CHITKARA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS BY PLANET 3 STUDIOS

Planet 3 Studios were mindful of the context when they received the opportunity to design a School of Business at Chitkara University on the outskirts of Corbusier's city.

The client shared a brief with similar ambitions as the one Corbusier defined for the city, with additional expectation of an environment that enabled progressive learning and a building that effectively communicated that intent. The site is a linear footprint of an industrial shed within a larger campus with an open ground on the north side and within walking distance to campus amenities.

For ease of approvals from local planning authorities, the firm decided to stay within the constraints of the existing footprint and defer in scale to the surrounding buildings within campus. The building is perceived as a set of five clusters where each cluster is designed to accommodate the necessary programmed usable spaces within two minutes' walking distance.

The volumes are represented as circles that accommodate the programmatic spaces such as classrooms, staff rooms, discussion rooms, tutorial rooms, auditorium, laboratories, toilets and so on. The arrangements of circles are then packed inside a given boundary so that no two overlap and some of them are mutually tangential.

Interestingly, the fundamental concept of clustering similar requirements and interspersing them with green spaces echoes Corbusier's strategy for Chandigarh, except that Planet 3 dispensed with linear connections and allowed for organic linkages to develop. The layout provides interesting play within spaces of different scales as smaller interactive spaces like discussion rooms started emerging between larger rooms like classrooms.

This building will be framed in steel with solid surface acrylic cladding on the parts that extend beyond the roof line. Within the interior, drywall construction and cladding is used, painted white with an occasional dash of colour borrowed from Corbusier's many explorations around the city. At some level, this admits the transience of contemporary architecture and lack of ambition to last forever.

The client expects to use the building for a decade before putting up a new, larger structure in its place. The floor will be poured on site polished cement. Drawing on some of the very same first principles that define Corbusier's work in Chandigarh, this building is one statement on how ideas could be recontextualised and reimagined in keeping with the time in which they are expressed. This building has to give form to the ambitions of the students of this new college. A moment in time much like the city when it was born.

 

Location: Punjab, India

Architects:Planet 3 Studios

Design: Ongoing

Design Team: Kalhan Mattoo, Santha Gour Mattoo, Ashwini Hublikar, Shanky Jain, Shreyas More

Area: 7,435 sqm

Year: 2013

Client: Chitkara University

IMPERIAL TOWER COMPETITION BY ADRIAN SMITH AND GORDON GILL

At 116 stories and 400 meters tall, Imperial Tower was designed to be the tallest building in the city and a prototype for Mumbai, a densely developed but mostly low-rise metropolis whose urban future revolves around tall residential towers. 

The softly curvilinear form of this tall, elegantly slender tower is aerodynamically shaped to “confuse the wind,” minimizing the negative effects of wind action on the tower. Wind vortex shedding is also mitigated by the northand south-facing sky gardens, which break up wind currents around the tower.

The sky gardens also provide unprecedented access to light, views and connection with the natural world that are unprecedented in Mumbai.
Imperial Tower will also offer the most spacious and luxurious residences in Mumbai.

The 76,272- square-meter tower includes 132 residential units of between 195 and 1,115 square meters, along with serviced apartments of between 72 and 252 square meters. All of the upper-story condominiums offer breathtaking views of the Arabian Sea.

Architecturally, the exterior wall provides a strong visual contrast with the heavy masonry cladding of most surrounding buildings. The exterior wall is highly sustainable, blocking heat gain and diffusing direct sunlight in the hot and humid climate of Mumbai. The sustainability of Imperial Tower is also evident in its treatment of water, one of the area’s most precious resources.

Water from mechanical systems is collected and treated as greywater; rainfall is also collected for re-use by the units. High-efficiency mechanical systems, a green-wall podium and the use of native plants in the landscaping and sky gardens also adds to the project’s sustainable performance. Description from Adrian Smith and GordonGill.

PEARL ACADEMY OF FASHION BY MORPHOGENESIS

The Pearl Academy of Fashion, Jaipur is a campus which by virtue of its design is geared towards creating an environmentally responsive passive habitat. The institute is located in a typical hot, dry, desert type climate on the outskirts of Jaipur in the soulless Kukas industrial area, about 20 kilometers from the famous walled city.

The adverse climate makes it a challenge to control the micro climate within the project thus incorporating various passive climate control methods becomes a necessity and also reduces the dependence on mechanical environmental control measures which are resource hungry.

The building is protected from the environment by a double skin which is derived from a traditional building element called the ‘Jaali’ which is prevalent in Rajasthani architecture. The double skin acts as a thermal buffer between the building and the surroundings. The density of the perforated outer skin has been derived using computational shadow analysis based on orientation.

The outer skin sits 4 feet away from the building and reduces the direct heat gain through fenestrations, yet allowing for diffused daylight. The jaali thus, serves the function of 3 filters- air, light, and privacy. The scheme relies on self shading sliver courts to control the temperatures of internal spaces and open stepped wells while allowing for sufficient day lighting inside studios and class rooms.

Programmatic requirements enabled the conception of a whole level of functions in the underbelly which would operate in a passive environment without the employment of any mechanical means of heating and cooling.

The entire building is raised above the ground and a scooped out under belly forms a natural thermal sink which is cooled by water bodies through evaporative cooling. These water bodies are fed by the recycled water from the sewage treatment plant and help in the creation of a microclimate through evaporative cooling.

The materials used for construction are a mix of local stone, steel, glass, and concrete chosen keeping in mind the climatic needs of the region while retaining the progressive design intent.

Energy efficiency is a prime concern and the institute is 100% self sufficient in terms of captive power and water supply and promotes rain water harvesting and waste water re-cycling.

Besides having become a very successful model for cost effective passive architecture in desert regions the design and facilities of the campus complement the ideology of the Pearl Academy of Fashion – a cutting edge design institute with a sustainable approach.

The Pearl Academy of Fashion is an exemplar of an inclusive architecture which intends to accommodate all the heritage values while positioning it within the contemporary cultural and archit tectural paradigm.

 

 

 








Location: Jaipur, India 
Architects: Morphogenesis 
Project Team: Sonali Rastogi, Rudrajit Sabhaney, Anna Kristiana Bergbom, Shruti Dimri, John Alok Decruz 
Structure: N M Roof Designers Ltd. 
Electrical: Integral Designs 
Plumbing: Tech Consultancy 
HVAC: Design Centre 
Landscape: Oracles 
Contractors: R G Colonizers Pvt. Ltd. 
Area: 11,745 sqm 
Year: 2008 
Client: Pearl Academy of Fashion 
Photographs: Andre J Fanthome and Edmund Sumner

OPEN THE CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BY SOM

These days it is inaugurated Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Terminal 2, the stunning new air hub designed by Skidmore, Owings &Merrill. Located in the heart of India’s financial capital, the new hub adds 4.4 million square feet of space to accommodate 40 million passengers per year.

By orchestrating the complex web of passengers and planes into a design that feels intuitive and responds to the region’s rocketing growth, the new Terminal 2 asserts the airport’s place as a preeminent gateway to India and underscores the country’s status as an international economic power.

The new terminal combines international and domestic passenger services under one roof, optimizing terminal operations and reducing passenger walking distances. Inspired by the form of traditional Indian pavilions, the four-story terminal stacks a grand “headhouse,” or central processing podium, on top of highly adaptable and modular concourses below.

Rather than compartmentalizing terminal functions, three symmetrical concourses radiate outwards from a central processing core and are therefore easily reconfigured to “swing” between serving domestic flights or international flights. Just as the terminal celebrates a new global, high-tech identity for Mumbai, the structure is imbued with responses to the local setting, history, and culture.

From the articulated coffered treatment on the headhouse columns and roof surfaces to the intricate jali window screens that filter dappled light into the concourses, Terminal 2 demonstrates the potential for a modern airport to view tradition anew. All international and domestic passengers enter the terminal headhouse on the fourth floor, accessed from a sweeping elevated road.

At the entrance, the lanes split, making room for wide drop-off curbs with ample space for traditional Indian departure ceremonies. From the moment of arrival, the terminal embraces travelers. Above, the headhouse roof extends to cover the entire arrivals roadway, protecting passengers and their guests from Mumbai’s heat and unpredictable monsoon weather.

A 50-foot-tall glass cable-stayed wall—the longest in the world—opens to the soaring space of the check-in hall. The transparent façade also allows accompanying well-wishers, who must remain outside of the terminal due to Indian aviation regulations, to watch as their friends and family depart.

Once inside, travelers enter a warm, light-filled chamber, sheltered underneath a long-span roof supported by an array of multi-story columns. The monumental spaces created beneath the thirty mushrooming columns call to mind the airy pavilions and interior courtyards of traditional regional architecture.

Small disks of colorful glass recessed within the canopy’s coffers speckle the hall below with light. The constellation of colors makes reference to the peacock, the national bird of India, and the symbol of the airport. Terminal 2 uses a high-performance glazing system with a custom frit pattern to achieve optimal thermal performance and mitigate glare.

Perforated metal panels on the terminal’s curtain wall filter the low western and eastern sun angles, creating a comfortable day-lit space for waiting passengers, and responsive daylight controls balance outdoor and indoor light levels for optimal energy savings. Strategically-placed skylights throughout the check-in hall will reduce the terminal’s energy usage by 23%.

Location: Mumbai, India 
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill 
Site Area: 105 hectares 
Project Area: 4,843,759 ft2 
Number of Stories: 4 
Building Height: 45 m 
Design Completion Year: 2010 
Project Completion Year: 2014