Village Community Center Exhibition

Historical, political or economic context in which the plan/project is proposed

The Model Village exhibition was organized by Jaqueline Tyrwhitt within the context of The International Seminar and Exhibition on Low-Cost Housing and Community Improvement that took place in Delhi in 1954. The “live architecture” exhibition featured life-size models of low-cost housing – both rural and urban – built in-situ and deployed on wide roads, set up against the mud and thatch of a community center where locals performed their crafts, installing village life in New Delhi. The International Seminar and Exhibition on Low-Cost Housing and Community Improvement opened its doors to the public on January 21^st of 1954. On the outskirts of New Delhi, along Mathura Road, delegates from Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Australia, Pakistan, and various Indian governmental bodies convened to discuss housing, planning, and building technologies in South and Southeast Asia. The Seminar and Exhibition took hold of the environments that had just hosted the Indian Railways’ Centenary Exhibition.

Bibliography

Touloumi, O. “Development Media: Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, Marshall McLuhan, and the Model Village Exhibition, c. 1954 .” In Systems and the South: Architecture in Development, edited by A. Dutta, A. Khorakiwala, A. Levin, F. Lopez-Duran, I. Muzaffar. Forthcoming.

Shoshkes, E. Jaqueline Tyrwhitt: A Transnational Life in Urban Planning and Design . London: Ashgate, 2013.

Tyrwhitt, J. «The Village Centre at the Exhibition on Low Cost Housing, Delhi, 1954.» Ekistics 52, n. 314/315 (1985): 430–31.