Inspired by Aranyani, the forest goddess of the Rigveda, one of ancient India’s sacred texts, the Aranyani Pavilion deepens the public’s connection to nature and advances urgent conversations around ecology. Aranyani launches one of South Asia’s most ambitious ecological art and architecture pavilions at Sunder Nursery in New Delhi, opening Wednesday, 4th February 2026. Founded by conservation scientist and creative director Tara Lal, Aranyani is a conservation and creative arts initiative dedicated to renewing human connection with the natural world.

Editor’s Note: The Aranyani Pavilion, designed by Tara Lal + T_M.space, strengthens the public’s relationship with nature while prompting critical dialogue around ecology. Conceived as a spiral walk-through installation, the pavilion is guided by principles of geometry and movement. Above the structure is a living canopy composed of over 40 native plant species ranging from edible and medicinal to culturally significant varieties.

The Art of Connection to Nature Pavilion | Tara Lal + T_M.space

Named after the forest deity of the Rigveda, the sacred Vedic text composed over 3,000 years ago that shaped early Indian ideas of nature, Aranyani enters the built environment for the first time. With this new annual commission, the organisation extends its ecological research into the physical world, using architecture to translate restoration science into grounded expression and to create space for urgent ecological conversations in the urban realm.

Aranyani Pavilion 2026: Sacred Nature. For its inaugural edition, titled Sacred Nature, Aranyani founder Tara Lal conceptualises the Aranyani Pavilion and collaborates with T__M.space — the architectural studio led by Tanil Raif and Mario Serrano Puche — to design lightweight, digitally crafted structures shaped by ecological thinking and local materials.

Set within the gardens of Sunder Nursery in the heart of New Delhi, and conceived as a spiral walk through installation, the Pavilion draws from the spatial logic of India’s sacred groves, ancient, community-protected forest sanctuaries that functioned as early bio-reserves long before modern conservation law. Spiritual beliefs and social customs preserved these groves, safeguarded biodiversity, protected water sources and local ecologies, and now recognise them as key biodiversity hotspots as well as some of the earliest models of community-led conservation in the subcontinent.

Guided by principles of sacred geometry and movement, the Pavilion leads visitors along a continuous path of shifting light, shadow, texture, and sound. Its architecture choreographs an inward journey that echoes the rhythm of a living forest. The procession culminates in a central shrine anchored by a large stone monolith, recalling the ritual cores of sacred groves, where stone markers traditionally signify the symbolic meeting of earth and sky. The Works, led by Guillaume Lecacheux, executed the Pavilion’s intricate technical realisation, while Gaurav Raina and Komorebi complemented it with sound design.

Decolonizing Architecture Through Material. Through its architecture, the Pavilion opens a dialogue on decolonising approaches to nature and biodiversity. The designers built the spiral structure from upcycled Lantana camara, an invasive shrub that Portuguese and British colonial traders introduced to India in the 18th century. Lantana now covers more than 13 million hectares and threatens nearly half of India’s forest cover. In the Pavilion, Ekarth Studio, specialists in natural-material construction, recast it as a structural material and craft its latticed form.

Above this framework, a living canopy of more than 40 native plant species, a mix of edible, medicinal, and culturally significant varieties, forms a functioning micro-habitat. By layering invasive Lantana beneath and an indigenous species above, the Pavilion embeds restoration into its structure, recognising India’s colonial ecological past even as it gestures toward renewal.

Tara Lal, Founder, Aranyani, says: “We are living through a moment where the distance between people and the natural world has never been greater. So many of our ecological crises are rooted in colonial histories and systems that separated us from land, from Indigenous knowledge, and from one another. The Aranyani Pavilion is an invitation to repair that rupture, to experience ecology not as abstraction but as something we walk through, feel, and belong to. By bringing invasive and native species into conversation, we hope to create space for local and international dialogue on how we might restore not only ecosystems, but the relationships that sustain them.”

Public Programme. The Pavilion will host a public programme of performances, talks, workshops, and guided tours that extend its ecological and decolonial themes. Highlights include lectures by Vandana Shiva, internationally renowned environmental activist on biodiversity and food sovereignty, and Sathnam Sanghera, the historian whose work examines the legacies of empire. A conversation on women in business and ecology will bring together Roshni Nadar Malhotra (Chairperson, HCLTech), Nyrika Holkar (Executive Director, Godrej & Boyce), and Simran Lal (Co-founder, Nicobar). Natural fragrances and landscape memory will be explored in a session with Anita Lal (Founder, Good Earth) and Vivek Sahni (Founder, Kama Ayurveda), alongside a talk by architects working at the intersection of ecology and design, including Martand Khosla, Rahul Bhushan, and Shonan Purie Trehan, amongst others. 

In another session, rising creatives Ansh and Raghav Kumar (Founders, Tiny Farm Lab), Ritwik Khanna (Rkive City), and Nidhi Agarwal will share case-study presentations on their practices and how they are redefining a new ethics of making.

Workshops will range from sound healing and pranayama with Life Yoga to building home gardens with Nabanita Bajaj. The programme also features performances by a line-up of leading indie electronic and experimental sound artists, including Karsh Kale, Goya, Curtain Blue, Komorebi, Gaurav Raina and Yuhina, as well as a special photo studio offering on-the-spot portraits by renowned filmmaker and photographer Aradhana Seth.

Continuing Life. After its presentation at Sunder Nursery, the Aranyani Pavilion will be permanently installed at the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School in Jaisalmer, an award-winning model of ecological architecture shaped by desert climate and local materials designed by New York-based Diana Kellogg Architects, where it will serve as a living classroom for students, researchers, and emerging naturalists.

The Pavilion’s edible and medicinal plants will be transferred to ongoing community-led environmental projects in Delhi, including the Basti Gardens of Hope in Nizamuddin and Swechha’s urban forest restoration initiatives, which create dense, climate-resilient micro-gardens and forests in under-resourced neighbourhoods. Together, these partnerships extend the Pavilion’s ethos of repair into the landscapes and communities that shaped it.

Fact File

Designed by: Tara Lal + T_M.space

Project Type: Installations & Structures, Pavilion, Sustainability

Project Name: Aranyani Pavilion

Location: New Delhi

Year Built: 2026

Design Team: T_M Space

Curation And Direction: Tara Lal

Fabricators: The Works International

Source: Archdaily

Firm’s Instagram Link: Tara Lal + T_M.space

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