The social life of India’s most visited temples is distinctive. Pilgrims spend only a brief moment inside the sanctum, yet they will have been part of the procession arriving there for hours – singing and chanting. Afterwards, they grow quiet and peaceful, lingering in the precincts. The proposal therefore attends to the path and the unbuilt space rather than to built form, seeking to heighten the pilgrim’s journey.

The elegance and complexity of the four-hundred-year-old temple of Tuljapur demonstrate a method of growth by accretion, without recourse to a formal plan. By strengthening its core passageways so the complex may continue to grow in the same spontaneous way, the restructuring remains sympathetic to this history and true to its context. The intervention is not about an impactful architectural footprint; it is about transcending the pilgrim’s basic needs and enriching their experience of the temple and the town.