linear buildings, only

4 metres wide, are made with load-bearing

landscape takes on a desert appearance.
walls topped with shallow barrel vaults.
Tigers, leopards and other wild animals
The gently curved roof is sealed with broken

haunt the terrain at the edge of the jungle, glazed tile obtained from a nearby factory.

and frequent highwaymen make the area

O P P O S I T E T O P Section looking towards

even more dangerous. For safety reasons, the doctor's quarters.

most buildings are clustered in villages

O P P O S I T E From within the courtyard, the
that are located near water and trees. The
stone buildings - constructed entirely with

villagers harvest trees in the forest to be local materials and by local workmen -
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provide a sense of protection and security 1
sold in nearby towns and breed animals
for the patients and hospital staff.
for their milk or to sell at regularly held

livestock auctions.
 W.C.

NURSE QUARTERS STAFF QUARTERS STORAGE

LABORATORY-

O P P O S I T E A half circle cut into the long

GARAGE ANIMAL SHED WORKSHOP
wall inscribes the entrance to the doctor's

quarters. Stone slabs protruding from

the wall provide access to the roof.

POULTRY SHED
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The architects developed the idea of a

haven with a rectangular plan in which

a series of linear buildings only 4 metres

wide enclose a courtyard conceived as a

'paradise garden'. The form, essentially a

carefully perforated enclave, immediately

suggested safety. Its simplicity allowed

the architects to draw one building at a

time while the foundations were being

laid: separate wards for men and women;

houses for a doctor and a nurse and their

families; a workshop; a kitchen and dining

hall; animal sheds and hygiene facilities.

A B O V E Covered verandas open to the The aim of the hospital is to give the For economic reasons, the hospital is
inner courtyard and accommodate the , - , .
lepers a sate haven in alien surroundings, built entirely of local materials: slate and
dining area. The veranda's roof continues

the boundary that the building presents to to P rovide a treatment centre that could steel from Rajasthan, sandstone quarried

the hostile environment. a | s0 be a temporary home and to fight from the adjacent hills, bricks purchased

the prejudice against leprosy through a in nearby villages, teak cut in the jungle

village-to-village nursing programme. and lime ground and mixed in a trench on

 DINING PORCH WOMEN'S WARD CLINIC

Î ROOM

BATHROOM

FUTURE EXPANSION MALE WARD

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the site. The roofs of the shallow brick

vaults were clad with broken glazed tiles

acquired from a nearby factory. White tiles

that reflect the sun's heat were laid over

the enclosed spaces, coloured tiles over

the open verandas. Jensen and Brynildsen

stayed thirteen months in Chopda,

overseeing as many as seventy workers

whose only machine tools were a truck

used to transport materials and a concrete

vibrator, used in the late stages of

construction. When the architects left to

return to school in September 1984, the

workers, by then experienced, continued

to build, and in July 1985 the first patients

and a nurse arrived to take up residence

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in the hospital. At that point, the entire
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project had cost only us $140,000.

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A small, circular prayer space in the

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courtyard encloses a shade-giving tree. 1
The interior is clad in blue and white

broken tiles sorted from the many colours

used on the hospital roof.

 L E F T and B E L O W The nurse's apartment

and doctor's kitchen are two of the private

spaces in the complex. A communal kitchen

provides a hearth for cooking fires. Low

windows admit daylight while reducing

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heat gain.

R I G H T In the guest apartment, as in all of

the hospital's interior spaces, tie rods that

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hold the red stone walls in place are visible

just below the vaulted brick ceiling.

Today the Lepers Hospital serves courtyard, trees and flowers provide

hundreds of outpatients. The thirty to shade and beauty and the calm of the

forty patients who live in not only receive 'paradise garden'. For the lepers, the

treatment but also work in the grain fields hospital is 'the door of hope' in a society

just outside the enclave and tend the that had previously made no provision

buffaloes kept for their milk. In the for them.

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L E F T and B E L O W The men's ward can

accommodate 32 patients. The end walls

are perforated to facilitate air circulation.

Each ward opens on to a covered veranda.

R I G H T The dining hall veranda and

triangular porch off the women's 18-bed

ward provide vistas of the planted courtyard,

or paradise garden, and shaded places

for outdoor relaxation.

L E F T and A B O V E Unique details in the

modest, low-budget building are found

in the window treatments. A stepped

window in the guest bathroom, seen

here from within and without, admits

light from floor to ceiling.

O P P O S I T E Various window types add

visual interest to the long façades and

often indicate the nature of the spaces

inside. Clockwise: a window in the nurse's

apartment; a pair of windows in the

storage room; a floor-to-ceiling opening

overlooking the guest apartment veranda.