Jackfruit Processing Unit and Community Centre
by atArchitecture
South Garo Hills, Meghalaya, India
Project details
Year
2025
Project year
2024
Gross area
465 m²
Project website
Team credits
Architects
- atArchitecture -
Neha Rane,
Avneesh Tiwari,
Milit Satra.
Consultants
Integrated Engineering Solutions,
Rathi Consortium.
commissioned by
Anant Foundation,
Government of Meghalaya.
Located in the remote South Garo Hills of Meghalaya, one of India’s most isolated and ecologically sensitive regions, the Jackfruit Processing Unit and Community Centre strengthens local livelihoods while celebrating community life. Funded by the government and developed for a farmers’ cooperative, it addresses the needs of a dispersed agrarian population. By linking production, processing, training and gathering in one place, the building serves both an economic and social hub for a dispersed agrarian population.
At the heart of the project lies a belief in participatory development. Two farmer groups form the backbone of the cooperative model: a producer network of 200 collectives and a processing group of 50 members. Together they ensure shared ownership and collective responsibility. The architecture supports this process by providing an efficient space for production, storage and training, while also hosting community events and meetings. In collaboration with AFISI, a local development organization, the project integrates capacity building, market access and business training. By pairing infrastructure with education, it strengthens local agency – especially among women, who now play an active role as both producers and processors.
The design responds directly to the realities of the site. Set on a floodplain, the building is raised above ground to allow drainage and remain usable through the monsoon season, while preserving the fragile ecology of the site. A transverse plan separates the movement of people and goods for efficiency and safety, while a central administrative core allows passive supervision. Four wings accommodate processing, production, staff and a community hall that opens towards the surrounding farmland, reinforcing the sense of shared ownership. The form is straightforward, the circulation logical, and the atmosphere calm and legible.
Construction balances economy and resilience. Prefabricated steel frames ensure lightness, easy transport and quick assembly in the remote location, while local artisans built the reinforced concrete base. This collaboration combined local skill-building with efficient delivery. Polycarbonate façades, deep verandas and double-skin walls create passive ventilation and shading, while solar power and rainwater harvesting reduce dependency on external systems. The architecture avoids excess – its strength lies in restraint, material honesty and climatic responsiveness.
The design avoids spectacle. Its beauty lies in restraint – an honesty of materials and form that mirrors the dignity of its users. The open verandas and shaded spaces echo the climate-responsive vernacular of the region. The project’s transparency – both literal and social – encourages visibility, inclusion and equality. Public-facing spaces are kept open and transparent, connecting the act of gathering with the act of farming. In contrast to the anonymous sheds often provided for agricultural use, this structure gives identity and presence to a community that has long remained peripheral to mainstream development.
Socially and economically, the impact is significant. The facility reduces large-scale post-harvest losses by processing ripe jackfruit – once discarded as waste – into flour, pickles, chips and canned goods. It creates 100 new jobs and provides income stability for thousands of farmers, transforming a perishable fruit into a sustainable industry. Beyond production, the building doubles as a cultural hall and a place of refuge during floods or disasters. It gives the community not only a livelihood but also a symbol of collective identity.
The Jackfruit Processing Unit and Community Centre exemplifies what atArchitecture – a Mumbai-based practice founded by Neha Rane and Avneesh Tiwari – describes as ‘architecture of simplicity and clarity’. Their work combines sensitivity to local context with rigorous environmental intelligence; each project begins with research, drawing and model-making to achieve an architecture that is both pragmatic and poetic. Since its founding in 2014, the studio has pursued regional inspiration through projects that balance delight, efficiency and sustainability. Its diverse portfolio spans housing, cultural and civic projects across India and beyond, from the Surajkund Craft Mela Pavilion in New Delhi to urban regeneration along the Brahmaputra River in Assam. The firm’s consistent focus on social impact and resource awareness has earned international recognition, including the Lafarge Holcim Gold Award for Asia Pacific and top honours in UN and UNESCO design challenges.
In Meghalaya, their approach finds one of its clearest expressions. The Jackfruit Processing Unit demonstrates that rural infrastructure can be both technically efficient and deeply humane. It integrates renewable energy, local craftsmanship and modular construction into a coherent whole that responds to real needs without excess. It is, in essence, an architecture of empowerment – one that proves design can elevate daily life and cultivate resilience at the margins.
The prize money will fund the realization of a new, women-led essential oil cooperative in Ri-Bhoi, Meghalaya. Constructed with bamboo and timber, the decentralized extraction unit will process aromatic crops while preserving vernacular building knowledge. Extending the same cooperative principles, it will promote local enterprise through ecological, low-carbon design. Together, these projects embody a clear and hopeful idea: that architecture can strengthen rural economies through shared intelligence and collective care.
- Information for the project text was provided by atArchitecture -
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Advisory Committee Statement
‘Jackfruit Processing Unit and Community Centre’ receives the award for Social Engagement for the dignity it brings to both place and people. It supports 50 farmers – 60 per cent of them women – and reaches over 4,000 through a cooperative model that transforms waste into opportunity. The goal is clear: to create income and resilience through collective intelligence. What appears simple at first is, in fact, remarkably powerful. Built with durable, easily transportable materials, the architecture is straightforward to maintain and deeply connected to its users. It brings farmers together, expands education and gives identity to a group often overlooked – those who usually receive only basic sheds. This community-driven project shows how architecture can quietly and meaningfully transform rural life.