Curry Stone Design Collaborative

Curry Stone Design Collaborative & Foundation Logo

The Curry Stone Design Collaborative is a design studio that equips underserved and marginalized communities with methods to design, develop and improve their own built environments.

Launched in India in 2016, CSDC is a true collective of social design practices, architects and civic planners that work collaboratively with communities in need.

Our Approach

Community-driven design

Unites Practitioners and community in a common cause: addressing inequalities using design.

Practitioners collaborate closely with the community, empowering residents to design their own sustainable, life-improving solutions

Remain lean and nimble

We will expand within and beyond India via collaborations with local professionals, agencies and members of the CSF practice network.

Our methodologies can evolve to meet the unique needs of each client-community

Children reclaiming their play areas

Incubate “Patient Development”

Community-led transformation is naturally organic and evolving.

We don’t mandate strict deadlines, broad replicability or purely quantitative results.

We do wait for sustained, qualitative metrics including improved vitality and quality of life.

CSDC Initiatives in Progress

Upgrade of Public Housing Neighborhoods

Can former slum and pavement dwellers design better living solutions for themselves? As developing-world cities grow, housing estates for slum and pavement dwellers multiply. In India, the liveability of these developments is questionable, so CDA and residents will collaborate on positive changes.

Slum Redevelopment

How can a designer build trust among residents under a constant threat of eviction? The residents of a Ahmednagar slum live under a constant threat of eviction. CDA is focusing on trust building, empowering residents to take on development and construction of their homes.

Kitaab Mahal – The Palace of Books

How can the widening education gap be bridged? Kitaab Mahal is a children's library at Natwar Parekh Colony, designed and built by Community Design Agency in collaboration with the residents.

Activating Public Spaces

How can art help activate public spaces? Transforming desolate corners into thriving social spaces, in a neighbourhood that lacks usable common areas, shows the potential of placemaking tools and community-led initiatives in this public housing colony

Updates from the Field