Culture Architecture I Hampi, Karnataka
Archeological Museum, Hampi
Area 25,250 sq ft
Status Ongoing
Client JSW Foundation & ASI
Team Shimul Javeri Kadri, Sarika Shetty, Meet Mendpara, Nessia Chitre
Past Contributors Tharun CM, Sejal Selwadiya, Dhanvi Shah, Nandan Vaishnav, Rushikesh Shetye, Shivansh Agrawal, Abhishek Hippargekar
Graphics OASES Design
Museum Planners BRMA
Landscape VSLA
Structures GMR Consultants
MEPF ESVE Design
The museum becomes the definitive interpretation centre for understanding the holistic story of Hampi and the Vijayanagara empire.
The ASI Museum revitalization transforms a static institution into a dynamic landscape of discovery. Integrating architectural interventions and shaded landscapes, connecting visitors of all ages through immersive spatial narratives.
The museum becomes the definitive interpretation centre for understanding the holistic story of Hampi and the Vijayanagara empire.
Located at the heart of Hampi’s heritage landscape, the museum holds immense potential as a cultural anchor for visitors exploring the live sites of Hampi - a legacy of the Vijayanagara Empire.
Originally conceived as a site museum in 1972, it houses an extensive collection of sculptures, inscriptions, architectural fragments, and everyday objects that shed light on the political, religious, and cultural life of the Vijayanagara Empire. It also includes material from earlier and later periods, framing Hampi within a broader historical continuum.
Comprehensively revitalized in 2026, the museum has been reimagined as a state-of-the-art cultural and educational space—broadening its curatorial scope, improving accessibility, and reinforcing its role as a public gateway to one of India’s most significant archaeological sites. Through adaptive reuse, we retain the museum’s structural framework while intervening strategically – inside and outside to enhance functionality, climate responsiveness, and spatial experience.
By integrating museological expertise with historical scholarship and curatorial insight, the renewed museum honors Hampi’s living heritage while preparing it for future generations.
Creating a Sense of Arrival
Integration of existing copper pod trees at the entrance plaza forms a place in shade, rest and respite from the intense heat of Hampi. Inspired by the proportions of Hampi’s historic bazaars, the entrance colonnade establishes a distinctive landmark for the town of Kamalapura. A clear hierarchy of spaces ensures a smooth and intuitive transition from the waiting area, ticketing, and baggage drop to the security zone, offering visitors a seamless and secure arrival experience.
A series of shaded pavilions and landscaped groves introduced within the masterplan are designed for universal access and to create moments of pause.
Shaded Pavillions
A series of shaded pavilions and landscaped groves introduced within the masterplan are designed for universal access and to create moments of pause. These linear pavilions are defined by solid walls on one side and a colonnade of finely crafted MS columns on the other, balancing enclosure and openness.
The contextual display of artefacts, brought to life through local crafts, materials, and murals, creates a strong sense of place and association—rooting the experience in the very landscape and traditions that shaped the Vijayanagara Empire.
Bringing Alive the Story of Hampi
A series of interconnected galleries orient, educate, and immerse visitors through layered modes of storytelling — ranging from the geographical and mythological to the historical and archaeological. Together, they form a narrative framework that enables deeper exploration and understanding of the art, architecture, and cultural legacy of Hampi.
The contextual display of artefacts, brought to life through local crafts, materials, and murals, creates a strong sense of place and association—rooting the experience in the very landscape and traditions that shaped the Vijayanagara Empire.
A Mythological Landscape
The visitor journey extends beyond enclosed galleries into an immersive mythological landscape of vanas and aranyas, thoughtfully curated around the existing sculptures scattered across the grounds.
Through spatial and graphic intervention the already fixed sculptures in the landscape will be brought to life and their myths will be interwoven. The space will be open and engaging, and offer a complimentary playful narrative thread to the historical narrative of the museum.
Designed to be experienced by visitors of all ages, including children, it encourages interaction with both the artefacts and the evolving garden, enriched by seasonal changes in fruiting and flowering. It is a living landscape, where learning is sensory, informal, and rooted in wonder.
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