The new State Assembly for the Government of Madhya Pradesh is under construction in the capital city of Bhopal. Many factors determined its form: its site on the crest of a hill; the old Muslim monuments nearby; as well as of course, the famous Buddhist Stupa at Sanchi, just 50 kms. from the city.
The plan is a series of gardens within gardens. The administrative offices are used to define a pattern of nine compartments. The five central ones are halls and courtyards (creating a micro-climate of shade and running water), with the four corners occupied by the specialised functions: the Vidhan Parishad (Upper House), the Vidhan Sabha (Lower House), the Combined Hall, and the Library.
Since the administrative offices constitute the bulk of the floor area, they form a decisive part of the architectural experience. Thus in any Assembly building, the placing of these offices, and the manner of reaching them, is of considerable importance. In government buildings constructed in India during the last century, this circulation was usually along verandahs from which one got a view of surrounding gardens: hence having to wait to meet a government official was a reasonably pleasant experience. In most contemporary buildings, however, this circulation takes the form of double-loaded corridors - which create quite intolerable conditions for the visitor.
In this Vidhan Bhavan, the movement patterns within the building have been carefully studied, so as to form diverse - and pleasurable! - architectural sequences. The circulation is always along the edge of the courtyards, so that light and fresh air are
Jillars near Sanchi
assured. For security reasons, the public has to be separatedl the Assembly Members and other VIPs; hence they enter throe the main courtyard on the west, and after passing through the check point, climb ramps to reach the viewing galleries overlq the three main halls. On the way to their galleries, they progre~
along bridges and ramps (winding around the "Subbhas" like, ritual circumambulatory paths around the Sanchi Stupa), progressions which allow all the various users to experience t~
principal spaces- and dimensions - of this complex.
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Stupa at Sanchi Hamam at Imamnagar
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Ground floor plan:
gardens within gardens
Overleaf: part plan of lower level 4' 199
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Pune 1988-92
A Model of the Cosmos. . . this was what Architecture, since the beginning of time, has sought to represent. Is it possible to express our own contemporary notions of what the Universe is about? The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, located on the campus of Pune University, is such an attempt. The site consists of three contiguous pieces of land, with two campus roads passing between them. One arrives down a road between two swerving black walls of local basalt stone, surmounted by courses of a deeper black Kuddapah stone, topped finally by a glossy black polished granite (which reflects the sky and clouds above). Black on black on black: the visual structure of Outer Space.
These black walls draw one into the entrance, between two columns of exposed concrete which de-materialise at the top into a soft blue. Ahead and to the right, lies the kund- here transformed into a metaphor for our Expanding Universe. The~tones along the edges fly apart with centrifugal energy, setting up the diagonals that connect to the other facilities
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in the centre of the camp':!§.Jhe-Computer Centre to the Northwest, the Hostel to the southeast and to the~siting Facu y ousing that liesbeyond..~
-he central kund
-instein in the rain
Around the kund itself are located the four major elements of the Institute: the Library. the Faculty----offices, the Lecture Halls and the Student FAr.iliti$s.
The larger-than-life figures within the kund represent four extraordinary scientists: Aryabhata (who, more than ten centuries ago, established that our planet was round), Newton (sitting under a tree, looking at the fallen apple), Galileo (gesturing up to the dome of Heaven) and Einstein (time in his pocket-watch, contemplating the relativity of space).
The landscaping models an image of a black hole seen through a radio-telescope
The Expandi!
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Site plan: across the road to the east, a 500-seat Auditorium, Art Gallery and Science Park
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The twin entrance columns of exposed concrete, touched with blue at the top, de-materialisingi~
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ipheral black wall, revealing portion of the Computer Court Verandah around the Computer Court
oucault's Pendulum in the faculty offices
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Calibrated markings at base of Foucault's Pendulum: white marble, inlaid in black and gray granite
t was importantthatthe surface of the main dome :arrya message as crucial to the.scientific values of his century as the Jain cosmograph is to the ancient /edic notions of the Cosmos (as depicted, for rJstance, in the dome of Mangal Mahal at the lawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur). Since one of the nost fundamental qualities of Science is precision, he astronomers at IUCAA, using a map of the night
;kyon the day that the project broke ground, nodelled the precise position, size and relative Jrightness of the stars by placing small pieces of Ilass (which let through specks of intense daylight, ike stars in the night sky) in the form work of the iome before the concrete was cast.
Inlaidstone pattern on floor below dome is of ancient Ayurvedic origin, linking the seasons withthe rashis (constellations).
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1-.The Serpenski Triangle modelled in the landscape of the courtyard in the centre of the hostel
The configuration of rooms and circulation is based not on conventional dormitory typologies but on the Oxford and Cambridge system of student accommodation, where 2 or 3 rooms are accessed directly off a staircase, 3 or 4 stories high- thus giving to each cluster of 10 rooms or so, a separate identity.
Here this typology is adapted for a ground and one upper storey structure. The circulation at the lower level is around a central courtyard with seating provided in alcoves placed at intervals along the periphery. Each pair of rooms shares a bathroom and verandah.
From this level, stairs lead directly to the upper storey, where the circulation switches to the outer periphery of the building (facing the garden) so as to reach a limited access corridor serving 8 to 12 rooms for Faculty, with attached private baths. Here each pair of rooms share a private balcony overlooking the central courtyard.
Hostel's upper level plan
Bathroom (shared by 2 students)
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Hostel showing cross-over of circulation Hostel's lower level plan
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To the west are row-houses for the Staff and Faculty, grouped around courtyards. All the various categories provide a generous share of terraces, porches and courtyards for each family
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Double height pockets in type IVhouses
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The Samrat Yantra: for measuring the Sun's orbit - constructed in black masonry, polished granite and steel
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Detail of window in Director monitoring entrance
Steps to top of Samrat Yantra
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The external wall of black basalt, surmounted by black Kuddapah stone, crowned by polished black granite- black on black on black, the colour of outer space
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