… what are we building for the future?
Sunday October 4th, 3:45 am, Auroville (India).
Pe’s objective, as an adventurer, urbanist, architect, artist, and researcher for the relationship between the arts and science, is to aim for a higher order and knowledge; to be part of the construction of the Galaxy Plan, and to experience and realize the vision of The Mother, formalized by Roger Anger.
As a student in London at the Architectural Association (AA), Pe felt blessed to study with amazing teachers Harvard University, their profound knowledge and sense of spirituality led him to the realisation of the spiritual sphere of the soul. This, was the beginning of an awakening which then developed into a visionary research project, an experimental animation, ‘An Analogy Between Light and Rotation’, that explored the relationship between: 1. the third eye and the sun, 2. the material and the metaphysical, and 3. the realisation between the part and the whole (1 -Infinite).

Through this exploration, in year 2000, Pe had the ‘vision’ of the galaxy and developed an interior space very similar to the Matrimandir where every one would realise their relationship All.
In the center of this space, which is both a torus and a womb, there was the Divine Mother. But she is also, the Divine Girl of the Future, who is referred to in this Blog as Crystal. She is still to be conceived in Auroville, in this central position, in the center of the World, which is also the Center of the Universe, underneath a ray of solar, but also, Divine Light. She will be the future relationship between All.
That initial research, then became Pe’s focus and priority to search for Her. The objective of this blog is establishing communication with Crystal through Indigo. Who is Indigo? It is a colour, a type of light, a real girl, a medium to connect and conceive Crystal.
The search started, and first led to the professional world. Pe started to work in design studios, coordinating building designs with construction sites; later working independently as a freelance architect.
The recession in Europe, allowed him to further immerse himself in the theoretical realm and abstract world of the ideas, while teaching and supporting students to experiment in Spain and Colombia. He facilitated this methodology, he had learned from Martha LaGuess (Harvard). Together, they would research and experiment with the relationship between ideas and materials, in search for a coherent and continuous order that related both and their parts, the self and the world.
In Bogotá, Pe was further integrated in an urban workshop of a prestigious Colombian University, directed by Ioannis. The objective was to work with another team of specialised docents and a large group of students; designing – by teams – the “Utopian City of the Future”.
Pe’s role as a teacher was to facilitate what they called a ‘technology component’ that embraced philosophical issues required for a change of consciousness towards a harmonious society to be constructed. The different components of the workshop included urbanism, ecological, aesthetics, and construction were integrated into the larger collective for this urban design workshop. We started with analysis of the existing urban systems including transport, environmental of the City of Bogota.
We did an analysis of these two issues that generate a new transport and ecological system. Later we super imposed the housing and comercial typologies so that the three systems joined into a one single system – a macro-architecture. A new higher order is plugged into the the existing urban fabric to resolve and articulate the previously fragmented system.
The result was a systemic macro-architecture which integrated both transport and environmental systems to the architecture and housing typologies, thereby connecting at a larger scale the City to other larger scale systems in the territory and the world.
At Javeriana University of Bogogtá, Pe presented the model of Auroville to the students and the faculty. While analysing and exploring Auroville’s objectives, the students then further explored the unique concept and implemented them into their own designs. It was my vision to encourage the students and faculty to study and develop the Auroville’s Master plan as part of the curriculum for the Department of Architecture at the University. The intentions then is to come to Auroville with their projects, study the ground reality, make adjustments, with the mentorship of Auroville’s architect, designers, and planner to further develop their work. Then the students will present their work to the Auroville community, elicit feedback and it incorporate into their work. That program started in 2006, which has lead, not only an academic level, to many successful and high quality architectural final year projects in the area cooperation between countries, but also to professional alliances between India to Spain, and as we will see later, connected to Auroville.
In 2006 till today, Pe successfully established an exchange program between Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain and CEPT University of Ahmedabad, India. The exchange program, between India and Spain is first of its type between the two countries. The objective was to initiate and build links and while gaining the forgotten ancestral and spiritual knowledge in the area of academics and architecture. This program has led, to final year projects that are outstanding in their academic level and have also developed into professional alliances between India to Spain, with connections to Auroville.
This whole career path brought Pe to Auroville three years ago. That was the first encounter with the Matrimandir in reality. He then had a deep experience while at the view point. From this satellite position Pe felt the concentrated energy emanating from its center. The experience was so profound. He did not want to talk afterwards. A local friend had accompanied him, but Pe wanted to stay in silence.
Pe knew then he would be back to build the Dream, the Vision, to be part of a golden future.
Back in Spain, at an AVI meeting in Barcelona, Pe met Alba a young architect working with Anupama, the main architect working in the urban scheme of the Line One, also known as the Line of Goodwill. He was surprised to discover that Alba had come to India as a student through that early exchange program with CEPT University, while also working with Mr. B. V. Doshi.
In our exchange program, we also met him with the group of Spanish students. Doshi is that type of professional that we were seeking – to meet and influence our students. To gain, perhaps to recover, from a deep understanding of life, what is missing to the eye, consider important concepts central to architecture really is about. He is more than a master architect, he embraces architecture from an interdisciplinary point of view. He is indeed profound, brings philosophical concepts naturally. He becomes a guru, a guide pointing upwards to something bigger, perhaps the greatness of the human being, perhaps to something even higher.
Since 2005, Pe has been coming to India regularly. In January 2020 he arrived in Auroville as an official SAVI volunteer and now is intending join Auroville. He is meeting the right people, working at different levels towards the realisation of the Line of Force.
Pe has also encountered opposing forces, such as doubts about the realisation of the Lake Project, which is such an important element as a purity barrier and energetic protection to the Matrimandir. It is as important just as a moat to defend a medieval castle.
Pe knew when he encountered those who had doubts about the Lake being built, that it would be built. Last week, Pe was working on this blog while sitting in a concrete table, underneath a banyan tree, at the periphery of the Matrimandir gardens. This is his sanctuary. Thoughts in this place come easily, just flow perfectly, without the need to edit anything. Just clear and calm thoughts get recorded directly into the paper. It is important what he is transmitting through his words.
Pe was there, by the excavation site, when he received a SAVI email requesting a volunteer to collaborate with the further development of the Lake Project. It is a project that he believes in, in a site that is inspiring. From that possition, something happened. A excavating machine passed in front of him with a very interesting element, carrying what seemed to be a very large model of the Matrimandir (int the photo behind).
But that we will see later in the “present” section. Before, please find next the resume structured in the three aspects of time: past present and future.
Pedro Leguina Prado is an architect that graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (2000) with an Architecture MArch (ARB/RIBA Part II). Having also completed a AAIntermediate (RIBA Part I) from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, he continued with his doctoral courses and research at Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSAM).
He has later developed extensive teaching activity in the Area of Architectural Projects. He has been a Projects Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Bogotá (Colombia), assistant professor for Final Degree Projects at Polytechnic University of Madrid in the area of cooperation, and an invited professor to other national and international Universities like the CEPT School of Architecture in Ahmedabad (India).
Within his professional career, highlights are the design work carried out at the Studio of Pierandrei Associati in Milan, disciples of Renzo Piano (2001); the Studio of Andrés Perea (2005-09) in Madrid working in social housing projects and competitions. In 2007 the team won the first prize for the construction of 114 dwellings in Torrejón de Ardóz in Madrid. Pe coordinated all the engineering consultants, and as a project manager, supervised the whole construction process on site.
[please note that resume continues after graphic portfolio]
Since then he has worked as an independent freelance architect . Pe has been a consultant for several companies in the area of construction, such as the promoter Terraplan and their contractor, The Metropolitan Gardens, in Germany.
Finally, as a partner, he has been supervising, until 2019, land purchase and the viability of architectural projects to be developed by Alioth Funds Real Estate in Spain.
Since January 2020, Pe has been in Auroville as a volunteer, mainly working on ‘higher education’ programs. A job, he knows well, connecting CEPT (Ahmedabad) and Javeriana University of Bogotá with some Auroville earth architecture design and building workshops. The aim is to bring students to high quality educational programs developed at the like the Earth Institute, UNESCO Earthen Architecture like the bio-climatic architectural workshop held there by Omar’s, where Pe also got involved in May of last year.
As an invited final juror, they all had a very inspiring and enthusiastic session that led to Unitary Design Studio to offer him an agreement so that Pe return this year to Auroville to freely develop what he would consider independently, with the only condition of achieving the highest quality standards.
So he started working to facilitate to those domestic and foreign Universities, to come to Auroville to do their summer and winter schools.
During lockdown, the scope has shifted away from academic programs into further research.
- Pe has supported Peter A. from Luminosity Studio, developing Helmut’s proposal for Grace Community Phase 5, still under study and to be determined in terms of further joining forces.
- In the second lock down face, he is involved with Peter in the rescue and preservation of an original, very valuable, Roger Anger Matrimandir model scale 1:50.
song ‘Believe in Me’ by Blue Solar