On a historic site – one of the six ‘Petals’ flanking the India gate in Lutyens’s Delhi, The National War Memorial was a competition to design a fitting place to commemorate the martyrs of India. Designed as a subterranean structure, our approach was to imagine a monumental gesture but in a humble structure. The perpetual flame in the core of the ‘Kund’ like space, was imagined to be protected by rammed-earth walls made from soils from across India. The gradual descent into this sanctum was designed to be a series of ‘cave-like’ galleries and as one proceeds towards the heart of the site, one loses visual connection to the context thus moving into a more reflective, contemplative space.