Roger Anger

Auroville exists in more than one dimension – there is the occult as well as the material dimension – which makes it difficult to assess what really is most important or influential in terms of the community’s development.

From clunky prototypes to a thriving EV ecosystem, Auroville’s journey mirrors India’s evolving electric vehicle landscape – driven by innovation, resilience, and a vision for sustainable transport.

On 14 August Dr. Karan Singh, who has been Chairman of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation for more than 20 years, briefly visited Auroville.

The January 2025 issue of Auroville Today focused on the aftermath of Cyclone Fengal, which breached the Lego block dam separating sections 1 and 2 of the Matrimandir Lake.

In the recent ruling of the Supreme Court of India, the learned judge, regarding the need for Auroville’s development vis-à-vis environmental protection, stated that “…while the right to a clean environment is a guaranteed fundamental right under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, the right to development through industrialization equally claims priority under fundamental rights particularly under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

A year ago, architect David Nightingale talked about how Spiral Dynamics could provide one way of understanding the present situation in Auroville.

Walter was born in Stuttgart, Germany, on 7 December 1950. His childhood and youth were difficult but he felt there was always a protecting hand over him.

André, one of Auroville’s early architects, arrived in Auroville in 1968, aged 26. On the invitation of the Mother, he started working with Roger Anger, Auroville’s chief architect, and was his first draughtsman.

Jean-Claude Bieri passed away at his home in France, Pyrenees-Orientales, on 11 March. He was 79. He lived with his partner, Marie-Jo, and was the father of two daughters born in Auroville, Hebaragui and Mindelai.

Claude and Abha have been living in Auroville since 1974 and 1978 respectively. For the last 45 years, Abha has been running the handicraft unit Shradhanjali while Claude has become a scholar who has authored several books and articles on Tibet, China, India and on Indo-French relations.

Prashant Hedao was the Regional Planning Coordinator of L’Avenir d’Auroville, Auroville’s Town Planning Department, from 2007-2010. In those years he worked closely together with then Governing Board member Dr BV Doshi on the Auroville Master Plan.

There are important questions to be asked regarding the population of Auroville. Firstly, who decided that the intended population of the township would be 50,000, and is this figure immutable, fixed, or can it be adjusted?

This 280 page book is a tribute to Kireet Joshi composed by two of his close Auroville friends, Frederick Schulze Buxloh and Alain Bernard.

On the 4th January, many people were shocked to see many Service trees (Peltophorum pterocarpum/ Copper Pod tree) being felled on the Crown between the Solar Kitchen and Mahalakshmi Home.

Jacqueline Lacoste, Roger Anger’s long term companion and collaborator, came to Auroville in 1970. In a sunlit moment at the Centre d’Art exhibition Roger Anger, l’artiste, she shares insights into Roger's identity, where the lines separating artist and architect dissolve, and reflects on the transformative influence of his spiritual encounter with The Mother.

The Roger Anger Exhibition represents an homage dedicated to the artist's centenary, showing an extensive collection of drawings, collages, and sculptures.

Once, in later years, I went to see Roger in Auromodѐle, but it was different from the other times I visited him. I cannot recall why I went there, to discuss what.

Pashi left his body on 20th October 2023 at the age of 91, after having dedicated his life to his most beloved idea and project of Auroville.

François Gautier came to India in 1969 at the age of 19, with the first Auroville caravan. Deeply impressed by Sri Aurobindo's writings, he chose to reside in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram for about seven years, after which he joined Auroville, where he has been living since.

Anjalai is an Aurovilian who has worked in Auroville for the last 50 years. She grew up in Kuilaypalayam and has been living in Auroville since about 2000.

While preparatory work for the expansion of the Matrimandir Lake has started, two new experiments involving the Lake are underway. One is pumped hydro; the other, underwater water storage.

This interview with Anupama Kundoo is the third article in the series ‘city perspectives’. Anupama Kundoo graduated from Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai in 1989 and received her doctoral degree from TU Berlin in 2008.

Shraddhavan, the executive of Savitri Bhavan, left her body on July 19th, 2022, aged 80 years.

The following is the first in what may become a series of articles featuring Aurovilians who hold the city deeply in their hearts, even though they may disagree about the details of its manifestation

Cristo was the Coordinator of the Auroville Universal Township Integrated Master Plan 1999, the first Auroville Master Plan, which was approved by the community.

On May 3rd, German Aurovilian Werner Stoff left his body in his house in Prayatna, at the age of 81, after a struggle with cancer. Werner was an architect and a Freemason.

Auroville City Conversations is the online discussion forum of the exhibition The City The Earth Needs, which has been in the Unity Pavilion since February.

The steady increase in private car ownership in Auroville, as well as the hike in outside cars and autos circulating daily within the community, gives rise to the question: Is Auroville falling well behind ‘best practice’ examples of transport that are thriving in other parts of the world?

Paolo Tommasi passed away in JIPMER on July 16th due to the COVID-19 virus. He had just turned 92 years. Paolo was born in Ancona, Italy in 1928.

In the late afternoon of April 25th, Roma Hira peacefully left her body at her home in Dana due to renal failure. She would have turned 73 in September this year.

The communities of architects/ planners/ city-builders and greenbelters must come together in Auroville to manifest the city of the future (emphasis on “come together”).

Let the Matrimandir be the living symbol of Auroville’s aspiration for the Divine. - The Mother In the 300-page book What is the Matrimandir: the most mysterious monument of modern times, author Iris Gaartz presents the personal experiences of 31 residents and guests of Auroville in visiting this building.

An innovative process to design a new garden close to the Matrimandir is underway. What is it trying to achieve? What does it involve?

Written by Mona Doctor-Pingel, with additional essays by Chamanlal Gupta, Pino Marchese and Poppo Pingel, the book presents the work of two pioneer architects who, along with other architectural ‘forecomers’ like Roger Anger and Poppo Pingel, have left an indelible mark upon the fabric of the community.

Sunship is a new housing complex of thirty nine apartments, and was conceived as the next step after the Citadines experiment in pioneering a different kind of collective housing in Auroville.

Auroville can be seen as the latest in a chain of ideal city experiments stretching back thousands of years.

This is really two books in one. The first book is an introduction to Auroville, the vision, the history and its inhabitants. The second book is a passionate advocacy of the need to build the city as soon as possible according to the original Galaxy plan.

On April 01, 2009, John, Elumalai, Pierre and Srimoyi took charge as executives of the Matrimandir. On July 31st, after more than 8 years of dedicated service, their term of office is coming to an end.

Louis Cohen, who first came to Auroville in 1971, is one of the original pioneers. He continues to be very active in the development of the town.

Dominique Darr left her body on December 25th in her apartment in Citadine at the age of 84. The cause of death, most probably, was diabetic coma.

Alain Bernard first came to Auroville in 1972. Since then, he has been involved in many key areas, including the economy, education, the Press and, most recently, Village Action and the Sustainable Livelihood Institute.

Pashi Kapur came to live in Auroville with his family in early 1974. Since then, he has contributed a great deal but his Auroville journey has not always been smooth.

Tapas Bhatt has long been associated with supporting the arts in Auroville and, in particular, with connecting Auroville to the world and the world to Auroville through the arts.

Luis Feduchi is a Spanish architect and town planner. He was Professor of Urban Design at the Berlin Technical University, Germany before moving back to Spain to work as Dean of Architecture of the University of Madrid.

The name of Dominique Darr is indissolubly connected to the early days of Auroville. Who in Auroville doesn’t know her photo of a lone granite stone with the letters AV painted on it, marking Auroville land?

On 23rd January, 2010, for the French Pavilion, Alain Bernard gave a talk on the background and passing of the Auroville Foundation Act. Here is an edited version of the translation of that talk.

Records of Auroville’s history during Mother’s lifetime are found in periodicals (Mother India, the Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, the Information Letter of the Sri Aurobindo Society and the Gazette Aurovilienne), in books published by disciples (Satprem, Shyam Sunder, Huta, Savitra), in archives (Sri Aurobindo Society, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville), in personal archives as well as in published and unpublished interviews of disciples (Roger Anger and others).

Little is known about those early days before Auroville’s inauguration, when land purchase and the first Auroville developments were started by the Sri Aurobindo Society.

Throughout those difficult years, each person kept, well hidden deep in the heart, the dream of a luminous, spiritual and harmonious city; a flaming torch.