“A challenging job” is how Arch Centre member and doctoral candidate at the VUW School of Architecture, Amardeep Dugar, describes his recent appointment as Lighting Consultant to the Global Vipassana Pagoda in Mumbai, India. The Global Vipassana Pagoda, which aspires to pay homage to Buddha and his teachings,is currently in the final stages of construction. It will be one of the largest stone monuments in Asia – with the world’s largest stone dome (280ft diameter), accommodating a meditation hall for 8000 people.
The Pagoda is being constructed, in the words of Mr SN Goenka, to be “an ideal bridge for peace, tolerence and harmony across all the communal and regional divides splintering India as well as the world today. The Global Pagoda will be a vehicle for the spread of the Buddha’s true teaching that emphatically opposes any dogma based on sect, cast and religion”.
As Lighting Consultant to the Global Pagoda, Amardeep was required to develop a lighting design concept that ‘showboats’ the magnificence of the exterior and provides a soberly lit interior environment appropriate to meditation. Amardeep was also responsible for performing the necessary design calculations and specification of the appropriate light fittings.
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