The Urban Langar
Atelier 01: SITOPIA: Feeding our future
Project
Urban Langar is a civic food space situated within Newark Market Square that reinterprets the Sikh principles of Langar, Seva, and Pangat through architecture. The project explores how food can operate as social infrastructure, using collective cooking, dining, and learning to dismantle social hierarchies and encourage dignity, inclusivity, and shared participation. The building combines a sunken dining space, communal kitchen, greenhouse, and market infrastructure to create a continuous cycle of growing, preparing, sharing, and reflecting.
Spatial Concept
Informed by the theoretical framework of Sitopia and convivial social practice, the project positions food as a catalyst for civic connection. The architecture expresses this through a clear spatial hierarchy that contrasts spaces of activity and reflection, from the intensity of the communal kitchen and market square to the calmer atmosphere of the dining hall and colonnade. Structural elements are intentionally exposed within the dining space, reinforcing the material warmth and honesty of the building while allowing light, food, and social interaction to become central architectural experiences.
