The Internship in Vernacular Eco-Architecture at Dharmalaya Institute is a formal, academically-supervised internship programme designed to provide architects (and students of architecture) with both practical experience and deeper theoretical knowledge in the arts and practices of sustainable building, with an emphasis on the Kangra style of vernacular earthen architecture.

One week residential workshop to provide introductory hands-on training in some of the foundational skills of earthen building in the neo-traditional Kangra style of esteemed eco-architect, Didi Contractor as practiced at Dharmalaya Institute. Learn to work with earth in an adobe bricks, including the process of making and laying adobe bricks, plastering as well as other interior work.

A residential retreat to reconnect with your creative self through writing, photography and reflective art practices.

No prior experience needed. Just a willingness to pause, notice, and express.

At Dharmalaya, we see architecture not as a subject, but as a living conversation between the body, the earth, and the elements. A well-built home doesn’t just shelter you, it breathes with you, it warms you, it soothes and nourishes you. When you walk into a building, you can feel the space, sometimes it lifts you, sometimes it drains you. A house, a room, even a simple mud wall holds a pulse. That pulse is the same rhythm that moves in your own breath, in your blood, in the quiet turning of the seasons.

In a world where many are sensing the multi-crisis—the collapse of familiar structures, whether social, ecological, or spiritual—this gathering invites us on an ancient yet urgently needed journey: to remember our deep interconnection with the web of life. Through ritual, dialogue, embodied practices, and nature-based learning, we will traverse the Spiral of The Work That Reconnects, transforming our pain, rekindling our vitality, and reigniting our sense of purpose in service of a more life-affirming future.